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“I was the smallest person in my high school struggling to find a sport that I could be involved in, being so small,” freshmen men’s heavyweight coxswain Jennie Kunes explained.

At 4’11”, Kunes would not strike the average passerby as a Division 1 female athlete, much less a member of a men’s team. However, Kunes and four other Harvard women are key members of the Harvard men’s rowing programs.

SMALL BUT IMPORTANT

Outside the world of rowing, the role of the coxswain is often unknown or misunderstood. Who are the people sitting in the boat, but not actually rowing? What even are they doing?

In order for a boat to make it down the river as quickly as possible, the rowers must be working hard and have their strokes in sync, and the boat must take the fastest course possible.

Although the coxswain does not contribute physically to the boat speed by rowing, he or she is responsible for ensuring that all three of these things happen to ensure the best results possible.

A good coxswain must motivate and inspire his or her rowers to push themselves physically harder than they could alone, feel when the rowers are executing their strokes precisely and efficiently and instruct them to adjust accordingly, and make quick judgments during pieces and races to steer the boat.

“There’s a lot of trust put in [coxswains],” sophomore men’s heavyweight coxswain Jacqueline Goodman said. “You’re the person in charge of where the boat is going to go, the coach’s partner who directs the rowers when the coach is not there, and the one pushing the guys to keep going and get as much as they possibly can out of a piece.”

Another important element of the coxswain is that since he or she is not pulling his or her weight by rowing, the lighter he or she is, the better. For collegiate men’s rowing, both the minimum and maximum weight for coxswains is 125 lbs. Ideally, the coxswain’s weight is as close to 125lbs as possible so that he or she does not weigh down the boat any more than necessary. Coxswains under the weight minimum must carry sand bag weights with them in the boat to ensure fairness in competition.

There are many more college aged women who are around 125 pounds than men. Thus, men’s crew teams often recruit female coxswains and encourage even inexperienced girls of the right build to try out.

The unique role of coxswains encourages individuals who may not otherwise participate in collegiate athletics to be able to complete.

“It’s such a unique opportunity to participate in college athletics when you’re not necessarily built for athletics,” said Kunes. “I did soccer and track in high school… but I was just too small.”

ONE OF THE GUYS

Being a female athlete on a men’s team is a unique situation. However, both coaches and athletes from Harvard’s men’s crew programs have stressed that in the boat, gender does not matter.