Most high school coaches I know have had a national caliber talent come through their program at least once in their career. Some don't make any changes for the athlete and ask them to stick to the training and competition schedule that everyone else is doing; other coaches do the opposite, and are willing to change everything for their exceptional athlete.
What experiences can you share about coaching the occasional 4:0X miler or an athlete of similar caliber?
You can change things for the elite athlete and still coach the other athletes the way they need to be coached!
I had two "once in a lifetime athletes" and another that was very close to that caliber. You will work harder than ever, if you do it right. Good Luck!
I'm a running fan who never did track. But I played organized basketball and tennis all through High School. Those are more team sports so maybe it would be different. But my feeling is a coach shouldn't second guess what he is doing. He should stick to the training regimen he has.
I don't care how talented an athlete is.
That said, any quality coach should assess what they can give to an athlete no matter what their talent is. If some prodigy has amazing talent a coach should seriously look for other coaches who can provide the proper challenges and guidance for the athlete.
A great example is Andrew Wheating's high school soccer coach. Maybe that is different because it is crossing over to sports. And maybe Wheating wasn't that good of soccer player. But the story is that Wheating was unreal in the conditioning runs they would do for practice. Way out ahead. He kept telling Wheating to consider cross country or track. Wheating was kind of cool on the idea but finally the coach practically forced him in to it. Then I think the local track coaches got in touch with a former Nike exec who in turn made contact with the Oregon coaches. That was a great a thing for that soccer coach to do.
I don't think that coaches actually 'coach' that athlete, they just take credit for it. Athletes like that do not need coaching, they need some guidance. A good coach coaches ALL of the athletes on their team and doesn't let the one good athlete run the show. Keep them grounded and don't let them get full of themselves.
hs coach spikes...
You're so wrong, great athletes need great coaches and those coaches understand that a great athlete may only come along once in a lifetime ("so don't screw this up"). You'll plan your workouts just as you always have working out the formulas for tempo paces and goal paces, etc, the basic plan doesn't change, you'll just have a kid leading the workouts by a greater margin than most years, or you'll have a girl running up amongst your top boys. All your athletes need guidence, and no the big gun doesn't run the show, they just get to go to bigger mid and post season meets. Our great athlete is humble, focused, and desires perfection in all things she does. What is nice about that is that it's contagious, her teammates are developing the same need to succeed.
The idea that you don't change the regime for the athlete that has legit national caliber talent is foolish. You can treat them the same for sure, but you MUST individualize the regime to account for their talent.
If a kid is gifted in intelligence we dont make them sit in basic math class, same goes for runners.
InventoryScanned wrote:
The idea that you don't change the regime for the athlete that has legit national caliber talent is foolish. You can treat them the same for sure, but you MUST individualize the regime to account for their talent.
If a kid is gifted in intelligence we dont make them sit in basic math class, same goes for runners.
If you believe in your program, you don't change it for the once in a lifetime kid. It should work for them as well, you just have to change the expectations for that kid. You have different levels within your program.
I've coached at both the high school and collegiate level....currently back in the high school ranks. I've personally had the following athletes in HS over the past years:
Men:
400 47.3
800 1:52.2
1600 4:11
Women:
200 24.4
400 54.5
And some nationally ranked relays as well....
I don't know if you'd consider any of those "once in a lifetime." But, you would be crazy to think that we didn't alter workouts for those athletes. A couple reasons come to mind initially....
1. College coaches want kids in their programs who can handle college level workouts. Raw talent is great, but if they can't handle workload or mileage, they are ultimately useless and won't progress at the next level.
2. I write all of my workouts based on the "best" athlete I have and then volume/intensity trickle down based on talent. If we've got a girl running 55 seconds in the quarter mile....a workout might be 6 x 400 in 63 with 2 minutes recovery. The other girls will do 65-70 with 2:30 or 3 recovery....and we will pull them from the workout when it appears they're toasted. No reason to fry the nueromuscular system, unless the next day will be completely off....etc.
3. Every kid is treated fairly....NOT NECESSARILY EQUALLY. This is an important point in our program....the girl who runs 55 seconds is going to get more attention, have more leaniency with tardiness/problems/etc, more flexibility with choosing her events/workouts. This goes without saying, and is a no-brainer to me. Many other coaches I've talked with disagree vehemently.
I wasn't national class but I was 5th in state and the best male runner my coach had coached. It was the first time in our schools 30 year history that a mens team had gone to xc state.
My HS coach is still a mentor to me 15 years later.
1. Be knowledgeable
2. Follow your instincts
3. Don't be afraid to adapt
4. Experiment early in the season, be consistent later.
5. Make sure the athlete peaks Senior year
6. DOn't be afraid of mileage
7. Listen to the athlete
8. Make them be a leader and a role model. None of this prima donna headphones in the corner act
9. Look for the big invites/relays if you aren't already. Stanford Penn etc.
lefty gomez.. wrote:
InventoryScanned wrote:The idea that you don't change the regime for the athlete that has legit national caliber talent is foolish. You can treat them the same for sure, but you MUST individualize the regime to account for their talent.
If a kid is gifted in intelligence we dont make them sit in basic math class, same goes for runners.
If you believe in your program, you don't change it for the once in a lifetime kid. It should work for them as well, you just have to change the expectations for that kid. You have different levels within your program.
So to you sending a kid to run Arcadia or Penn Relays is just like sending them to run vs Central High on a tuesday. God I feel for your athletes.