The little people at the back of the boat (known by those in the rowing community as 'coxies') are an integral part of the crew. They can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Good ones feel your pain but push you even further and bad ones don't do very much at all.

As you leave the slip at 6am, and only just start to wake up, the cox gives you a reason to keep going. The next regatta? The next HOR? Whatever it may be the coxswain is the person who keeps us performing at our best.

Most people think of a coxswain as 'the little guy/girl at the back of the boat who steers and shouts abuse' and they are gravely mistaken. Sure, the cox does steer the boat but that is only half his job. He ties the crew together, he motivates the crew. He is basically he driver of the 'car', stepping on the accelerator when he calls a 10 firm and steering the 'car' to keep us in lane.

Most people think the cox has an easy job but let's just think about that for a minute. Cramping into a seat at the end of the boat, no leg room, keeping your weight down, being responsible for the safety of 8 people even though you can't see directly ahead, having to motivate people who are several inches taller, and then you have people complaining about you not doing any work. Not the job for me!  During the middle of a race they are working just as hard as everyone in the boat to make sure we win.

They may sometimes have a hard time from oarsmen (and women) but personally I would like to say THANK YOU to all coxies out there.

~ Irish Rower