Mary Whipple: Coaching the Coxswain
This episode was made possible in part by Breakwater Realty, Concept2, EB5 Investors, RowSource, and our Patrons.
After providing some basic instruction, coaches often leave coxswains to figure things out on their own.
Three-time medal-winning U.S. Olympic coxswain Mary Whipple recognized this gap in the coaching playbook and founded The 9th Seat, offering camps, resources, and community for coxswains.
Hear what Mary has to say about lucky breaks and logistics, and why being a motivator isn’t at the top of her coxing list.
QUICK LOOK
00:00 - Intro
05:07 - Team huddle: Mary’s coxing bio
05:45 - Mary’s rowing week: Writing the USRowing Coxing Course for athletes and coaches
13:30 - Developing empathy as a coxswain and giving rowers time to make changes
16:48 - Creating a practice environment where coxswain feels safe to fail
23:03 - Hot Seat Q&A
26:45 - What was behind Mary’s successful trajectory from high school, to UW, to the National Team?
33:33 - Hitting her stride at the University of Washington
35:15 - Mary’s most influential coaches
40:21 - Keeping coxswains engaged and motivated throughout the pipeline from scholastic, to college, to masters
45:27 - On bad days…
46:30 - More talking isn’t better. Listen, feel, check-in, fix.
49:05 - The perfect stroke: a feeling that comes from efficiency, suspension, and collaboration
55:38 - Leading the way in coaching coxswains
56:29 - Outro
EPISODE Mentions
CAMPS
The 9th Seat
CLUBS
Conibear Rowing Club
DC Strokes Rowing Club
Montlake Rowing Club
Vashon Island Rowing Club
COACHES
Hartmut Buschbacher
Jan Harville
Barbara Kirch
Frank Cunningham 🎥
Eleanor McIlvaine
Mike Spracklen
Sam Sweitzer
Tom Tehaar
REGATTAS & EVENTS
San Diego Crew Classic
World Rowing Championships
2004 Athen Olympics 🎥
2008 Beijing Olympics 🎥
2012 London Olympics 🎥
ROWERS
Anna (Mikelson) Cummins
Caryn Davies
Susan Francia
Leanne Nelson
Gevvie Stone 🎧
SCHOLASTIC & YOUTH PROGRAMS
Capital Crew
UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS
University of Washington
USROWING
Coxing course
Junior National Team
Senior National Team
This episode was written, produced, hosted, and edited by Tara Morgan and Rachel Freedman. Tara provides additional audio engineering and is our sponsor coordinator. Rachel manages the website, social media, and e-newsletter. Our theme music is by Jonas Hipper.