Killer Attitude - Nature vs Nuture

I think you need to give the kid a chance to develope the competitive fire needed for success. He seems to want it now, just not bad enough. Give him time, he's only a freshman.

I had the same problem in high school my P.R.'s were (1600m 4:36,800m 1:54,400 :49, 5k 17:11) I really didn't have tht competitive edge in high school, but now in college I can safely say I am seeing a difference in how I compete (speaking just on the mental side of course) I feel that if he is doing all of the things you are asking of him then he is plenty dedicated, it is just him needing time to mature as a runner and getting confidence through his performances. I know this one is a catch 22, because in order to perform well he needs confidence, and in order to gain confidence he needs to perform well. Speaking from personal experience I can say just give it time, and who knows he may be a National Champion someday.

This is a great topic. Damn, his 8th grade pr's are obviously indication of talent. I would probably agree to let him develop it gradually(the attitude). I knew guys like him. The thing I noticed were they didn't have a "need" to win. Or a hatred of losing. Those may sound like bad attributes but they go a long way in getting big results in the short run. But they also are common characterisitics of guys who soon thereafter burn-out after they get into college and face constant frustrating races. Soon it becomes too much stress for them to handle.

The guys I knew that had the longer careers were more laid back early on on slowly became more competitiive as they got more confidence.

But there are always very talented runners who don't ever develop the killer instict it takes to be a winner. I think its definitely a nurture thing. It probably wasn't stressed in their childhood, maybe they didn't compete in other sports early on, or maybe they are so happy and satisfied with life that the payoff of winning isn't worth the pain it takes to go through.

I always wondered as well about all the super jr. high talents that don't do any better than the 5:30 8th grade milers. They were blessed with talent and things came easy at that age but when people who work harder start catching up probably a lot say "its not worth hurting, I never used to have to hurt to beat people."

Paula Radcliffe finished about 290th when she ran in the National Youths (under 17s) X/C champs - she was nothing special, though I think she was in the top 10 the following year. Seb Coe is another good example - promising as a teenager but nothing to suggest he was going to become a world beater.

I'm not sure about your athlete, but when I was a frosh/soph in HS I thought that my coach knew EVERYTHING and I believed and followed everything the man said.

So, I do think you have an opportunity to influence this persons outlook on athletics.

When I was a soph. I was schedule to run an indoor mile against the State Champion from a neighboring town, in a duel meet. There had just been a headline story about him in the local paper and how he was running in a big invite that weekend and would attempt to run 4:10.

My best at the time was 4:38. My coach demanded that I run right on his tail and pass him if the pace went over 70 secs. at the 400m. His theory was that the State Champ would be taking our duel on Wed. very lightly.

I took the lead immediately in the race and forced it the whole way. The State Champ had to go to the well on the last lap to beat me.

That one race turned my head around and changed my perspective. I hope your athlete will find a challenging opportunity like this one that I had.

Best of luck.

While it doesn't answer your question about whether it is possible to instil a positive attitude (I personally would argue that it is), I picked this up while browsing on a cycling site:

http://kevinlippert.com/

I have no idea what else author James Dobson has written, but this is gold.

?The smartest and most respected people in this world realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than intelligence, appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a team, a company, a church or a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is use wisely the one tool that we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.?

"I have a relatively talented freshman (8th grade 1600m - 4:45, 800m - 2:10, 400m - 54) who seems content with cross country times in the high 17's and low 18's for 5k."

First off, is he putting in a good effort in XC? Your use of the term "content" implies otherwise. But for the PR's he has run (fast 400 compared to 1600), 17:++ - 18:00 may well be his max output for 5K XC, especially without an aerobic base from summer.

Good advice here so far, but as a coach, I would counsel patience and let the kid mature according to his own abilities. Not every talented kid has to have the attitude of a Prefontaine to succeed as an athlete and as a person. The beauty and challenge of coaching is that there are many combinations of talent/attitude/intelligence etc. that can succeed, and while you should encourage any healthy competitiveness, to some extent you must accept what he brings to the table. Provide the right training and racing environment for him, and he will probably surprise you with how well he does. Eventually.

BTW an "attitude of invincibility" is absolutely innappropriate to great distance running. Watch the movie "Endurance" and look at some interviews of Gebresellasie, and you will see an attitude of humility and appreciation emanating from perhaps the best distance runner of all time. When he lined up at the start of a race he was like a kid, smiling and waving to friends in the stands right before the gun went off and he proceeded to tear another chunk off of a world record. "An Attitude of Invincibility" is for NBA multi-millionaire spoiled brats. Let the kid keep it fun, even as he gets faster and faster.

with flatliner. When I was in HS I was much better at 400m and 800m than the mile or 5k for a long time. It just took my body awhile to catch up. I had speed but was not strong. It looks like your kid may be in the same boat-he is very young. I would let him find the motivation on his own or you may have a former runner on your hands.

I agree with most of the posts here but thought I could extend a couple more ideas.

It seems like this kid is really talented. I would love to coach a 4:45 8th grader. Currently, I have some juniors who have been running their ass off beliving in themselves. they are now 16:15-16:45 5k guys after running 5:20-5:30 as 9th graders. The key is that I give them a lot of guidence in how good they could be and who they should be running with and what pace they need to be going out in. So you might try the following things.

1) Stroke his ego and tell him how good he could be if learns how to race in X-C. This is sometimes the most important, if the kids likes you and trusts you painting a rosy picture for them can really get them motivated.

2) If you have another athlete who is running closer to what this kid should be running. You can have the younger one simply sit behind the other athlete and try and hang on.

3) If these things don't work maybe he doesn't have enough base to warrent equal cross country performances. Spend some time next season developing his base and I am sure he will get there. He is young so there is time for him to develope into the great runner that he should be.

Take it easy

Thanks for all the ideas. Patience is a virtue especially in this situation.

You can't coach desire.