Grace Ping not allowed to run Nike Nationals

Grace ping wont be affected in any way by following state rules and not being able to compete. Quite possibly she may be better off because she is being held back. Her running career will be fine unless adults have chosen to train her rediculously hard to get to the level she is at. And as long as she goes through puberty and her body isnt totally different. I guess if her goal is win now - don't run later, then yes missing nxn is a big deal. If her goal is to have a long career in the end this isn't a big deal at all.

Former ad explained it well.

Those who are upset she was eligible as a seventh grader but not as an eighth grader are looking at it wrong: she was eligible when she was a HS athlete, but isn't now that she is not a HS athlete. Without some sort of administrative structure to ensure eligibility is maintained, Nike isn't going to let an athlete participate.

Oh? wrote:

It makes plenty of sense to base the rules of NXN on the rules of the state in which the athlete resides, for all the reasons pointed out and more.

NXN is a NATIONAL event. EVERY state has DIFFERENT rules. It makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE to base their rules from the states the runner resides in. They need to MAKE THEIR OWN rules. (and follow them)

Final Surge:

"Today we have a treat for those of you who are training enthusiasts. Many of you may not know Coach Tom Schwartz, but a lot of you who read message boards know the poster “Tinman” who has some of the most read threads about training on the web.

Tom is also the coach of some of the best youth runners in the world including Drew Hunter who this past year broke the 4-minute mile on more than one occasion as a high school senior, and, 12-year-old sensation Grace Ping, who set two age-group world records and ran a 16:44 5k."

How does this highschool AD permission thing work out when she's being coached by Tinman.

Burn them out wrote:

Grace ping wont be affected in any way by following state rules and not being able to compete. Quite possibly she may be better off because she is being held back. Her running career will be fine unless adults have chosen to train her rediculously hard to get to the level she is at. And as long as she goes through puberty and her body isnt totally different. I guess if her goal is win now - don't run later, then yes missing nxn is a big deal. If her goal is to have a long career in the end this isn't a big deal at all.

I'm sure that Tinman will hold her back from training ridiculously hard.

fred wrote:

How does this highschool AD permission thing work out when she's being coached by Tinman.

The parents give permission. Not ADs or coaches.

no nonsense..... wrote:

Oh? wrote:

It makes plenty of sense to base the rules of NXN on the rules of the state in which the athlete resides, for all the reasons pointed out and more.

NXN is a NATIONAL event. EVERY state has DIFFERENT rules. It makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE to base their rules from the states the runner resides in. They need to MAKE THEIR OWN rules. (and follow them)

Sounds like a great way to ensure there are no issues with the various state associations and that participation in the event will remain high!

The Parents wrote:

fred wrote:

How does this highschool AD permission thing work out when she's being coached by Tinman.

The parents give permission. Not ADs or coaches.

Well, her dad wants her to run it, so she's in. Problem solved. Someone inform Nike Nationals.

Everyone here seems to be working on the theory that Grace Ping just quietly slipped into the Nike Southwest regional race. Sorry, but Grace Ping doesn't quietly slip into anything. A theory which holds water much better is that Ping's parents inquired with Nike about her running at NXR-SW. Someone at Nike said yes. Possibly even someone at Nike encouraged her parents to enter her in the NXR-SW championship race.

And, she was announced as an 8th grader and as a nationals qualifier at NXR-SW. That has to pass the inspection of Nike people present at the meet. They knew she was in the race. They approved of her being in the race. Nike backed off when the backlash came.

Nike DID NOT discover after the race that, "Oh, what a coincidence, the same Grace Ping who ran at NXN as a 7th grader last year just qualified to run again."

If there had not been pushback, Ping would be running at NXN. But, evidently, Nike realized there was too much substance to the pushback and walked back their idea.

Let's not be overly naive here about how these things work.

a better theory wrote:

Let's not be overly naive here about how these things work.

So who exactly did all of the complaining?

That is what has NOT been discussed.

Or let's look st the fact that she and her parents knew the rules and choose to not follow them. They knew nxn follows state rules and choose to think their child was above the rules. The rule

Is clear... and has been ... they truest thought their child was better than having to follow the rule. Just arrogance. She will be fine in life not racing this one race- unless she decides she is better then some normal Path that her current coach will

Tell

Her she is better than... then she will be more like Mary Cain -

Rules wrote:

The rule

LOL ... you know nothing about how rules are made. Arbitrarily.

I can only tell you that the Nike people at NXR-SW *knew* Grace Ping was at the meet and seemed pretty pleased about that. It may well be that her parents knew the rules and chose not to follow them, as you say, but there's good reason to believe that Nike was also complicit in this. Nike was absolutely, positively aware of her presence. They could have blocked it beforehand but did not.

Right now, though, I'm guessing both Nike and Ping's parents are wishing nobody had thought this would be such a great idea. It can't be fun in the Ping's case to tell your 13-year-old daughter that your plan was a bust. It can't be fun for Nike to have egg on their face like this and have to walk back their great idea.

And it certainly wasn't fun for Whitney Rich to be glossed over at the awards and then two days later told she's going to NXN.

follow the money...... wrote:

a better theory wrote:

Let's not be overly naive here about how these things work.

So who exactly did all of the complaining?

That is what has NOT been discussed.

I would guess complaining came from:

a) coaches who don't want to see a flood of 8th grade girls racing at Nike regionals next year. And that flood would have happened.

b) people from Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada who knew good and well Ping wasn't eligible to run in this race. People from New Mexico probably bit their lips as NM 8th graders are allowed to run.

c) and quite possibly the family of Whitney Rich. I don't know that they complained, but I wouldn't blame them if they did.

a) is almost certainly the most vocal group of the above.

a) coaches who don't want to a faster runner to compete

b) people from Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada who don't want her to run faster than the older runners.

c) and quite possibly the family of Whitney Rich. Jealous. Cannot win against the best.

a true theory wrote:

a) coaches who don't want to a faster runner to compete

b) people from Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada who don't want her to run faster than the older runners.

c) and quite possibly the family of Whitney Rich. Jealous. Cannot win against the best.

Quite possibly, all that you say is true. But, Ping competing is against the rules. It's a lot like if Obama had run for a third term. You know, he probably would have been more popular than either Trump or Obama, but the rules say he can't run for a third term. Kinda, sort, just a whole lot like Grace Ping, you know?

either Trump or *Clinton*

Fixed now.

a better theory wrote:

Quite possibly, all that you say is true. But, Ping competing is against the rules.

Bogus NIKE rules. Like the Berian game from earlier in the year. If Ping was signed with Nike GUARANTEED she would be allowed to run.

NIKE rulez wrote:

a better theory wrote:

Quite possibly, all that you say is true. But, Ping competing is against the rules.

Bogus NIKE rules. Like the Berian game from earlier in the year. If Ping was signed with Nike GUARANTEED she would be allowed to run.

So, I'm curious what you think about the NCAA rules. Are they bogus, too? Or should high school girls be allowed to run in the NCAA championship races?