There needs to be just as much outrage at this coach as there was about the Viera High School coach that pulled a distance runner off the starting line last week.
Yeah, from time to time, there are as$hole parents and/or kids, and that completely sucks when that happens. Also, there are sometimes when everyone involved contributes significantly to the problem. But, in my experience (many years and I also know a lot of coaches), the ratio in situations like this one are ~20% dick-ish parents vs ~80% dick-ish coaches.
You have your percentages backwards. And the parents percentage should probably be a lot higher. Parents are terrible. Good parents should know that whatever their kids tell them is pretty much never 100% correct/factual. However, most parents now just go along with and believe every stupid lie that their kids tell them. It is actually amazing some of the things that parents believe from their kids. And on top of that, many of them go right along with trying to enable their kids' bad/poor behaviors.
I have a direct source at the school that shared the parents called the police during a parent meeting and subsequently filed a restraining order against the coach. Head coach expressed in his 34 years of coaching had never met parents and an athlete with worse attitudes.
No way do I have my %s backwards. Maybe I could go along with 30% / 70%.
I DO, however, expect a lot from us coaches. I hold the title coach in high regard and a great responsibility to be the adult. Coaches must be experts in their field, use their words and be patient, they must not be lazy, and they should strike the balance to be firm and convincing, yet also friendly and supportive. Sometimes, coaches should be willing to compromise a little. Coaches need to re-learn the art of coming alongside parents to help them grow their kids. These days, I see less and less of any of that.
That you see parents and kids as "terrible" clearly indicates to me that being a coach may currently be beyond you. As you get better, you'll find that you can and will greatly influence other's behavior that you find disappointing and challenging.
To be honest, these times are not anything to brag about.
The problem with Georgia HS athletics is there are seven classifications. This is way too many if you want a highly competitive state meet. By contrast, when I competed in Pennsylvania many years ago we only had two classes for all sports, AA and AAA, except for football and basketball which had four.
The minimum state qualifying times in those days (about 30 years ago) were 4:24/9:40 if I remember correctly. The 5A state meet (which is what Chattahoochee will compete in this weekend) does not have a single 1600 runner that meets these standards. Top seed is only 4:24.86. The 3200 has eight runners between 9:36 and 9:41, but the remaining eight runners are between 9:59 and 10:19.
Also, Chattahoochee is an outstanding school, one of the absolute best in Georgia. A poster who "visited the area once" does not know a thing about the area or the school.
I have a direct source at the school that shared the parents called the police during a parent meeting and subsequently filed a restraining order against the coach. Head coach expressed in his 34 years of coaching had never met parents and an athlete with worse attitudes.
Or in 34 years of coaching, no parent or athlete had stood up for themselves.
Who wouldn't be upset if you're ranked #2 in the state in your event but get put onto a last place relay team instead?
Of course it sounds good and reasonable when you present it as such, but MOST of the time track / XC coaches don't know anything and are actually the coach of another sport. As such, they tend to take the laziest approach possible. Instead of working with a talented athlete and the parents, they are just "my way or the highway", and they are overly punitive. Finally, many (if not most) talented athletes would LOVE to go independent and get better coaching, but the schools have made it very difficult to get in any meets and the students are completely shut out of district, regional, and state meets. I suspect you know this which shows how disingenuous your position is. How about working with the athletes and parents and working towards making the meets more inclusive?
This is exactly correct. When I used to coach, my philosophy was basically that the best track and field coaches in high school were coaches that could get the best athletes out, and keep them out. This coach did the exact opposite. As a coach, you have to set your ego aside and do what's best for the team. This coach went looking for trouble, putting the girl on what sound like an atrocious relay team, really for no reason.
As a coach myself Im going to give an alternative point of view. Having faced this problem myself I can say that managing an elite level athlete comes with its own set of complications. As I read this article I wondered how much the parents were involved in this process. Several times I have witnessed parents who are only interested in their sons or daughters performance and not interested at all in the team..They start to micro manage the process and start to dictate which events/ and even meets and even training that their son and or daughter will run in. In my case the AD of our school typically will back down and allow the parents and the athlete to rule the day..select their events, meets and even utilize their own professional coaches.. but in this case the AD and the Administration stood firm behind their coach ( I applaud them ) Track and Field is still a team sport and having one athlete place their value over the result of the team and/or team mates is a problem I have run into myself. Its unfortunate it has come to this result but I feel Coaches and High Schools need to make a stand against athletes and their parents who feel that since their athlete is a elite performer now they have the leverage to dictate to the coaches/school what their son and/or daughter will do on the team. My answer to all of this is if you feel you want to run what you want to run then run independent..
