My team doesn't know who Chris Solinsky is

What else can you do? You are doing it. Keep talking to them about it. Wait a year or so for those freshman to start looking things up themselves. No one knows what they don't know until someone tells them. You are an ambassador of the sport so keep doing what you are doing.

What else can you do? You are doing it. Keep talking to them about it. Wait a year or so for those freshman to start looking things up themselves. No one knows what they don't know until someone tells them. You are an ambassador of the sport so keep doing what you are doing.

When I was in HS the only runners I had heard of were other HS runners and Rich Kenah. I don't really think it is a big deal.

If you want to try and get them a little more interested, I would frame it as "Hey, I wanted to show you guys an example of some great tactics." or something, and show some (short) clips from a few races. I think that could have better results than just trying to make them fans.

the magic rat wrote:

When I was in HS the only runners I had heard of were other HS runners and Rich Kenah. I don't really think it is a big deal.

If you want to try and get them a little more interested, I would frame it as "Hey, I wanted to show you guys an example of some great tactics." or something, and show some (short) clips from a few races. I think that could have better results than just trying to make them fans.

The point of that, I meant to say, is to kind of trick them into watching an exciting or gutsy finish that might leave an impression. I doubt most would be that interested in strategy.

Did you know who Chris Solinsky was before last weekend?

Ha. Of course I knew who Chris Solinsky was...but yes, if this was imdb.com, his STARmeter has certainly gone up about 500% this week. I admit that most people, a lot of running fans included, are never going to know as much about what's going on in the sport as I do. But come on, they should know at least a few of the big names.

And I said I was a high school in my original message because I was trying to mask my identity on the off chance that anyone on my team comes across this, but I will admit now that I am actually the coach of a men's and women's college team (if they do read this, they won't make it this far into the thread) which makes it more troublesome to me that they don't know who these people are. High school, okay, sure, but a Division I college team??

I don't know what kind of set up you have, but if you've got a decent computer/video set up, you might show them the Runnerspace Live weekly summary and get them to watch some of the better videos on Flotrack. Once they get to know some of the personalities they might be more interest in the sport.

There's a web site

www.runningmovies.com

that reviews a bunch of different running related movies. You might be able to find one on there that would appeal to your kids.

Yeah, its because espn and other major sports networks do NOTHING to cover track and field. The day after Solinsky's earth shattering race I saw no coverage of the AR on espn.com. Maybe they covered it, but it certainly wasn't anywhere that someone would notice it.

Just let them discover it on their own. Also (albeit very rarely) having no knowledge of what the best runners in the world are doing leaves an absence of limits on their own times. For all they know, the sky's the limit.

do they know Tiger Woods? If so, kick them off the team.

If not, there is hope.

well OK! wrote:

Also (albeit very rarely) having no knowledge of what the best runners in the world are doing leaves an absence of limits on their own times. For all they know, the sky's the limit.

I think the opposite is true. People oblivious to the sport or higher levels of competition are usually more content with slower times.

This is the message I sent last night to the Greater Boston Track Club about tonight workout:

Fans jangled cowbells during the race at Stanford for the 10,000 meters. When Chris Solinsky had a lap to go, he ran at American record pace. . The officials rang a higher pitched bell. Solinsky ran the 800 meters in 1:56. He finished in a new American record of 26:59.60. But the bell wasn't just for him. Bells ring for all sorts of reasons and poets write poems about them. Poe wrote one called "The Bells" and John Donne wrote:

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. "

Donne referred to death and funeral bells, but no one is an island in setting a track and field record either. If death diminishes, then a record reaffirms. We are not the lesser like Europe less minus a clod. We are more when a record is set like a mountain range upthrust by plate tectonics.. I always feel different in a different world on the day after a track and field record is broken. The light has a new tint and the air a clarity that wasn't there the day before.

So tonight's run will be a celebration on the track for 26:59.60 with a concentration on the last 1:56. We will count our laps and fractions in meters. If the number is less than 10,000, we will subtract it from 10,000 to see how far ahead Chris Solinsky's record would put him.

One hard run for all distance runners, each for exactly the same time in this new hued and bright America.

For those training for shorter distances, who lack the attention span for 26:59.60, tell me you are coming so I can give you a different workout. Maybe you'll be the rabbit.

Tom

You are doing the right thing to make your HS runners fans of the sport and the people in it.

Don't worry about it,mate.

Here in Oz I have met many young runners who have never heard of our great 1500 metre Olympic champion Herb Elliott.And it is not as if we have had many such great 1500m runners here.Todays cock of the walk,tomorrows feather duster,just life.

My high school coach would send out an email to the whole team title "Track on TV" whenever they televised a track meet.

When I ran high school XC from 1989 to 1991, I was completely oblivious to all the awesome runners we had back then. What were their names again?

eh...has Solinsky ever heard of your team?

jk

make a team page on runnerspace.com or flotrack.com etc. they will eventually check it out and one thing will lead to another.

Tom, great workout and message.

OP, I'm calling BS. D1 track guys are the biggest geeks in the world. Look, I played a much cooler sport in high school and college but have coached several D1 post-collegiate track athletes; men and women. The men should know Solinsky even if they didnt' stay up late to watch. If you have a team that is remotely competitive they'll follow the sport. If you were a women's coach, I would believe that none knew who he was. Unless he was in a vampire show. Then they'd know who he was.

Coach in NE wrote:

If they did, I think they'd be a lot more inspired to train hard, which is also something we are still working on.

Any advice?

Footlocker 2003:

Hey Will,

What is the deal? Did you get tired of coaching a few sub 3 hour marathoners on you "Elite" development crew? Or chasing 40 something year old women around the lake? I didn't know you had high school credentials?