Expensive shoes are the icing on the cake. If you are good enough that $300 shoes make a difference then you're good enough someone will make sure you get them. There are ZERO kids that aren't going to reach their goals due to expensive shoes. Zero.
Expensive shoes are the icing on the cake. If you are good enough that $300 shoes make a difference then you're good enough someone will make sure you get them. There are ZERO kids that aren't going to reach their goals due to expensive shoes. Zero.
Literally they compete better with less tools. You ever met a kid who lives and breathes running? Has all the gear, all the time, and some talent to go with it? But then there’s this kid who loves the sport but only thinks about it 90min a week when he’s at practice?
Athlete A runs 4:25 for the mile.
Athlete B run 4:19 for the mile.
Talent beats handwork and super shoes when talent works hard. And talent can do it in Brooks Ghosts and Adidas Adios.
bernie bro wrote:
super shoes and spikes are so expensive so are trainers
Compared to sports like hockey, gymnastics, equestrian and soccer, running is cheap. Also making team based fortunately on results, very little on coaches opinion.
I went to a sort of rough middle class school in a tired rust belt town. Pretty much every runner and other athletes had the novel idea of having a job to pay for sports equipment, dating, gas etc.
I worked mowing lawns, at local burger joint, wrote for town newpaper, shoveling sinoe, even babysitting.
Balanced sports, academics, work, social life. Was good prep for college and real life.
on select soccer, i was on "scholarship" with my traditional club team. i was with the same team all but about one year. my parents were poor and my dad had health problems young. after a couple of years of late fees and having to prod me where money was, they told me i was on scholarship and would only have to pay for tournament trips.
i am going to asterix some of the discussion here and say:
(a) i was the leading scorer when this was decided, and we won state twice. i started both championship teams and had goals or assists in both. i think the coach and manager were good people but it's not entirely pure goodness. it has elements of a college scholarship. on top select teams you are there to do a job and perhaps also to keep your nose clean, and you stick if you do that well. if not, they cut everyone from my HS but me for senior year.
(b) however i was then blackballed from making ODP on financial grounds. "you can't afford it, you can't even afford select."
(c) they can let you in the country club but some kids may still be snotty, let you know you're the poor kid. its very danny noonan in caddyshack.
compared to soccer, track is great. schools give you a uni and warmups and such you don't have to pay for or get sponsored. they run the bus, you just have to be on time. they handle the administrative, enter you in events. field people get implements, relays get batons,, and i grabbed a pair of spikes from a bin. you get some running shoes for xmas and you're golden.
my beefs would be, i didn't get fresh spikes until college. i was grabbing used spikes from a box. football got cleats.
that and as a poor kid, i think they ignore nutrition. one XC year when my parents were poor blew up on anemia half on how much was being asked and half on crap diet and broke for school lunch.
that, and if you're at a meet all day the schools should supply lunch.
heck, i would have liked just being told race times and coming from home in an AC'd car. select soccer you might have tournaments all weekend but you're not sitting out in the sun the whole time, even under a tent. depending, you might go back home or to a hotel, or off to get a bite to eat and that's air conditioned too.
I mean compared to other top schools Crater is pretty poor. I guess they figured something out.
They run