It's winter, and if you live in the Northeast, you're likely reading this after hours of digging your car out of a pile of snow; even in warmer climates from San Diego to Barcelona, it's sweater weather. With the chill comes the indoor training in many parts of the country, and with indoor training comes antsy coxswains. This week, row2k chatted with Anna Hopkins, coxswain for the Williams College women; Hopkins drove the Ephs to an NCAA win in the 2V in 2012, and again this year in the 1V. As the top coxswain for the top division 3 program in the nation, Hopkins shared with us some of her thoughts on not only getting through winter training, but excelling as a coxswain out of water.

What was your athletic experience prior to collegiate rowing?

I started as a rower at Wilmington Youth Rowing Association in my freshman year of high school and transitioned by the spring to coxing, partly because I was the right size, and partly because I developed a wrist injury. I've been a coxswain ever since.

It didn't leave much space for other sports, but I run a lot.

What was your first winter like at Williams?

In college, winter training is a lot more serious than it was in high school. For the most part the team trains together in the winter, even though it isn't enforced. While there is a training expectation that we have of each other, it's not the rigid timeframe that we have on the water.

My freshman year I did a lot of watching older coxswains. We had really strong coxswains in the class of 2011, and I was able to learn so much from watching them during the winter. That's what I think coxswains can do the most of in terms of their own skills during the winter.

I think the coxswain's role in the winter has two parts: One of which is how do you get better as a coxswain when you're not in a boat. It's easy to say 'I can't work on steering,' and it can be hard when you see rowers becoming faster and fitter. It's such a good time to learn from other coxswains on your team though.

My freshman fall I was with the novice team and coach, so I didn’t get to interact with many of the varsity until the winter. It was such a good time for us all to get together and I think that's true for all the rowers, but especially for the coxswains, because you would go three months into the season without knowing what they do.

In the winter, I remember watching the way the varsity coxswains would talk to the rowers, or introduce the workout to a group, how they would cox tanking sessions. I learned a lot of drills that first winter.

How did you approach subsequent winter seasons?

A lot changed in my sophomore fall when I was able to race in the Head Of The Charles and there were four seniors in my boat; it was such an honor to have that experience with them. I learned so much with the transition to varsity about what the expectations are of a competitive team. Our performance in the fall really influenced the way I felt about the winter. All the work my teammates had done over the summer was evident early in the fall, and I know that’s what we had to do over the winter.

I took much more of an active role that year. Where I spent much of my first winter season watching and learning about how the older coxswains were managing the team, I started thinking about what the individual rowers are doing. How can I help a sophomore with a shoulder injury get back on the erg? How do I show a freshman girl how to erg because she was only on the erg two days in the fall before she went on the water?

Now as a senior I feel a lot of responsibility for our training in the winter.

So do you feel like a role model on your team?

It's one of my favorite parts of winter: working with the younger coxswains on the team. We have two juniors that have been abroad this fall, so I am excited for them to get back so they can help me provide information to the rest of the coxswains.

What I learned so much of freshman year was there were two seniors and a junior coxswains who were all so talented coxswains and I really learned from all three. Becca [Licht] was really good at motivating during hard workouts, and Fiona [Wilkes] was good at figuring out what drill was technically most called for in the tank. I'm excited for the two juniors to come back so that we can provide that well-rounded picture to the freshmen and sophomores.

One of my favorite things to do with the freshman and sophomore coxswains is to ask them "what do you see right now" on the erg as the best way to talk about erg technique. I think erg technique is one of the biggest ways a coxswain can contribute to team speed in the winter; making sure everyone is healthy on the erg. Once she identifies what is wrong, I can help her figure out how to address the technical fault.

One of the biggest aspects I focus on in the winter is thinking about what makes every rower tick. In the autumn we fall into a lineup, so I know what makes my five seat, my stroke pull hard in the last 500, but I don’t know what motivates someone in the junior varsity or freshman boat—it's a great time to try out motivational calls and see what works for different people.

How do you approach your own athletic goals?

In winter I get the opportunity to workout with my rowers—finally! This past summer I ran, biked and lifted, training six days a week. I felt so strong coming into September, but by November I felt like I had lost so much of my fitness, which is so different from the rowers who gain fitness in the season. Winter is the antidote to that.

It's a challenging balance: sometimes I want to come to practice and do my own workout; I usually end up taking one practice in the week to exclusively workout. My rowers really appreciate seeing me work alongside them. I wish I were able to erg, but that injury I have from my freshman year of high school still prevents me from erging. We have some coxswains on our team who do erg, it's such a huge advantage; when they are 500m into a 2k and you ask them for more, they're going to remember that they saw you kick your own butt a little.

What would be your advice for coxswains entering their first winter season?

Learning to be your own athlete is invaluable because rowers see you. I think I've gone on a run with almost every member of the varsity--that means a lot to me because it makes me feel like a part of the team.

Another purpose of working out in the winter is learning about working out. It's a big part of the reason I decided to train this summer. You learn to tell rowers to not take the seventh day off, but to stretch, but I learned that first hand this summer when I was training six days a week. It's something you can't truly understand until you have trained yourself. You should take winter to train yourself and make that a priority. It can compliment being a leader on the team—I run on the track in the gym where the rowers erg.

Winter training can get bleak for coxswains. The reason we are coxswains is to be on the water and make our boats go faster. It can feel really stagnant, but setting little goals can be the best way to get through winter training. With my younger coxswains I help them set goals like 'give technical feedback to two varsity rowers today.' Setting little goals can help break up the monotony that can feel so endless in the winter.

Coxswains: how do you approach winter training? And rowers: what do you like to see from your coxswains while you're on the erg?