Ive been reading all of these posts with interest and respect. You are in the minority because of what is happening with the idea of the value of winning at sport. Sports are a huge entertainment industry that pays great amounts at many levels and effects a lot of people outside of coaches and athletes. We are bombarded daily with media about how much our society values winning and despises losing. Thus the nature of our culture. With economic wealth and a high standard of living, we have a lot of extra time on our hands and put more value on things that don't really matter that much.
Someone asked me today how I continue to produce quality programs for nearly 3 decades and my bottom line answer is usually; the kids have to own it, not me and I have to get the parents to yeild to common sense. (In addition to a lot of good assistant coaches and willing kids). If we all work together and trust each other, we usually can stay out of each others way of consistent progress and a healthy experience at the high school level. Once the parents start seeking out extra opportunities for their kids, things start falling apart for everyone. They usually end up having to choose their path at that point. Water off a ducks back for me because I know the headaches we will all avoid and I've won enough to not make deals with the devil that have a negative impact on the rest of the team and the program as a whole.
All that being said, I do encourage our distance runners to follow a suggested summer and winter training program with built in recovery periods. Of course its voluntary. I have never put on a uniform and run a race for any of my athletes. More often than not, I have to regulate downtime vs. begging them to train in the offseason. They read a lot of stuff and typically think more is better and tend to forget about recovery time and risk overuse injury.
I have had little trouble explaining to parents and athletes why its a bad idea to seek out other coaches and more competition opportunities during the off-seasons but there will always be someone that wants that experience. Since I can't keep them from it, they usually find out I was right after the fact. Ive taken kids to national is meets and the Olympic Trials but they were few and far between. When that happens, the recovery and training cycles have to be adjusted appropriately or you can expect the following in season to be sketchy to flat and not very rewarding.
It is interesting to watch how our best athletes handle all of this additional post season racing but I would say that for the most part they have gotten what they wanted. I really don't have a problem with them competing up and then returning to hs competition but its always interesting to see how long their careers last and to what level they still improve once they reach physical prime. Mostly I think they just get a head start on the majority and just get tired when they should be at their best. But in a world of instant gratification, many misguided parents want that magic for their kid now. How many hours of study time were sacrificed for an activity that will be over before their professional lives really get started? Better off earning that academic scholarship first, walk-on and get better with age I think.
This post was edited on 7/31 4:47 PM by On Wings of Eagles
Someone asked me today how I continue to produce quality programs for nearly 3 decades and my bottom line answer is usually; the kids have to own it, not me and I have to get the parents to yeild to common sense. (In addition to a lot of good assistant coaches and willing kids). If we all work together and trust each other, we usually can stay out of each others way of consistent progress and a healthy experience at the high school level. Once the parents start seeking out extra opportunities for their kids, things start falling apart for everyone. They usually end up having to choose their path at that point. Water off a ducks back for me because I know the headaches we will all avoid and I've won enough to not make deals with the devil that have a negative impact on the rest of the team and the program as a whole.
All that being said, I do encourage our distance runners to follow a suggested summer and winter training program with built in recovery periods. Of course its voluntary. I have never put on a uniform and run a race for any of my athletes. More often than not, I have to regulate downtime vs. begging them to train in the offseason. They read a lot of stuff and typically think more is better and tend to forget about recovery time and risk overuse injury.
I have had little trouble explaining to parents and athletes why its a bad idea to seek out other coaches and more competition opportunities during the off-seasons but there will always be someone that wants that experience. Since I can't keep them from it, they usually find out I was right after the fact. Ive taken kids to national is meets and the Olympic Trials but they were few and far between. When that happens, the recovery and training cycles have to be adjusted appropriately or you can expect the following in season to be sketchy to flat and not very rewarding.
It is interesting to watch how our best athletes handle all of this additional post season racing but I would say that for the most part they have gotten what they wanted. I really don't have a problem with them competing up and then returning to hs competition but its always interesting to see how long their careers last and to what level they still improve once they reach physical prime. Mostly I think they just get a head start on the majority and just get tired when they should be at their best. But in a world of instant gratification, many misguided parents want that magic for their kid now. How many hours of study time were sacrificed for an activity that will be over before their professional lives really get started? Better off earning that academic scholarship first, walk-on and get better with age I think.
This post was edited on 7/31 4:47 PM by On Wings of Eagles
