NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Staff Varsity coxswains sophomore
Kate Harbour (left) and freshman Kate
Woodruff do a whole lot more for their team than just yell
"Stroke" on the marina.
By Jessica Bach
Daily Bruin Contributor
[email protected]
Don’t ever ask a coxswain if all they do is yell
“Stroke.” They don’t like this and plead for the
question not to be brought up anymore.
There are valid reasons behind their protest. As coxswains,
their job description calls for duties that go far above and beyond
just shouting “Stroke.” In charge of a plethora of
responsibilities encompassing everything from steering to
motivation, the coxswains are the eyes and ears of the boat.
The varsity coxswains of the UCLA women’s rowing team,
sophomore Kate Harbour and freshman Kate Woodruff, have committed
themselves completely, to be, in essence, an extension of the
coach.
“I’m more than just a girl joy-riding in the
boat,” Woodruff said. “I’m actually contributing
to all aspects of the team, not just one part. And that’s
more than you can say about any other team sport.”
As coxswains, the “Kates” have the task of making
eight athletes and a boat move as one solid unit. Besides their
duties during the race of steering and regulating stroke rates,
these symbolic puppet masters must take charge of all equipment and
rowers, run practices, and communicate the coaches’
orders.
“When the coach is on the launch and we’re in the
water, we are everything except the muscle,” Harbour
said.
Harbour and Woodruff come from two very different rowing
backgrounds. “Woody” (head coach Amy Fuller’s
nickname for Woodruff) rowed for the San Diego Rowing Club, where
she was a two-year captain and led her boat to victory in the quads
at the National Championships.
“Woody is great because she used to row and knows exactly
what pushes people’s buttons,” Fuller said. “At a
1,000 meters, she knows which calls will really motivate the
rowers, cause she’s been there.”
“I still miss the rowing seat,” Woodruff said.
“Everyday, every race, I still want to feel the same physical
excursion. But just being a part of UCLA is exciting, especially
when I’m with the novice boat, because I can see that I took
these eight girls to help become the rowers they are
now.”
Contrasting Woody’s rower mentality, Harbour came to the
team with no previous rowing experience, but felt she had the
qualities it takes to lead a boat.
“I tried to row last year, and it didn’t really work
out,” Harbour said. “But I knew that I was always good
at leading and was organized so this has turned out to be a very
good fit for me.”
Fuller describes the importance of Harbour’s efficiency–
a characteristic that makes the team row more smoothly and
ultimately eases the job for a coach.
As coxswains, the women must exude complete confidence
throughout their races in order for the rowers to feel comfortable.
Also, as natural leaders in their position, coxswains often feel a
strong bond with their rowers and boats.
“You get territorial of “˜your girls’ after you
put so much work and time into them,” Woodruff said.
“Its like a mother-type thing.”
Along with the emotional attachment comes the responsibility of
leading.
“If anything goes wrong, its our problem; our
responsibility,” Woodruff said. “We get blamed first,
and that is a hard thing to get used to. It can be easy to dismiss
it on the rower, but you have to take a look and ask “˜What
did I do?'”
But despite the pressure of accountability, holding an
interesting title such as “coxswain”, the Kates have
been the focus of many jokes, but they take it all in stride.
“Since we go to class right after practice, we have to
carry around our microphones with us during the day,” Harbour
said. “They’re called the “˜Cox-Box’ and
when we see each other, we yell “˜Hey what’s in the that
box?’ and the other calls “˜It’s the
Cox-Box!'”
“It definitely has a lot fun in it.”
The Kates say they would never trade in this luscious name, as
long as no one asks them if all they do is yell
“Stroke.”