Personality Traits in an Eight

A piece of writing by Mike Sullivan that has stood the test of time...

Sully's Personality Traits in an Eight - Feb. 1976

"Here's my long awaited theory on personality traits of the different seats of an eight. This assumes a straight port-stroked stern coxed eight.

I would guess that a straight starboard stroked boat would be fairly similar, but that ports and starboards are as different from each other as men are from women - I know from personal experience being bi myself (sided not sexual). I've long noted differences in personality from port to starboard in myself. This for another day and perhaps when under the influence.

Therefore, a bucket rigged port stroked bow coxed eight is not included in this theory.

From the stern:
Cox: It's pretty obvious what traits a cox must adopt and tries to learn to do a good job in this most unique position in the athletic world. I'll pass on the leadership stuff, napoleon complex garbage, and point out a secondary characteristic or two that coxes unintentionally inherit after riding in the box for a while.
They can't drive a car anymore. They take 10 miles to change a lane, oversteer, can't find the brakes, and yell to the car a lot. This has nothing to do with the coxes' former driving ability. Stick Richard Petty in a cox seat for awhile, they'll take his driver's license away. Coxes also begin to squint a lot, no loss in vision, they just squint.

Stroke:'It's a tough job but only I can do it.' The meekest, most frightened non-rower in the world; when plugged reluctantly in the stroke seat, stays meek up until the first few strokes. The first few paddle strokes, a thought grows in the wimps' sniveling little mind that this job is his/hers for life. Back on the shore, the real personality will percolate back to the surface. 'I hope you guys could follow me ok.' In the boat they're thinking: 'stop rushing, you weenies!' Strokes are born and made to be the most competitive person in the boat by far, and if they stroke long enough, become overly competitive in everything they pursue, or don't pursue. Don't expect to finish a game of Monopoly, Risk, or Golf with a stroke. The only one that can beat him to the chow line is the three man (more later) because the stroke was delayed trying to put more oars away in the rack than anyone else.

Seven: the seat is the Bitch Niche. I don't know if whining, overly bossy, big-mouthed complainers are born, and I can't believe that the cosmic effect of this seat could possibly be so instantaneous, but you could teach Mother Theresa to row in a tank, stick her in an eight at seven for the first time, and as the stern four is rowing away from the dock, she'll turn around and yell at the bow four to 'set the f*cking boat.' The longer one rows at seven, the more sophisticated and complex the bitching becomes, changing from a crude verbal rowing suggestion to the six man in the early stages to long winded level- voiced reasoned treatises after every piece explaining why the crew is slower now than last week. Ever wonder why when a coach drives up shell-side to ask how a piece went he says: 'So how did that go, fellas? -not you seven.' I was a team captain, looked up to leader of my college crew, kept my mouth shut and did my job. I raced one week at seven, my coach told me to 'shut up Sullivan' in a post race meeting. Women who deal with severe PMS mood swings will find those swings totally disappear after some time at seven. Permanent OTR.

Six: If you bred Arnold Swartzeneggar with a Golden Retriever, you get a six. Six is also Seven's yin. The gentle giant, gorilla in the mist. Six absorbs most of Seven's bitching and keeps it from moving through to the rest of the crew. Six nods and agrees a lot. It is a hard thing for a normal person to row Six. It seems like such a great seat, your're in the stern, the boats more stable here, but when you are done with a rowing career at six, you find you have been used. Sixes are characterized by great competence in execution of rowing and life, but poor self confidence and a propensity to self-flagellation. Take your 3 year stroke out of the stroke seat and stick him/her at six for a week. This will be the first time you ever hear him/her say: 'My fault, fellas,' at the end of a poor piece. Sixes meditate. Sixes marry, go to work for, and lend their power tools to sevens. This support system keeps sevens with thriving businesses, mates they can walk all over, and a garage full of power tools at their disposal that they don't have to fix when they break.

Five: God. Yahweh. Allah. Buddha. It's not that the five seat IS those things, its just that's how (s)he gets treated. Five's stool don't stink, the catches don't hang. They're the older brother or sister that gets special treatment, and has no idea. If a photo is taken of the crew, five will look great, everyone else is caught with shirtails out, and snot on the lip. At heart and soul, five forgets to change oil, pay phone bills, and turn in forms to the IRS. Five is an example of what happens to a bum that is treated like a king, they act like one. Five has the greatest delta between image and reality. The fortunate thing is that the unearned unabashed worship lasts only as long as the time on the water. Five's on his own back at home. Five wears aviator glasses.

