How to tell coach

Another Option wrote:

I've been involved with track and field for more than 40 years and can't think of any coaches who weren't interested in improving...

When it comes to crappy high school coaching, regardless of the sport, I'm always amazed when posters' knee jerk response is in support of the crappy coaches and to belittle the athlete who wants nothing more than to get better.

Sure athletes can be a pain in the a$$ but If I had to guess, I'd say that 80% of HS coaches should not be coaching. Most just don't have the intellectual curiosity, mindset or disposition to become an effective coach. Of course that said, if they didn't give it a go there'd be a lot less opportunities for athletes so kudos to the crappy coaches for even trying.

I think it's plausible that this poster's response is accurate in that he/she hasn't met a coach who wasn't interested in improving - the more important question is: were they capable of improving? Most aren't in spite of their motivations.

I'm glad to see that there are some posters that came to the aid of the OP. My kids have struggled with really bad coaching for the past couple of years and we did what some have suggested - work to the best of your ability within the confines of the coach's ineptitude.

There's really no other way because if a coach is crappy in this day and age, no amount of reason/rationale will change their stripes.

While this poster has good intentions, I will point out some flaws in the reasoning. I edited the post down to point out:

First of the quoted paragraphs, last sentence. A high school coach NOT agreeing to coach in exchange for money removes no opportunity for any kid interested in distance running. I imagine it's hard for sprinters, jumpers, or throwers to find opportunities to compete. In fact, when I'm be running with the guys in high school, we would speculate aloud about what we'd do if our best events were shorter. But since we were running 10k and up, there was no problem. Races were constantly being held. These days, 5k is more popular than it was then, so the only scenario in which the existence of a school-paid coach helps is if you're interested in mid-D or sprints. Or field events, which the OP isn't.

Next paragraph. The last bit about working with the coach, and admittedly that limitations exist as to how effective that can be is not the greatest advice. If you discuss nothing with the coach and don't train according to his/her inept orders, you are not limited by said ineptitude. This really does work. If you avoid the coach, easy to do by not showing up for a practice - ever - they simply don't affect your training. I never showed up, and I was the best distance runner in the school district. This wasn't in Iten, so that may not be saying much, but it's worth pointing out that I wasn't the slowest one at school.

The final sentence is misleading. True, these clowns scrounging for a few grand with some part-time after-school job will probably NOT change and suddenly become Canova, or even JS, no kid is stuck on the team. Conceivably some exceptions exist, i.e., parents require participating in a school-sanctioned sport, court order after getting in trouble, it's a graduation requirement, etc. Without any unusual circumstance, however, I can assure you that nothing happens if you simply never sign up. No consequences exist. There IS another way: run exactly the way you see fit. Use this site to help you.

While reading the first sentence I thought I was going to disagree with this post, but I agree for the most part. Especially, "work to the best of your ability within the confines of the coach's ineptitude." Absolutely do not contradict, lie , or hide things from you coach like some suggest. It will lead nowhere good. Show up to every practice and compete at every meet.

This is the type of stuff you should be listening to.

To the OP:

I wouldn't tell the coach anything negative or critical. A constructive way to say what you're thinking might be, "What extra training could I do for an extra challenge?"

If he doesn't respond with anything beneficial, you could add mileage on your own by either showing up to practice early, staying late and running extra, or just doing extra mileage or workouts on your own at home.

There are countless books from world class coaches you can buy, to tell you 98% of what you need your coach to tell you.

The training simply lacks volume with only I count around 15 miles a week.

So I suggest running on both Saturday and Sunday. Both should be very easy running. Work up to 10 miles on Saturday and up to 5 miles on Sunday. Then on 2 of the weekday mornings do an easy 4 miler.

Even with that you’ll only be at 35 miles per week. But that’s a lot better than 15 miles per week. You’d probably get more aerobic training from bowling.

It’s either this or get a private coach and enter meets unattached. If you really love the sport it’s not about your school but about the sport anyway.