How would you react if you were this kids coach? Sprints to front of XC race to take selfie?

I laugh and tell him he's an idiot. Then I'd make #selfie the team song .

My high school coach would have laughed/smiled about it ... but in the way that says, "If you fvcking do that again, I'll kill you."

I imagine it's a learned skill to be able to smile that says that.

He's already wearing douchebag look at me socks, so this should have been expected. Pretty soon he'll do something that will make the coach wish he was still taking selfies.

in michigan he would have been automatically DQ'd for using an electronic device during a competition

It's usually best to handle behavior you don't like 1-on-1. And your instinct is right about not taking the fun out of running for the kids. A bit of silliness can make for a magical bond and a winning team.

Hard to tell from a quote in an article, since the coach may not want to keep any details of a punishment within the team.

I'd hope that the coach would at least try to educate this young man that the stunt showed poor sportsmanship.

When my 4X800 team talked about dying our hair for states, our coach's response was "that's fine, but if you're going to show up with multicolored hair, you damn well better win, because you'll look like a bunch of tools if you grab all that attention and then crap the bed." Same applies here. Taking a selfie en route to dropping the field would actually be pretty badass/hilarious. Having your "look at me" moment and then plodding along for a back of the pack finish is not so cool.

Agreed. Our XC team painted war paint on our faces for District one year, but were only willing to do so because we had such a good chance of winning. When we moved on to Regionals, we all agreed we would look like tools if we showed up with war paint and didn't win the meet, so we decided against it.

I would've taken that phone, shined it up, turned it sideways, then shoved it right up his roody-poo candy @$$, then checked him in to the Smackdown Hotel at the corner of Jabroni Drive and Know Your Role Boulevard :-)

He was 61st.

http://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.aspx?Meet=91546#541

Only issue I have in the article is that the kid said that they were resting their top runners for district...only problem was that their district meet was three weeks later...

Dude has only run sub 20 minutes in the 5k once. What a joke.

His X-C pr beats mine by 10 seconds, guess that makes me an even bigger joke! As a coach, 'over reacting' to this selfie thang would be a huge mistake. These are kids, yes? acting like kids. Keep it fun.

If I were this kid's coach, I'd be disciplining him somehow. Would anyone take a selfie during the middle of a basketball game? A football game?

It's bush-league behavior and it makes the sport look like a joke. Maybe a punishment of sitting out a few meets wouldn't make that much of an impact on someone who is inclined to take selfies during races, but I wouldn't stand for that kind of behavior on my team.

Make the kid post one of those "apology" pictures to social media like people do with their dogs, where the kid holds up a sign that says 'I disrespected the people I was competing against by turning a competition into a circus, and now my coach is making me apologize on social media.'

Like these -->

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/13/cc/92/13cc92f2c5ee39fbfe78395d9e929abd.jpg

He should've used a selfie stick for better breadth.

Jonathan Gault wrote:

It's bush-league behavior and it makes the sport look like a joke..

And that's why it's so funny! You must be a lot of fun at parties.

Not Cool Bro wrote:

I feel like I'm pretty intense and could be a bit of a hard ass so might have wanted to ream this kid out.

You are exactly the type of person that should not have children.

If a meet/race official says this kid's antics were against some sort of rules, then so be it. But there's no reason why you need to manifest your insecurities as a person by "reaming this kid".

You lack perspective. Distance races, like other sporting events, serve no purpose. If a lot of people watch a sporting event, then it can potentially be profitable for owners/competitors/coaches (i.e., the NBA). When people are making big money from sports, it is easy for them to SEEM important. However, in reality, sports' big-money-potential does not change the fact that all sports are, essentially, pointless.

Running, unlike other sports, is not even financially profitable (for the most part).

Humans have become so intelligent that they no longer need to exert their bodies in order to capture food. A modern human can go his/her entire life without exercising, without major consequence.

So, a high school distance race is essentially an event in which humans run several miles for no reason at all, other than for their own enjoyment.

A race, then, is a beautiful thing. Everyone participates solely for their own enjoyment. If a kid enhances that enjoyment by taking a selfie during it, there is nothing wrong with it. You are very incorrect to suggest that this kid should be somehow "punished"; it is simply incredible just how incorrect you are. You are a truly stupid, perspective-lacking person.

Someone with your false machismo and lack of perspective should absolutely never have children. By the time your children reached adulthood, they would truly hate you, and see you as the stupid human being that you are.

Actually, this exact same thing happened at one of my races last XC season. It was pretty funny and I couldn't help but smile as my teammate announced to everyone around, "HE'S TAKING A SELFIE, HAW HAW HAW"

If I was the coach, I might be upset about it. For one thing, it makes the entire team look like a joke unless they're a well-known powerhouse. If it was at some low key meet I probably wouldn't care, but at a bigger meet I would.

Very classic for the current generation. Imagine this crop of fools running the nation in 30 years. Holy cow.

As for your "running doesn't really matter" argument, you could really say the same about anything in life. As Mr. Keynes points out, in the long run, we're all dead. Should we simply not expect anyone to ever take anything remotely seriously just because life is essentially an event in which humans live several decades for no reason at all, other than for their own enjoyment?

And should anything that enhances a person's enjoyment be accepted? Maybe some kid on my son's soccer team would rather pick flowers and chase butterflies than play the game. The team should just play a man down in that case, right? I mean, the coach is just a jerk if he's more worried about a silly thing like performing well than allowing each and every kid to enjoy the sport in his own way.

Racing as part of a team is a two-way street. The team provides training and opportunities to compete. You agree to some things as well. You agree to work hard and do your best in competition, and to represent your team well.