Four: The Amnesia-seat. Take a genius with a photographic memory. Row said genius at four. Listen to him ask for the third time in the same warmup, 'How many of these 500s are we doing?' Four seat is not stupid, just has immediate and catastrophic memory loss. At a start and 20, four settles at 21 because in the time the cox yelled 'settle in two,' he forgot. In a Novice boat where the seats have been removed and cleaned, it'll be four's that went back in backwards. Four will forget to tell the boatman about his(her) stripped rigger nut - usually from the time he is told by the coach, until he arrives at the boatman's bench wondering what he's doing there. On that first day on the water as the ice is breaking up, who is rummaging around the back of the boathouse looking for a sweatshirt? Four is why racing shirts are handed out on race day.

Three: Late in the water. Late to practice. Late to class. Late to work. Late out of the water. Late to his date. Late to the team bus. Late for everything but chow line. There is no competitiveness involved here, just an uncanny knack to have the first three rowers into the dining hall stopped by friends for a brief discussion while three breezes on by to the tray stack. Three generally gets assigned a sitter.

Two: Lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up, sit down, fight fight fight. Cheerleader. What is amazing, is to sit at four or five after a particular piece - seven is whining about the balance, the spacing, no swing, rushing: two is back there with pom poms saying: ALL RIGHT GUYS! LETS DO THAT AGAIN!... Two calls out names of power 10s. 'Awright guys - OAR CLASH TEN!' If he says something funny, he repeated something the bowman prompted him with.

Bow: Comedian. The bow seat creates a strange fatalism. They know that in a catastrophic collision, they'll be the only one to die or get paralysed. Consequently there is a constant quiet stream of one-liners that two or three could probably hear if two were not cheering loudly. If the bow is joined by a cox in a front-loader, this trait completely disappears, since someone is now likely to hear him joke about three being late, five not pulling hard, or the coxn's course looking like a signature. (S)he can be humorless and witless off the water, but on the water when there is breath to spare, you're sure to catch a chuckle if you listen.

Conclusion:
There is no possible use for this info. You don't necessarily stick your most competitive athlete at stroke. Stick anyone there and they'll get competitive. It takes a long time for some of these seat traits to manifest themselves in personality disorders, but you can usually catch subtle differences the first day.
Just this fall, doing a temp coaching for the first couple weeks of the season, one of the crew was sick one day. I'd laid out a plan of drills to reinforce what we'd spent some intense teaching time on the day before. We were also going to get a couple few hard miles in at a low rate by sixes. I had a sense that I'd do the crew more good by filling out a seat for them than by yammering from the launch. It makes the transitions go smoother in the sixes rotation and I figured I could watch them while not rowing. I told the crew what the work and goals were of the day. Then I told them I'd row four (missing port). I left the clipboard behind knowing what we were going to do. We rowed away from the dock, the cox started us going with what I'd verbally laid out. Halfway through the workout, she asked me 'what's next.' 'What's next what?' says I. 'What's next in the workout, coach?' (I honestly wondered why she called me coach at that moment, and couldn't remember the workout.)

I also suddenly remembered I was supposed to be watching rowers' blade depths while I was out and hadn't been.............. Four. "

I'm a self-professed rowing nerd. Rarely a day goes by that I don't check Row2K, Rowing Illustrated, or some other rowing related site. I enjoy catching up on the Boards at Rowing Illustrated every so often, and like this thread about who goes in what seat.

Filling a boat line up takes strategy. I like to think about both the physical and mental aspects of each rower when determining where they go. There is a lot to be said about technique and power, but sometimes it just takes a certain personality to make things fit. Also, the boat line up needs to end up working all together, so interpersonal relationships tend to influence how I set a boat.

Everyone can argue about who should the boat be built around -- the stroke? six? For me, one of the most pivotal seats to get "right" is seven. It may be the "bitch niche," but I also have come to think of seven as the bouncer of the boat or protector. Seven is in charge of stopping any rush from bow six -- the bodyguard that makes sure nothing gets to stroke. If seven isn't in time, the rest of the boat probably isn't either. It's a good seat for someone who needs to be in control.

In my entire college career, I was never stroke. I fully identify as combination of five and six (where I finished my career). Where do you fit in?

Knecht Cup and Foam Steve

This past weekend, SU Crew traveled to the Cooper River in Pennsauken, NJ for Knecht Cup. Knecht Cup is one of the largest mid-season regattas across the country, attracting crews from Florida, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia, and more! We got to see a number of parents and SU Crew supporters, which makes racing even more fun.

One person that was not able to travel with us was Asst. Coach Steve Loaiza. In his spirit, we brought "Foam Steve," to watch the races.

