Today's Kidss wrote:
Freshman year, being away from home, high school boyfriend/girlfriend.
It's difficult for many of today's yutes, as they have not known a world without so many comforts and toys. And helicopter service industry concierge coddled parenting.
Or, it's just hard moving that far away from home at that age. But certainly most kids are not as tough as those of earlier generations, when complaining was not even an option. You just did as your teachers or coaches told. Period.
Also, there's more money in society, and middle class and up kids have more options.
The problem with this board is people comment with such a short and prejudiced viewpoint.
Watch it all play out and enjoy the stories, the majority of you are usually wrong, most of the time.
This boards opinions don't truly amount to a hill of beans.
I loved this post.
Last year I was talking to a woman's college coach friend of mine and asked him if there was hope for Cain. He felt that it was very common for women to stagnate a little as seniors in HS, struggle as freshman but then get it going again. So hopefully Cain can do this.
One of the things that's tough for all runners at some point in their careers is to realize that for everyone, at some point the rapid gains stop coming. You're in 9th grade, 10th grade, and knocking off 10 seconds per year in the mile. That doesn't continue forever. The start of the plateaus is hard for everyone. For it to happen during her freshman year when she's away from home would be especially tough.
It's logical to think "Oh i'm not happy away from home - that's the cause - that might have nothing to do with it."
When I was coaching at Cornell, Sage Canaday had an awful freshman year for me. He was anemic, ran horrible and didn't enjoy his academic program. He had made up his mind to transfer. I give his father a ton of credit for telling his son, "You can transfer, but not until you go back for the fall semester. You aren't quitting out on an Ivy League school after freshman year."
That fall he excelled and was team MVP and soon the only collegian in the Olympic Marathon Trials.
So there's something to be said for perseverence. I'm not saying Cain should stay Portland. Far from it. Her situation is a lot different. It's not like she's gaining anything academically from attending UP over Fordham. The only reason to be out West is the running and she can run anywhere.