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

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To see photos of Mary, and get links to the people, clubs, and events mentioned in this episode, check out the show notes on our website.

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This episode was made possible in part by Breakwater Realty, Concept2, EB5 Investors, RowSource, and our Patrons.

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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.