Steve had a busy weekend, fraternizing with his coaching colleague Derek Updegraff. Derek was surprised this weekend by the Bucknell Men's Crew Team, who named their new Resolute 8 after him ("Derek Updegraff Jr. '93). Derek rowed on the team as a student at BU, and later came back to coach the men's and women's teams. This is a tremendous honor that speaks to the impact that he has made on their team!

Steve is also posing with Head Coach Jim Grose and Asst. Coach Rachael Gebely waiting for the Men's Varsity Eight DII/DIII to come down river.

Since the team had to meet the bus at 2:15am on Saturday morning, some of the rowers took the opportunity to catch a nap underneath the crew tent.

The team was hosted overnight by the friends and family of Christine Magee '10. We were welcomed by an amazing dinner of meatball sandwiches, pasta, chicken fingers, chicken Parmesan, pasta salad, salad, and cookies. Sarah Hawk's Mom also contributed delicious brownies. Christine's Mom and friends were kind enough to pack the extra food to-go so that we could enjoy it once again on Sunday. We are so lucky to be supported by such wonderful people. The team was able to stay overnight at two homes in Lansdowne, which was a short trip to the race course.

I'm pretty sure that the rowers avoid eating the mushy sandwiches provided by the cafe at all costs. Since we had so many parents say that they were interested in bringing goodies to our next races, the team has made up a sign up website. The site can always be reached under the "SU Crew News and Events" section of the blog. By no means are you required to sign up ahead of time (or bring anything at all), but the site will give you an indication of what we typically bring and what the team loves to eat.

This weekend we saw teams with full out tent restaurants: complete with coffee, breakfast burritos made on site, grills, and much more. While we don't necessarily need that kind of production, the team has always appreciated support from families. I still remember the Johnsons' bringing fresh Philly pretzels to Knecht and Dad Vails, Mrs. Jensen's Mandarin Orange spinach salad and lasagna at our Occoquan races, and Mrs. Meharg's homemade brownie muffins. I later learned that the brownies were really store bought, but boy were they delicious!

We ended up having a successful weekend, seeing a lot of positive improvements in each of our boats. Since this was our first big race of the season, we also have learned a lot about where we need to go from here. You can find the results here or on our "News" section of the blog.

Cream of the Crop Coxswains

Today, I stumbled upon what I believe is one of my new favorite rowing websites. Called "Shivspix" it features rowing art by Shivani. A former coxswain, Shivani combines her love of photography, rowing, and the amazing people she has worked with into a first class website featuring stunning photographs, interviews, and advice.

Here are some great advice columns written by the USRowing national team coxswains:

• Pete Cipollone on What Makes a Great Coxswain
  
• Cipollone Shares How to Avoid Being “Noise”
• Marcus McElhenney’s Tips for When You’re Behind
• Marcus McElhenney Discusses Setting the Right Tone
• Ned DelGuercio Shares Tips on Coxing a 2k

Pete Cipollone - coxswain of the 2004 gold-medal winning U.S. men's 8. Pete also World Championships in the heavyweight men's eight in 1997, 1998, and 1999
Marcus McElhenney - coxswain of the 2008 bronze-medal winning U.S. men's 8
Ned DelGuercio - coxswain of the gold-medal lightweight eight at the 2008 World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships

Form and Function

Aristotle once said in Metaphysica that, "the whole is more than the sum of its parts."

Gestalt psychology also follows the principle of totality, that "the conscious experience must be considered globally (by taking into account all the physical and mental aspects of the individual simultaneously) because the nature of the mind demands that each component be considered as part of a system of dynamic relationships."

At Susquehanna, we treat rowing in a very holistic manner. We stretch and lengthen our muscles through yoga and focus on our breathing, we tear apart and build up our muscles through lifting, we push our lungs to their capacity through cardio, we do interval training and sprints to condition our fast twitch muscles, we test our endurance in longer workouts to challenge our slow twitch muscles, we erg on slides to work on ratio and teamwork, and we erg individually to learn how to push ourselves to our personal limits. That's just the physical part.

Mentally, we have the blog to celebrate team accomplishments and disseminate information, we have long talks on bus rides and cafeteria meals, debriefing sessions after rowing, we watch videos of ourselves and others, we send each other reassuring messages through Facebook/campus mail/and on our doors, we psych ourselves up through music and good luck rituals, we make t-shirts that show the world our group identity, we have coaches and coxswains to point out our form and our work ethic, and we have each other.

We don't just do the same lifts every day, the same workouts, the same pep talks, and the same conversations... It is hard to tease a part what actually goes into our "training." The same thing goes with teasing a part the rowing stroke and movement of a boat. Many rowers mistakenly believe that there is some kind of magic automatic fix to issues in a boat.

