I'm an assistant hs coach, with a distance focus. But the other day, I worked with the sprinters and discovered that they've been taught highly improper block start technique by the head coach. This head coach was nice enough to hire me and I don't want to tell him how to do his job, especially since I'm not a sprint expert anyway. What should I do? Should I just let them do it their way? Or how do I broach the subject?
New coach wrote:
I'm an assistant hs coach, with a distance focus. But the other day, I worked with the sprinters and discovered that they've been taught highly improper block start technique by the head coach. This head coach was nice enough to hire me and I don't want to tell him how to do his job, especially since I'm not a sprint expert anyway. What should I do? Should I just let them do it their way? Or how do I broach the subject?
Do nothing this year.
Before you can talk with him you have to 1) Earn his trust by being successful in your own area 2) Find out if he's open to talking about training.
There is a surprisingly large number of coaches who seem aggressively unaware that there is more than one was to do things, or more precisely, that there is another way other than their way. If you're guy falls into this category it will be hard to ever talk to him.
Plus there's a lot of disinformation out there. It's always fun during track practice to watch the "speed coach" teach the out of season football players how to accelerate by throwing their arms forward and reaching forward with their legs.
This is, of course, exactly backwards, but even though I coach sprints in track season, I wasn't a scrub on a college football team like this "speed coach", so what do I know?
It's nice that distance coaches never fall victim to that. You'd never see some guy who was a fringe college runner or a guy who could have run in college if his domineering HS coach hadn't held him back advocate for some simplistic and outmoded manner of training, thinking that his authority from his own training allows him to proscribe just running lots of volume entirely by feel, and never wasting time on sprinting or strength and core work. 'Casue that never happens...
Hey, I feel your pain. My distance program is the only good part of our track team. I watch the other programs flounder, but I don't want to "step on anyone's toes" so I don't say anything.
If I were you, simply work with your distance athletes. Watch them get better. Enjoy the season. The other coaches will be envious on you. You'll be able to recruit more athletes & your program will continue to get stronger while all the rest simply stagnates.
Good luck!
New coach wrote:
especially since I'm not a sprint expert anyway
You can't teach, what you don't know. Just work with the kids you have.
My pr: 100 meters 10.6 hand time.
200 meters 21.3 hand time
400 meters 47.0 relay
500 meters 59.3 ht
Keep it to yourself. I cringe everytime something like this comes up but it's the norm. More bad can come than good. Just wondering tho, what is "highly improper block start technique?"
If you wanted to bring it up just ask him a question about block starts like you have no idea. See if he explains it and maybe try to sneak something in there as an honest question and not implying anything.
runner85 wrote:
Keep it to yourself. I cringe everytime something like this comes up but it's the norm. More bad can come than good. Just wondering tho, what is "highly improper block start technique?"
They've been told to keep their weight back in the blocks, with almost no weight on their hands, so they can "push off harder". And to keep their heads/eyes up the whole time, so they can "see where they're going".
Thanks for the advice.
1. You can teach what you haven't run or competed in though. All things being equal, I'd rather have experience in the event. But there are many examples of good coaches who didn't actually do the events/sports.
2. Nice collection of PR's. I'd love to believe anonymous PR claims but hand times and relay splits are even more entertaining.
I have been in that situation and wait to talk to him. Maybe and the first few meets compare the starts of the sprinters on your team and the other team. IF the other teams have better starts sit with him at the next meet and bring up the fact that other teams are having better starts. Point out that it appears that the other teams are using other techniques and maybe we should try that. Say WE not YOU should try that. I have been a head coach and it is hard to approach an asst coach that teaching his kids wrong.
Unfortunately this is true. We should all be willing to have open conversations about training, go to clinics and grow in our knowledge. But many don't, including distance coaches. Having fast, talented athletes often hides bad coaching.
I echo what has been said here. Earn his trust, do a good job, show you care and then have the conversation. Be a friend. Don't say, "You're a dumb ass and are doing this all wrong," but show him a new thing you saw in college, or at a clinic. Then let him decide how he wants to coach his athletes.
I have the opposite problem. We have a strong sprinting program and the head coach (who doesn't know a whole lot) tries to get me to train my distance runners like a sprinter. "The mile trains the same way as the 100, you just need to do it longer."
We have a very successful cross country program and while we are small in numbers (10 guys, 10 gals) they are all decent runners themselves. Despite that I ran in college, ran post collegiate and know my stuff I still listen. Maybe there is something in what was said. Maybe we need more speed or more recovery. You never know.
Best of luck. Just be friendly and don't come across as a know it all.