Drew Eckmann wrote:
. Coaches, especially h.s. coaches, don't generally want to hear that training should be fun. How can their frustrated military/ authoritarian mindset show it's power over the athletes if they're having fun?
I'd love for my athletes to get together and run and have fun doing it. I have no desire to be authoritarian and militaristic (even though I was an Army NCO). I want my kids to have longevity in the sport and I realize that having it be fun is one way to achieve that.
Having said that, let me explain that not all high school kids are the same. I have coached teams that gelled and I would never have to tell them to do their weekend runs. They would get together and run and in their common effort, found all sorts of fun and enjoyment. 3 of the 6 from that team went on to run collegiately and 2 are still doing well ther (one dropped out to enter seminary). I never had to talk tough with that group.
Currently, I have a team where there are few self starters and many slackers. I try to make it fun by building games into the workout (recently we did a scavenger hunt around town where they had to go on foot the whole way). Unfortunately, many of the "runners" will still walk once they are away from campus. I finally had to take a hard line approach and tell them that if I caught any of them walking on runs, that they would get a strike (3 strikes and you are off the team. Other things that could earn strikes are unexcused absences from practice, missed meets, detentions, suspensions from school...)
I fully believe in the summer of malmo, however, athletes need to be motivated and have team chemistry for it to work. Coaches cannot force the summer of malmo on anyone. That would just cause it to be the summer that coach made us run a shitload of miles. I don't think that would lead to any kind of good race results because it would be a chore to the kids and they would be mentally stale by the beginning of the season.