There are a million tiny details (or dynamic relationships) that go into the physics of rowing a boat that can create the slightest offset or drag. There is often a desire to "call someone out," by pointing out a weakness or a troublesome part of the stroke. The trouble is, sometimes there are so many small things contributing to an overall problem that a lot of things (from a lot of people) need to be fixed to make a noticeable difference.

Most rowers that I see on the Susquehanna team have very predictable issues. No amount of calling attention in the past few months has addressed individual style or action. Here are some general tips about issues I regularly see:

• Don't use a problem to fix a problem - Don't shorten the stroke to offset having trouble getting the blade cleanly out of the water. This will not help the boat operate at full efficiency - ultimately you are just slowing it down.
• Don't get mad - The tenser you are, the less fluid and dynamic your bladework will become. Use any frustration and channel it through the drive and your breath rather than letting it consume you.
• Give yourself permission to have a bad stroke/day/practice - The best of crews don't have perfect rows all of the time (sure their "less than perfect rows" may look differently than ours, but it still happens). We have to "do" to learn in crew and often that means making mistakes. As Coach Steve likes to say, "It's all about the miles," meaning the only way you are going to become a better rower is if you put in the water time -- miles and miles and miles.
• Stay FOCUSED - Keep your mental brain and physical head in the boat. You have to be physically and mentally present to be in top form as a rower. Also, "sightseeing" by turning your head around/staring at your oar/or other form of lallygagging is going to offset the boat. Need to get your head in the game? Close your eyes and concentrate on the feeling of the oar through the water and the rhythm of the boat or focus on listening to your breathing or the sounds of the boat/water. Rowing is more of a feeling than a physical product you can see.
• Coming up the slide is called the RECOVERY for a reason - Don't rush the slide and expect the boat to fly underneath of you. The minute you feel tension in the undersides of your knees is when you know you are pulling yourself up the slide instead of floating. The recovery (or return) is when the boat is moving underneath of you to gain the maximum amount of water per stroke. When you rush, you can actually send the boat sternward and giving up valuable water. EVERYONE in the boat can do something about rushing - e.g. not contributing to it. Don't get sucked into the rush.
  
• Don't drop the hands over the knees - Time and time again, I see blades skying (e.g. hanging way up high in the air) before the catch because rowers drop the hands once they get past their knees. Maintain even, steady hand levels on the return to ensure a clean and well-timed catch.
• Square up early - "Show your colors" by starting to square the blade over the ankles. Showing your colors means that spectators will know exactly who is coming down the course because of the length of time your blade design and colors are shown. The blade will continue to move backward as you square, eventually lining up perfectly for the catch. Quick hands, early square, clean and crisp catch. BOOM, then you are moving!

Although I just spent a great deal of time talking about the need to think of rowing as a whole (from a macro rather than micro perspective), Row2K features just posted a great new article entitled, "Fixing the Set, One Detail at a Time: A non-holistic approach to set," written by Rob Colburn. He identifies a set of symptoms and causes for boat set issues that I think we can all learn a thing or two from.

USA World Championships Team 2004

For me, rowing comes down to attitude, tenacity, perseverance, willingness to learn (and fail), and FIRE! Take what you will from that.

Secrets

I was not at practice today because I had tickets to a lecture at Bucknell for Frank Warren, the creator of the community art project known as Post Secret. In case you are unfamiliar, Post Secret is a project that asks people to write a secret on a post card and anonymously send it to Frank at his home in Maryland. Frank reads each post card (he gets 100-200 a day from all over the country and world) and then posts them on his blog, publishes them in books, or puts them on display at two traveling art exhibits. He also has a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account.

I have been an avid reader of Post Secret since graduate school, which is about five years now. Every Sunday, Frank loads new postcards onto the blog and I am reminded that everyone has secret fears, desires, wishes, dreams, regrets, and confessions. Whenever I feel lonely or alone, the postcards help remind me that I am not.

Why am I bringing this up on a blog that is about the Susquehanna University crew team? At the end of the lecture, audience members were invited to share their own secrets. They were profoundly moving and deeply emotional. I am reminded (much like I am often reminded in my job with students) that so many people are carrying around burdens, insecurities, hidden struggles (be it emotional, academic, or something else entirely).

