Falmouth Road Race

Bear wrote:

how much we do, and how far.

"we"? Are you Brianna's friend's father or are you her father?

I am a friend of the family as I mentioned.

From the earlier-cited article:

"Those concerned over the dangers of parental influence in youth sports could not find a better example than Roger Jackucewicz. He seems to fit the profile so clearly he all but comes across as a caricature rather than a real person.

"Sports psychologists have a term for parents living through the success of their children. It's called achievement by proxy. There are steps to the disorder. First is the feeling of pride. Second is sacrifice. Parents begin to skip work and let other responsibilities slip to concentrate on their child's sporting life. Third is obsession. The child's identity becomes lost in athletic achievement visions set out by the parent."

The article never really says what Roger J. does in his life, apart from coaching his daughter. What is his occupation? How has it been affected by his involvement with his daughter's running?

keep running wrote:

If Briana is running a time that could win the states now then she will probably run a time that will crush everyone when she is in highschool.

Sadly, this is not usually the case. Here's some information on the above mentioned Garritson family. There were other child-prodigies in the family, but these are the only ones I found good information on.

Carrie - 35:21 10K as a 10-year-old, 2:49:19 marathon at age 11. Footlocker results: Freshman 11th,Soph 6th, Junior 19th, Senior 17th. She'd be 26 now.

Heather - 40:59 10K as a 6-year-old, yes a 6-year-old. Footlocker: Freshman 23rd, never qualified again. Ran NAIA at Cal State San Marcos, transferred to Cal State Fullerton. Seems like best 5K times were in high 18?s in college.

James - set national record for 3000m with 9:40 at age 11. He'd be 27 now.

Interestingly, Carrie qualified for the Olympic Trials as an 11-year-old - and NEVER qualified again. These runners (or FORMER runners) should be in the prime of their running careers, but they are nowhere to be found.

Heather ran 41 minutes for 10K as a 6-year-old, the equivalent of about 19:40 for 5K. 14 years later, in college, she was running high 18's. One minute improvement in a 5K from age 6 to age 20?

my thoughts:

1. Joan should of had a private conversation with the parents. Shame on her for voicing her thoughts to a 12 year old girl in public.

2. The person who overheard the conversation should not of posted (MYOB) the remarks.

3. Bear is correct, she is well adjusted and having fun and he is not Briana's father. (not to hard to guess who he is... how's your foot?)

4. 78champ was correct, she has many outside interest that been reported in several articles.

5. Bigest challenge Briana will face is adjustiong to a bigger body size when she matures. The odds are she will need to adjust training volume to maintain the same times as she grows.

6. Not sure why everyone needs to analyze the family, let them be.

I started running competitively at age ten, came from a loving supportive, positive parenting environment....sure didn't stop me from getting completely burned out by the time I started to compete my freshman year in college at a Division I school.

I trained, raced, set records at an early age just like Briana is presently achieving. By the time I arrived at the Big Ten school I attended, I was through, not only mentally, but physically as well. I basically fit the same mold as Briana, straight A student, etc, etc..

Kinda scary, I also am aware of many of my competitors at an early age were completely washed up before they even completed high school.

Better thanks for asking.

One question I have is how will Brianna cope with being on a team when she gets to junior high or high school? If she has been coached by her dad all these years already, will she be willing to run under the guidance of someone else and train with other runners? Also, how will she react if/when she ever gets beat by a peer?

Thank you "my 2 cents" your comments are right on and to the point. especially number 1.

my 2 cents wrote:

my thoughts:

1. Joan should of had a private conversation with the parents. Shame on her for voicing her thoughts to a 12 year old girl in public.

2. The person who overheard the conversation should not of posted (MYOB) the remarks.

3. Bear is correct, she is well adjusted and having fun and he is not Briana's father. (not to hard to guess who he is... how's your foot?)

4. 78champ was correct, she has many outside interest that been reported in several articles.

5. Bigest challenge Briana will face is adjustiong to a bigger body size when she matures. The odds are she will need to adjust training volume to maintain the same times as she grows.

6. Not sure why everyone needs to analyze the family, let them be.

One overlooked (amazingly, in a thread this long) word: Puberty.

You don't know a blessed thing about how a kid runner will turn out til afterwards. Sometimes long after.

What I have seen with many top youth runners is that when these kids get into a high school program, the expectations placed on them is far above what they can handle physically. The burnout, if that is the correct term, comes during high school. You could argue that this is the point they become injury prone or stale due to over racing and over training. The cycle begins as the kids train harder to overcome a sub-par performance and then become more over trained, etc.

I can't comment on Briana specifically.

I agree with you 100%. My coach in high school was so demanding, made me workout with the fastest male on the boys team, I was totally isolated from my teammates. I wanted to experience the whole team thing but wasn't able to. A sub-par performance to my coach meant more hard work to come..creating more exhaustion, not enough down time to regroup, more pressure to perfom better the next time I toed the line. Too many expectations by too many people not even involved personally with me or my running endeavors.

my hs coach though that I worked for him. my team was very much...not fun...I dreaded just about every day

Please show me where I have expressed an opinion in this matter.

It isn't there.

But have a nice day anyway.

JW

Bear, don't know if you're the same person I've been replying to but, no matter. First, I DID call bullshit on someone whose e name started w/surfer. If that's a real name and the person is speaking from first hand knowledge, I stand corrected.

Second, I appreciate you taking the time to spell out your version of events as much as you have. As far as Joan's timing...protocol fits somehow in this but I'm fine w/her method and, considering the source, feel fine w/when and what was said. We could argue this one back and forth. Thing is, Joan said things many, many people would love to say to Briana and any number of other youngsters, typically girls, doing so much running so young.

On the surface, life w/these kids may appear 'normal' but there's nothing normal about the amount of running, traveling and racing they do. I hold the parents responsible for this. I've seen too many instances of 'abuse' of kids, instances where the kids run to please the parents. The JOY of running gets squeezed out of the equation much too often for me to endorse the kind of running I hear about from runners like Briana.

So in reality it has nothing to do with the persons body, age, sex, backround, but everything to do with how that person is nurtered along in the sport and what kind of support system is set up for them.

As long as a kid wants to race they shoud be encouraged to do so in approprate amounts and distances.

They should have a coach who's greatest achivement is to go unnoticed by the athlete. they should feel pressure at the approprate time and release at the approprate time.

Burnout does not come from racing or being fast as a kid or anything to do with the physical body, with the exception of a stupid coach simply giveing to much work, but everything to do with how that child is guided through he sport. They are children so they should be having fun and trying new sports and activities but they also need to learn to work hard for something.

It has nothing to do with the child. In 10 years of coaching children aged 4-18 I have NEVER met a child who has not faced a challenge head on and given their best when it is presented in the proper way; with encouragement, support, AND a way out (they never take the way out)

Alternative view wrote:

Or else you're just an opinionated dumbass that hoped we wouldn't notice.

I don't deny being a dumbass, but opinionated, I think not.

JW

The only argument that rings true in this entire discussion is the physical condition of young women as they take up sport. It is a fact that young women mature more rapidly than young men to a certain age (10-13). But the quality of long bone growth, bone density, and muscle structure is not that of the men, until after menstruation begins. I believe this girl should be allowed to compete as much or as little as she likes, but medically, she needs to be monitored for the "triad" which consists of excessive weight loss, decrease in bone density, and irregular or absent menstruation. Any other comments represent opinion only and are subject to argument either way.

"I don't deny being a dumbass, but opinionated, I think not"

Is that an opinion or fact?