Saratoga Girls Program Lawsuit

Is this for real? Wow. Another team with drama.

I've heard so many horror stories about Saratoga.

I've heard at least 10 stories way worse than anything listed in the report.

I'm not saying that all was kosher and good as I don't know, but by reading this article, it sounds like kids being really soft. I mean the XC coaches encouraged them to run every day and to not have boyfriends? Oh NO, that's horrible. /s

Why would they be encouraged not to have boyfriends? Weird.
Back in the day, the #1 girl's XC program had similar rumors that the coach was very controlling, that he would even drive by their houses to see if they went out on a Friday night. They were state champions many times over, but I heard that from a rival team. So I'm assuming that was made up.

It might be a little weird, and yeah a coach driving around checking up on people on Friday night is over the top. But, it could be said in a pretty light way to just suggest that if you stay up all night texting your new boyfriend every night, then you probably won't run well or do anything well.

The upperclassman on my college team made it a point to reiterate that "girls weaken the legs" every single week. It didn't stop anyone from chasing the girls, but it was a constant reminder to keep things on the level.

Those 7th and 8th graders are too young to have boyfriends.

Having Sunday practices is a violation. They said they had practice every day except Christmas. Having kids running on stress fractures and while seriously sick. This will be the end of those coaches and that program.

The horror. THe coaches wanted them to run 7 days a week - let's sue.

I'm a dad here - admittedly my daughter is quite young (5), but would it be wrong advice for a HS coach to tell a HS girl to not have a boyfiend? Objectively speaking, I can think of very little good that will come from that and lots of bad things.

tbh, it's a little strange to be on this side bc 75% of the time, I think HS coaches suck and often should be fired. But, when reading the article, the quotes seem off. The one says that they had practice "every single day of the year except Christmas". I am not sure I believe that - it sounds like an exaggeration. The way that the article depicts the girl who was made to run through injury and illness is all squirrelly, too.

So, I don't really care if the coaches get ax'd or not, and it would be unfortunate for the program to end, in my opinion. I am not buying a significant amount of what this article is selling. It sounds contrived to me. But, maybe it's not.

I've been waiting for a long time for something to finally come out about the Kranicks and Saratoga Springs. I was in high school in the early/mid 2000s, and they were dominant. They also had a lot of rumors and stories surrounding them that are way worse than this.

I want to address this dad here. Yes, it would be wrong for a high school coach to advise your high school daughter about her life outside of practice, especially relationships and friendships. It is not a coaches place to do so. You are the parent and you can set rules but your daughter's coach cannot. She needs to have a sense of her own autonomy. Coaches shouldn't be dictating what your child eats at home, what they do on weekends outside of practice, who they are dating, what doctors they are seeing and medicine they are taking. It's an overstep, and it is controlling.

Back to Saratoga. I really want to hear an update from Nicole Blood. perhaps the closest we ever got to seeing the truth about the Saratoga program was from her. She was their star, but quit their team as a junior and ran independently. she gave some cryptic interviews during that time, I'll try to dig them up. In that time, she mentioned that her teammates are not allowed to speak to her (this again is an overstep, a coach cannot alienate a high school student), that she was forced to run injured through nationals, and "run to tolerance" this was a quote I'll not ever forget--what on earth did it mean?

Saratoga has had stuff come up from the 1990s, with the coaches giving kids vitamins that may or may not have been vitamins. At any rate, it's a bizarre program and I'm glad that kids are standing up.

Completely inappropriate. A coach can make school approved requirements for practice, training, and meets. Basic recommendations for healthy nutrition and sleep habits. Guidelines for academic performance. But a coach has no business in their student-athletes’ personal lives. If a bad relationship is causing an athlete to miss practice or underperform and the coach learns the source of the problem, they can direct the athlete to the right support services. And can cut the athlete if they don’t meet pre-determined requirements. But they shouldn’t be gate keeping or monitoring high schoolers’ relationships.

This isn't the first time I've heard these stories. here are some sources from previous athletes mentioning the same.

latimes.com

She's Hoping for Another Run at Glory

Nicole Blood is trying to reestablish her elite-level status at Simi Valley Royal

Open link

This one sort of talks about how Blood was injured and the Kranicks wouldn't let her recover. Also, anyone who is a Marc Bloom fan can read this article and be reminded why they shouldn't be. What grown man talks about a teenager developing her "own agenda"? She was injured!

flotrack.org

#6 Saratoga Springs: The Kranick's from an insider's perspective - FloTrack

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Open link

Here's from a bizarre article Blood wrote after she and the Kranicks made up.

"The Kranicks hold practice 365 days a year. On Sundays and throughout the summer, when high schoolers are banned to attend official athletic practices, the Kranicks coordinate runs and workouts for people of all ages under the Kinetic Running Club. It’s optional, but kids show up. The Kranicks’ dedication to the sport tends to be contagious."

There were so many other articles back in the day, including more stuff that Blood disclosed when she quit the team but I wasn't able to find them.

This makes me wonder if such a thing ever happened at FM before

Check out post 62 in this thread

Some day I’ll just pay for that entire RunnersWorld article

The coaches wanted to control every aspect of their lives. There was also a no birth control rule. They did everything they could to avoid their girls from having periods and going through puberty. They thought puberty makes you fat and slow.

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/07/nyregion/high-school-rivalry-gets-personal-cross-country-teams-caught-dispute-fueled.html

here's the times article I was referencing from the 90s.

Wondering if anyone can find the actual complaint.

This is probably the end of extremely dominant performances by new york girls. FM and now Saratoga Springs. Done and finished. Believe it or not, this stuff does happen. Lots of control and sometimes ridicule and manipulation is involved.

If you fit into a box of normal, you won't see it happening to you, and may think your coach is your hero. Some coaches can be really nasty to athletes that have empathy deficits, lazy, irresponsible, and stupid (if this runner is fast and a leader of the team, the coach will need to deal with the problem). Not an easy thing to do, but it has to be done for a program to be successful.

Team culture is essential, and sometimes control is used to maintain it. If a bunch of freshman/sophomores sees a top runner skipping practices, and not giving their all at workouts, etc. That will effect team culture.

I was resentful of my high school coach, but I learned to get over it. The reality is I was the only one on the team that was resentful, everyone else was appreciative. So he pissed off 1-2 people by being controlling and nasty while helping 98-99 others in order to build a successful program. In the end, it worked out for everyone. FYI this was a long time ago and the coach has already passed away, so nobody here knows him. But he did build a very successful program very quickly.

Yup, Saratoga Springs girls team’s top 3 are all seniors and there is a huge gap on the team behind the 3.

Next year they will be down.

FM is actually doing very well for a team that has only 9 girls. They are 4th in the state currently.

Bunch of sissies don't run on Christmas. My daughter ran on Christmas and I'm pretty sure it was a workout.

I wish my daughter ran for Saratoga. She came across the Saratoga girls at a road race in June. She finished like seventh in her age group and was the only one in the top ten of her age group not from Saratoga.