• "Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in the world." - Frank Warren
  

I just want to remind you that you are not alone. Remember that our team is here for each other. That includes coaches too. Coach Jim and I are always willing to lend an ear if you are experiencing difficulty, need someone to talk to, or want advice. In addition to us, there are a ton of great resources that a school like Susquehanna has to offer. Don't forget that most academic departments offer tutoring hours and definitely take up your professors on study sessions or office hours. Don't forget about the Career Center or Academic Support and Success:

• Math Center
• Writing Center - awesome if you need a proof reader, help with professional formatting (APA, MLA, ASA), and overall a great resource to help you write papers clearly and concisely
• Modern Language Resource Center
• Academic Skills Center - great resource to learn more about time management, test anxiety and preparation, study skills, and organization

Susquehanna also has a great Counseling Center where appointments can be made Monday through Fridays by calling 570-372-4751. Appointments are free, confidential, and just because you go once does not mean that you the obligation to go again. It is something that I took advantage of as a Susquehanna student and felt stronger and more balanced because of it. Honestly, I can't think of one resource that I just named that I didn't take advantage of.

So, as we are hunkering down preparing for our 2k races and racing season, don't forget to concentrate on your academics, personal well being, and health too!

Yoga for Rowers

"We win. We lose. We Victory Squat." - Paula Trinchera

SU Crew has added a new section to our warm ups and cool downs for each practice. It's called, "Yoga for Rowers" by Chrys Kozak and focuses on the four phases of the rowing stroke: the recovery (balance), catch (connection), drive (power), and finish (control). It has increased our focus, balance, and flexibility.

Lauren Seamon is practicing good "victory squat" form in the snow on the photo at the side -- one of the moves taught in the book. A side benefit of the stretches and moves provided by the book is the ability to perform wicked awesome Twister moves.


You can also check out this article from the Los Angeles Rowing Blog about yoga breathing. For those of you who might not have our book, you can find some yoga poses on the page as well.

Music as Motivation

I know that I have told some of you that I went to college "before there were iPods." I remember many afternoons in college running on the Isle of Que, on the "farm run," with my clunky portable CD player. I had mix CDs with Moby, Maroon Five, Britney Spears, Pink, Sum 41, LIT, and more. I remember many practices in the Green Room* with our stereo blasting, being educated in heavy metal, old school rock, blue grass, German techno, and the worst idea ever -- School House Rock Conjunction Junction. Thanks to Greg Giuntini and Brian Card, I got pretty schooled on Pantera, Coal Chamber, Soulfly, and other really angry metal songs. The upside to said songs are that the anger really does channel well into an erg piece. Thankfully Pete Haberkost was always able to lighten the mood with a little OAR, Jack Johnson, and always knew what was going to be popular way before it became mainstream.

My favorite song to play during erg tests was this crazy German techno song of Coach's that counted down in German. I also remember erging to Bill Joel's "Pressure" remix at Erg Armageddon one year. It seemed like an appropriate song at the time. Music has always and still does have a huge impact on me when I exercise.

Music is an awesome training tool that can help us more sharply tune our ability to focus, help us transcend pain, and push us further than we thought we could go. At the end of a long run, I always have go-to songs that I know will help me pick up the pace and finish strong. Equally, when I take an aerobics class at the gym, the instructor puts on a slower more mellow song at the end to help our heart rates slow down and to help us focus our breathing. These are some of my favorite erging songs (with enough energy to keep you moving!):

• Body in Motion - Wise Guys
  
• Just Gotta Get Through This - Daniel Bedingfield
  
• Jump (For My Love) - The Pointer Sisters

I'd like to make an SU Crew Spring 2010 mix CD for the erg room. What songs would you like to add? Comment below!!


*The Green Room was comprised of where the ergs currently are and the section of the weight room next door. That section had fake green grass outdoor carpeting, which smelled pretty badly and pieces always got stuck on the back of your shirt -- thus the term Green Room.

Eating Well

We all know that the Susquehanna Crew Team likes to eat.

Judging by the pasta dinners, celebratory cakes, Thanksgiving Dinner, the Chinese buffet, and the mounds of food available at races, this is no question in my mind.

Row2K just featured a great article about University of Wisconsin's varsity women's crew team learning to prepare healthy and quick meals to fuel their active lifestyles.
Healthy Cooking 101: A lesson for student athletes



Sports Nutritionist Leslie Bonci came to speak at Susquehanna several years ago and provided student athletes with excellent tips and information. This can still be found on the Susquehanna athletic site.

• Athlete's Guide to Proper Fueling
• Nutrition Goals
• Performance Eating for Sport: What Every Athlete Needs to Know
• Performance Enhancing Strategies: How Good Can You Get Doing It Right?

You can also find information through Susquehanna Dining's Fresh and Healthy website.

Do you have any nutrition websites, books, or advice you'd like to share? Feel free to comment!