One year when I was teaching at the Lakeside School in Seattle one of my athletes introduced himself and said, “I’m the kind of kid who is serious about my training and I want to go to state in the 300 meter hurdles.” I was astounded by his challenging  attitude and said to him, “Well, I’m the kind of coach that matches her enthusiasm for coaching to the level of the athlete’s discipline.” Meaning, I’ll do all I can to help you as long as you’re making that level of commitment to your goal as well. I can’t give it to you and your parents can’t buy it for you. You have to earn it. As it turns out he was one of the most disciplined and focused kids I have ever coached. He made it to state, though half-way through the season we realized that his chances for getting to state were better in the 200 meter, as that year our district was very competitive in the hurdle events.

Coaches how many of you are new to the sport of track and field? Those of us who have been head coaches appreciate your interest in helping kids with their track goals. The following incident really happened one year with one of my athletes. I hope this story inspires coaches new to track and field to know that even though they are beginners they may offer a lot to a kid.

Every year it is a difficult job to round up experienced coaches to take on a track or field coaching position. One year I was short a long jump coach which was particularly awkward because Harry was going to make his best effort to get to the state championship. When he learned the new librarian would be his coach he was very upset, as she knew nothing about the long jump. When he confronted me about this I was understanding, but on the other hand I really felt that if a kid wants it bad enough it’s his responsibility to get what he needs. I told him how I had had to work during my senior year which conflicted with the time my coach could work with me. Consequently, I trained on my own during the last period of the day three days a week. I studied and learned my event. I dragged my dad to the track to mark my steps. I created my own theories on just how I could get three steps between hurdles.

The next year my coach was asked how to coach a state champion and she said, “stay out of their way.” A lot of times our coaches can help us with shortcuts but we have to take the ultimate responsibility for our learning. As it turns out the librarian and Harry made a terrific team. She was able to get him the best learning materials; books and videos on the world’s best jumpers. He studied these images constantly and I wasn’t surprised when he improved his jump distance by over three feet. His winning district jump of twenty feet eleven inches won him entry to the state meet. The images had given him an accurate vision of what he wanted to accomplish.