THE RACE - WHAT TO SAY

Technical calls.

With the prospect of taking many strokes staring your rowers in the eyes, it is important to help them take the most efficient strokes possible. A mixture of calls for longer strokes and good catches will help. Rhythm is also very important. A set of 5 strokes with "kick/send" spoken rhythmically will help. Taking 5 or 10 strokes to focus on a specific technical issue is good as well. [If your boat is having set issues, do not say "set the boat." Remind the rowers to move together. Remind them to have even handle heights on the finish. If neither of those works, move on to something else. 6-8 minutes of "set the boat" is overkill.

Power calls.

It is NOT good to continually tell your rowers to pull harder, push harder, go harder, etc. If you want to make a power call, make it something like "let's get the legs down together" or "let's accelerate the blades through the water together." The rowers have all trained for a reason, to race. They don't need to be told to pull. Also, it is useful to call power 10s, as "making a move" on other crews.

Position/motivation calls.

Yes, its fun to catch the crew in front of you or pull away from the crew behind you. Motivate your crew to catch the boat in front/push away from the crew behind. Use passing a crew as motivation ("That's one crew down, now let's go get the rest"), but don't make it the overriding focus. If you are moving through a crew, tell the rowers that it is happening, but don't over-excite them (if they are already passing the crew, they don't need to take "power 10s"). For motivation, use other parts of the race. Remind the rowers that they are being timed. Use the technical aspects to enhance their speed ("Let's all hit the legs together to move the boat").