Freshman on my team that needs motivation

That's not great natural talent and it also sounds like he's a huge p*ssy. I would just let it go.

My experience has been that someone who breaks 5:00 for 1600 in the spring will usually break 18:00 in the fall (5k CC) on a typical course. Freshmen tend to improve more than most, so they might be a fair amount faster than that if they trained over the summer.

FreshmanJunior wrote:

Freshman on my team ran 5:10 for track for the mile as an 8th grader off only track training in 8th grade. That's great natural talent. But he ran the 5k recently in 22:30. It was about a min off everyones PR's (hard, hilly course). He has a good stride/cadence. Where could he get this season? Based on that mile, sub 18 is possible right? With good training he could get to sub 17 I think. Am I wrong this is great natural talent?

sucks to suck bro. I've got 3 new frosh on my team who've run 4:57, 4:47, and then a 4:41. The year before we had 4 incoming frosh sub 5. What do we do to motivate them? You've got to set up a competitive atmosphere. Pit people against each other a wee bit, it pays off in huge dividends.

And the great natural talent part? I ran 4:53 in 8th grade, and I definitely wouldn't say I have GREAT talent. it's good at best.

I know you're now going to say that we only have so many under 5 because we over train and we have a huge pool to pull from, but no. 15-20 mpw during track, and a relatively average size team. A competitive atmosphere is the key to any teams success.

Our team is one of the best in the country. Lots under 5, lots under 10. Sub 17 5k wont even make you on varsity. We do have a competitive atmosphere. 5:10 is super good off nothing. I ran 6:30 my 8th grade year, and went sub 18 last year, im pretty average, but if I can break 18 after a 6:30 in 8th grade (I was a sophomore last yr) he can sure as heck break 18 this yr (my mile time freshman yr was 5:30)

FreshmanJunior wrote:

Our team is one of the best in the country. Lots under 5, lots under 10. Sub 17 5k wont even make you on varsity. We do have a competitive atmosphere. 5:10 is super good off nothing. I ran 6:30 my 8th grade year, and went sub 18 last year, im pretty average, but if I can break 18 after a 6:30 in 8th grade (I was a sophomore last yr) he can sure as heck break 18 this yr (my mile time freshman yr was 5:30)

If your team truly was one of the best in the country, then you would not be on this site saying that a 5:10 8th grader has GREAT natural talent. And a barely sub 18 is AVERAGE for you? For comparison's sake to your 5:10 8th grader, I ran 5:12 in 7th grade, and the next year ran a 17:13 5k. I think any where from 17-17:30 should be reasonable.

But why the stress on this one individual? If you have top national caliber team, there should be plenty of far more talented young guys to fill his spot when it is their turn to take the reigns in a few years. I assumed you were hoping for him to be a top scorer this year, or else I did not think that someone could care so much about this dude that they made a thread about it. To me, I'm thinking about this as if you are a CBA Lincroft runner who is pretty slow in comparison to his teammates, and for some goshdarn reason gives a crap cares about a mediocre dude. IF YOU ARE A TOP NATIONAL CALIBER TEAM YOU HAVE PLENTY OF RESOURCES OTHER THAN A FREAKING 5:10 MILER!!! IF THAT'S GREAT NATURAL TALENT IN YOUR OPINION, HOW THE F*CK IS YOUR TEAM SO F*CKING GOOD????

-end of rant

+7

What are YOUR thoughts about this???

If you want to help your teammate, the best thing you can do is run with him and encourage him to do his best. If he's motivated, times will come with training. There is absolutely no reason to pressure or rush the development of a freshman. He's obviously got good speed, he just needs some time to gain some strength and get some miles in his legs.

lol bc i like the kid and he could be good and he shouldnt feel bad about being 40th for his first race