I have a kid is pretty high level. he has always worked in the summer, but I think he will take the summer before his senior year off. and he should. Kids who are truly committed to being top notch in running and in the classroom shouldn't work if they don't have to. Some people need to, and that's okay.
train, eat, sleep, recover. working gets in the way of sleep and recovery.
Didn’t German Fernandez have a year around, part time job?
I have a kid is pretty high level. he has always worked in the summer, but I think he will take the summer before his senior year off. and he should. Kids who are truly committed to being top notch in running and in the classroom shouldn't work if they don't have to. Some people need to, and that's okay.
train, eat, sleep, recover. working gets in the way of sleep and recovery.
Didn’t German Fernandez have a year around, part time job?
maybe he did. maybe he needed it. maybe that's part of the reason we don't hear about him anymore. it's not something that can't be done. it's something that probably isn't ideal. not that working against ideal circumstances is a bad thing.
I have a kid is pretty high level. he has always worked in the summer, but I think he will take the summer before his senior year off. and he should. Kids who are truly committed to being top notch in running and in the classroom shouldn't work if they don't have to. Some people need to, and that's okay.
train, eat, sleep, recover. working gets in the way of sleep and recovery.
Good post. I agree. I was a fairly elite level high school runner by letsrun standards, and, while I think having a summer job is healthy for a kid, I surely wish I’d convinced my parents to let me work part time or not at all the summer before senior year. Getting a scholarship is the job. As it was, I worked construction all summer in the heat from 8-5 with an hour off for lunch. It sucked. I surely never wanted to run after, but I did it because I wanted to stay competitive. A part time job like four hours per day max? Perfect.
Why? My kids didn't work in HS or college. One is earning $160K at 26 and the other iels earning $125K at 24. Both were successful students and runners and now are successful adults.
That is almost as much as the prime minister of England. Why are Americans so overpaid and overweight?
Didn’t German Fernandez have a year around, part time job?
maybe he did. maybe he needed it. maybe that's part of the reason we don't hear about him anymore. it's not something that can't be done. it's something that probably isn't ideal. not that working against ideal circumstances is a bad thing.
Come on. People aren’t that delicate. When distance running was an amateur sport, runners would have families, work full-time and still make Olympic teams.
maybe he did. maybe he needed it. maybe that's part of the reason we don't hear about him anymore. it's not something that can't be done. it's something that probably isn't ideal. not that working against ideal circumstances is a bad thing.
Come on. People aren’t that delicate. When distance running was an amateur sport, runners would have families, work full-time and still make Olympic teams.
If you're prone to stress fractures, working an active job could be the straw that breaks the moose's back.
I had a job every year in HS. During the summers, I doubled my hours. Usually quit towards the end of summer to have a few weeks off before school started and got a new job after settling in to the new school year. Back then (late 90s), it was more common for teens to start/stop jobs based on their school and sports schedules. I did everything from grocery store cashier to Blockbuster video.
My teenage daughter tried to get a job and they basically wanted her to work full time. She is a multi-sport athlete and I basically had to tell her she couldn't work. She babysits instead and makes good money. Not sure what my boys will do when they get older... it seems harder for teens to get jobs now. They are competing with adults for minimum wage positions.
My expierence in HS (6 ish years ago) was that you couldn't get a job under 18 unless you knew someone because of liability risks. Everyone I knew that had a job in HS was connected to the owner of the business.
As a secondary point, I know a bunch of families, especially bigger ones, that don't want their older kids getting jobs, because then the parents will need baby sitting/driving services from other people, who will charge money.
If they're truly at the elite level and going to get a scholarship, I would think having a summer job would get in the way of their goals.
You have to think long term. Is a couple thousand dollars from a summer job more important (or worth the risk) than a scholarship that will be worth probably at least $200k and sets you up nicely for the rest of your life?
I worked 10-15 hours/Wk during the school year and 40-50 hours/Wk during the summer. A mix of office work, hard labor, restaurant work. Ran 9:11 (6 years ago).. so not elite but also not hobby jogging.
Getting drivers Ed done when you are doing a sport is tough. A part time job would be tricky. My son was a three sport athlete and he did do some odd jobs on the weekend.
Elite high school runners don't typically have jobs during the school year. My coach in high school urged against his varsity working, but understood if someone had to. One of his top runners had a job for nearly a year and the time on her feet contributed to an injury. She ended up quitting and only did summer jobs. Many JV athletes had part time jobs.
The same applies to elite athletes post collegiate. Whether they have a sponsor or not, unless they're winning WMM or placing top 3 in Diamond Leagues, they have to work. Sponsors pay very little to most pro/elite athletes in this sport, a lot of the contracts are gear only.
When Big Bear Track Club had a team, all of them were required to work except Brenda and Boris. The team had a sponsorship with New Balance, but their "pay" was free coaching and New Balance gear. Maybe a stipend - but I'm not entirely sure - either way it was not enough to support their training. They had some talented runners that in a normal sport would be making enough money to focus on training.
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