1. Agree
2. False. I doubt you are really a coach if you believe this. At the high schoo level you coach who shows up. Location, school & community culture have more to do with this than anything.
3. I have coached footlocker finalists who earned all-America honors off of low mileage. It all depends on the individual and what they can handle.
There are a lot of reasonable responses on this thread. Not sure why the private coach thing gets throw in though.
Seen it all before wrote:
1. Agree
2. False. I doubt you are really a coach if you believe this. At the high schoo level you coach who shows up. Location, school & community culture have more to do with this than anything.
3. I have coached footlocker finalists who earned all-America honors off of low mileage. It all depends on the individual and what they can handle.
There are a lot of reasonable responses on this thread. Not sure why the private coach thing gets throw in though.
2. True.
What do you disagree with about this statement " The 4:12 guy is going to a much better program than the 4:25 guy." This part is most definitely true.
"The team will have better coaching, training group and facilities which will bring additional advantages." Better programs are better programs because they put more resources into their coaching, facilities, and recruiting.
The 4:12 guy can at least walk-on to Oregon or Oklahoma State and the 4:25 guy cannot. The 4:12 guy will then have all of the advantages that those perennial contenders provide while the 4:25 goes to a second or third tier school.
My point is that advantages at one level provide advantages at the next level. It's not to say that a highly motivated individual cannot overcome a weak high school program to succeed in college. It happens every year with athletes like Cam Levins or Tara Erdmann, but the odds are against them.
Intradasting wrote:
The school record holder at my high school was trained with the "save for later" mentality. He ran 15:55, 9:26, and 4:25 his senior year.
Colby Lowe, who ran an 8:47 two mile (more than twice as fast as my friends 1600 PR in high school) in high school, was trained hard as a prep, he has run 8:03 (~8:41 2 mile) for the 3000 but has never really been able to compete with the big dogs.
My friend? the 9:26 3200 guy? He ran 8:04 this year, has been improving rapidly since graduating, loves running, and will probably end up faster than Colby Lowe. DId I mention my friend is a junior in college? (Lowe is a senior).
Great for your friend. But using Colby as an example is not good. That kid has just flourished in college. He was a stud in HS and is even more of stud in college. You need to use someone who was a stud in HS with high intensity and now is a dud in college.