“It is all about the personality of each individual coxswain,” Ian Accomando, assistant coach of lightweight crew, said. “If they are a competitor, have a good work ethic and a high level of achievement, then they are going to fit in just fine whether they are a boy a or a girl.”
Female coxswains often specifically choose to work with men’s crews for various reasons, and are comfortable with looking past gender before they even enter the boat house.
For example, Goodman grew up with a brother and always had a lot of guy friends. Besides already being comfortable around guys, she was drawn to the level of intensity that being on a men’s team provided her.
“I get to push myself to match the guy’s intensity and go for more when they want to go for more,” Goodman said. “You have to take yourself seriously in order to demand the respect of the guys…. but it’s less about what gender you are and all about how well you’re performing. It’s a lot about being there - showing up to do the work.”
“Heavyweight men go fastest… that was my criteria.” Kunes said.
The intensity and competitive nature of the sport enables gender distinctions to not matter.
“All it comes down to is who can best execute the job,” Accomando said. “The guys in the boat are willing to take criticism, inspiration and direction from anyone. We have no problems in that respect.”
However, even though Kunes always knew she wanted to cox on the heavyweight men’s team in college, when she first arrived at Harvard’s Newell boathouse she was in for a surprise.
At Harvard, the men’s and women’s boathouses are separate. The women’s program operates out of Weld boathouse on the Cambridge side of the river, while the men’s boathouse is across the river in Allston.
“In was a weird situation at first when I realized that the boathouse was made specifically for men,” Kunes said. “There are no women’s locker rooms. There’s a little closet that has probably ten lockers in it that the coxswains use and there’s a bathroom next to it we can use, but it’s the public restroom.”
Regardless of gender, one of the most important qualities of a coxswain is the bond he or she builds with his or her boat.
“There’s a lot of relatability between each coxswain and their boat because you grow with the rowers and understand what the technical changes and the sort of motivation that works best to make that boat go fastest,” Goodman said. “The most important thing for a coxswain is that you relate to your boat well and you find your community within your boat.”
Specific scenarios such as showering, travelling, and having to find time outside of practice to work out do pose additional challenges for female coxswains.
When the team travels, the coxswains room together, separate from the boys; and Accomando joked about how the one place thing the female coxswains are excluded from is the “shower banter.”
“People ask me a lot ‘do you work out with the guys?’” Goodman said. “No I don’t personally. Some coxswains do, but I run. I really like running. So when I’m actually coxing, I’m just sitting there, which means there’s an extra initiative that I have to take since I have to budget in time outside of practice for working out whereas all other athletes get their workout in during practice.”
However, despite these challenges, the experience of being a female athlete on a men’s team is extremely rewarding.
“Both being a cox and being a girl on a team really forces you not to take your status as a teammate for granted,” Jennie said. “It might seem easy to separate yourself from the team, so instead you have to never let off on being motivated and truly invested. Ultimately this is a good thing since when you follow through with that it makes you closer to the team and the team better.”