You make good points, but I'm not sure it fits the narrative here. The coach said run 3 events, and the athlete ran 3 events (with 2 PRs!). Then the coach got mad about an apparent lack of effort in an event that had no effect on the outcome of the meet. The article says the athlete "struggled" during her relay leg, so it doesn't sound like she was just jogging around to show-up the coach.
To be honest, these times are not anything to brag about.
The problem with Georgia HS athletics is there are seven classifications. This is way too many if you want a highly competitive state meet. By contrast, when I competed in Pennsylvania many years ago we only had two classes for all sports, AA and AAA, except for football and basketball which had four.
The minimum state qualifying times in those days (about 30 years ago) were 4:24/9:40 if I remember correctly. The 5A state meet (which is what Chattahoochee will compete in this weekend) does not have a single 1600 runner that meets these standards. Top seed is only 4:24.86. The 3200 has eight runners between 9:36 and 9:41, but the remaining eight runners are between 9:59 and 10:19.
Also, Chattahoochee is an outstanding school, one of the absolute best in Georgia. A poster who "visited the area once" does not know a thing about the area or the school.
You’re looking at the sectional qualifier times. Hooch has 2 kids that have run sub-4:20
But I agree that there is too many classifications in Georgia. Although GSHA is consolidating into 6 classifications in 2024 rather than 7 if that makes you feel any better.
Honestly, asking a sprinter to run three events with honest effort is hardly expecting too much and she did run 1:11 in the relay when she is a 53 second runner, probably among the best in the country.
This coach is correct. If the coach lets the top athlete get away with murder with no penalty, then the coach cannot enforce ANY rules with even the slowest athletes.
Top runner refuses to run the 4x4 and you cave in? Next your #2 runner refuses. Then your number 3 and 4 won't want to run with the 5th, 6th, and 7th runners who are much slower.
As a coach you need to be aware of what the rest of the team's overall thoughts are on the situation. You don't want to alienate 80% of the team. It sounds like the athletes on the team support the coach 100% and they were mad at this girl.
Not sure why Georgia has 7 classifications for any sport. Keep it pure and have a single class. There are only a couple of states that still have this and the state series isn't watered down like some states. Also for the ones that say track is a team sport, it isn't. It is an individual sport with a few relays. Any sport you can qualify for state as an individual is just that, an individual sport. I agree many parents are way to involved. We have a girl sprinter in our area that had bounced to 3 different schools in 4 years. Dad trys to coach her and tell the AD what meets she runs in and he did the same thing with his son in football. Already on his second school in a year for college.
Anyone else catch milesplit phonetically spelling J.V. in the article?
"They said they had driven Tyler late to practice one morning her freshman season at 6 a.m., ruffling some feathers. The response from the coaches in that instance, David said, was to put Tyler on jayvee for a meet."
Ok, I grew up in the area and couldnt get out of there fast enough... I can promise you, as much as I don't want to agree, the take on niche is pretty accurate. Entitlement. That's the best way to describe that whole area, and not just that specific school. So that goes for both sides. I would bet both parties feel like they can do no wrong and no one can tell them any different.
This coach is correct. If the coach lets the top athlete get away with murder with no penalty, then the coach cannot enforce ANY rules with even the slowest athletes.
Top runner refuses to run the 4x4 and you cave in? Next your #2 runner refuses. Then your number 3 and 4 won't want to run with the 5th, 6th, and 7th runners who are much slower.
As a coach you need to be aware of what the rest of the team's overall thoughts are on the situation. You don't want to alienate 80% of the team. It sounds like the athletes on the team support the coach 100% and they were mad at this girl.
The coach is correct in wanting his best athlete to give her best effort - the punishment in this case is absurdly overblown.
He just looks like an authoritarian tool by denying a young athlete an opportunity to compete. If the athlete and parents are truly that bad - have a separate convo about her being best served by a club - post season. 1st rule of youth coaching - Do no harm.
The parents and athlete might be pains in the a$$es but this coach is a failure.