Georgia High School Track Athlete Banned From State!

Thirty years ago I ran for a high school program that was very successful at the state level, in a large state. While he did some things right, the coach was a control freak and an as$hole, and when I think of him at all it's mainly with resentment.

One incident involved a kid who was heading to a big-time soccer school with full scholarship. He was also one of the top returning hurdlers in the state. He asked permission to skip an early-season meet for a club soccer tournament. Coach gave him an ultimatum that if he skipped the meet then don't bother coming back. So we lost that guy. What a giant self-inflicted wound to cut our best sprinter for also trying to improve himself in his main sport.

Of course a team has to have standards of conduct and behavior, both on and off the track... but if you're a coach your highest priority should be to help each person to be the best person, student, and athlete they can be. My coach failed that test, and so, it seems did these Georgia coaches.

Another reason why more and more elite HS track athletes are foregoing running with their high school team and opting for private coaching. See HS distance phenom Ellie Shea.

The day should come when club or private coached track/XC athletes track can compete as unattached in all public school competitions (including state meets). They allow swimming in Georgia to do this. The best athletes do not train with their high school teams/coaches but get to compete for their school at all GHSA competitions. I don't know why running is any different? Those with bigger goals can seek out the coaching and training they need. Then run the events they want as unattached runners. Seems pretty easy fix and then get rid of all the public school coaching bs.

Because that particular meet didn't matter. Just because she wasn't running that event at the particular race doesn't mean she wouldn't have run it at a subsequent meet. Despire her protestations, she clearly dogged that 400m on purpose.

I'm sick and tired of coaches holding major meets over athletes heads and setting arbitrary performance standards.

I'm sorry but these races have an impact and can mean something for their future. It's college scholarships on the line, and opportunities. If you want to bench them from an early invitational due to behavior or lack of effort fine, but the state meet is not something you play around with.

Also, (complete side not from what's being discussed) being a "team player" is such a stupid guilt trip sometimes for these top level athletes. It's unfair to make your best athletes shoulder several events when they are sick or tired or injured so that the team succeeds. If they want to do that, fine but don't force them to do more than what you expect from the rest of the team. As a coach you have to do what's best for them too.

"When I came off the track, I was getting water and I was laid out on the ground," Tyler said. "I got up to ask (my coaches) what our splits were and stuff and what our time was. They said, 'get away from me.' They didn't want to hear from me. Half of the team, people who didn't even race, were looking at me like I sabotaged the entire team."

She dogged it. Sounds like she's got talent and an attitude and was a cancer on the team.

This is the rare situation where I cannot side with anyone in the story.

It seems clear that her parents are overly involved and it is obvious that she jogged that 400 as her split is pathetic compared to her very impressive PR. However, the entire situation could have been avoided with better communication from the coaching staff - both before and after the event. I would usually stand up for coaches in this situation but it seemed like they completely overreacted to the situation that they caused.

Only team matters in sport. This kid wasn't being a team player and so deserved to be cut from the team. Real sports are Football, Basketball and Baseball. So Track (to be considered a sport) needs to follow their precepts. In real sports people with bad attitudes get cut all the time. This person may be talented but doesn't belong on a sports team with her bad attitude. Athletes need to try 110% every time they compete, no matter what, anything else is sacrificing the gift - one of the ten commandments.

A lot of comments here indicate people know she tanked or jogged the relay. I don't know how everyone is so sure. When I was in HS (NYS) the limit was 2 events per athlete. I always found my second event to be sub-par. I can't imagine trying to do a third event. I have seen no indications of the recovery time and how the athlete typically did on third events after running even one PR let alone 2. If she intentionally ran slow, why was she so interested in her split? I don't think we know enough to make an informed opinion about her effort.

This is a school by school decision just like it is for track. It is up to the coach to allow someone to practice with a club and still compete.

Because we are not stupid.

Why do you believe that she was interested in her splits? Because she said she was? LOLOLOL

62 years ago, I ran for my high school team and for a coach who is now in the Hall Of Fame in Track and Field. We only had a couple of rules to be on that team. First, you run for your high school team and not your track club. Conflict always goes to the school team. Second, you ran to get the most points for your team against its opponent(s), even doing events you usually did not race, throw or jump, if it would add points to your team score with the provision you were not to be expected to be in two events that conflict (HJ and 800m, etc.) Third, in the later meets that qualified you for sectionals or the state meet, you ran in events where you had the best chance to qualify to move on or in the state meet.

The point of that was to attract the best athletes in the coming years in your sport or event. It is really simple. In 4 years of high school we were rarely beaten in the heart of track and field, because getting to the state meet recruited new athletes for the Team!

Yes, we had parents meddle all the time because their kid was gifted. But they got no exceptions. Gifted did not count and they were cut from the team. Some changed schools. But in my experience those four years, our team always beat the team they switched to and I can't remember one of them making it to the California State meet.

A talented hs kid raced twice and then had a terrible race. Was she tired like she said? Was she sand bagging?

Either way, it doesn't matter too much - its hs. Her coach must be terrible. A good coach motivates athletes to put in a performance for the team, even when they'd rather not be in the event. If this girl wasn't going to do that, its a sign of a terrible coach to not pick another athlete. Instead of punishing her like this, it would be smarter to only enter her in one event in her regional meet. That way there is no worry about her sandbagging and she'll probably try harder next time she's entered in a relay.

This article is misleading and it is easy to discern what happened here. I read a lot of personal angst in this thread, and it is a great example of what is wrong with track in terms of profile and progress. Let me preface this by saying all track from the collegiate level down is TEAM oriented. Period. Some one said it is a coaches job.... exactly! It is a coaches job...fill in the blanks. Making an athlete better involves a lot more than cones and distances, and drills etc, especially at the high school level.

In this case, without it being written the parents either told her to jog it or supported her destroying that relay. The article misrepresents the final result also, she did that on second leg!!! That means she was their linchpin, and once she dropped 71-75 as the father was quoted, the last 2 girls are out of the race and had no reason to put out maximal effort after the primadonna consciously jogged the race. The parents should be embarrassed by this lack of character. They and consequently she are clearly a headache for the staff and team and so rather than sell their souls for "the betterment of the child" they drew a line in the sand and metted out a very profound and valuable lesson to the girl.

The parents are fighting for their child the wrong way. That girl thought it was ok to be selfish at a time she could have done something good for others. Power trip or not, the coaches decisions in choosing those events were not abnormal nor detrimental to the athlete nor her future. The want to run all 3 individual events is an ego stroke.

Lastly, college coaches now know something very damaging about the girl and her support system, and this is a serious issue for her going forward. She will have to have a better explanation than this to a college coach. This is exactly the kind of decisions college coaches make regularly. Right now, she is a untrustworthy teammate.

SMH.....As a coach, you do what is best for your team and your athletes, not what a parent thinks or what that individual athlete thinks is best for them. If you are a 53 second 400 runner, the only way you run 1:10 or 1:15 or whatever, is if you literally fall down and stay down for 22 seconds.

I would have done the same thing her coach did. You can screw up your own race, but never ever screw up the relay. When I ran, if someone sandbagged on the relay, we kicked our teammates ass......Period.

She has the entire summer to run USATF and AAU meets. Just know that college coaches now know, that she clearly is not a team player.

So you're going to run your top 3 distance runners in 4x800, 800, 1600, 3200 in every meet?
You're going to have your top sprinter run 100, 200, 4x100, and 4x400, or maybe long jump? Oh - I have another idea. Let's move our top 3 400m runners up to 800 because they can probably tough it out on the second lap and get us an extra point or two. Maybe even do that 2-3 times a week because your AD scheduled a ton of meets?

Or ...... maybe, just maybe ... there could be a delicate balance between team success and individual success. Maybe your athletes are not just cogs in your ego machine. And treating them as individuals, with fairness and respect will lead to more good will and a stronger team in the long run.

Smart high school coaches look at the meet that matters the most: State

Put kids in position to qualify and hopefully score points at State. If you fail to do that because you tripled or quadrupled a kid in the qualifying rounds, then you messed up and you suck. Winning a State qualifying meet means nothing if the kids are cashed or didn't even qualify for the the events in which they should be scoring points at the State meet.

College is different. They don't have to go through multiple qualifying rounds. They go to one Regional, held on multiple days. Most states don't have that for high school. High school coaches need to check their egos and stop being stupid.