HS junior just finished very successful cross country season. Team leader, team player, caring teammate. Brand new coach for track with big ego. No experience coaching elite runner. Go unattached for track season or not? Pros and cons?
HS junior just finished very successful cross country season. Team leader, team player, caring teammate. Brand new coach for track with big ego. No experience coaching elite runner. Go unattached for track season or not? Pros and cons?
You can't run unattached in high school. You would have to compete in college or post collegiate meets
Most of the LR HS posters do not have GFs and do fine running unattached.
Confused. What other options are there for a HS runner who wants to compete at bigger invitationals but coach is lacking support?
Can't compete at big hs invites.. You could maybe talk to your athletic director and have them enter you individually at big meet. Or just look at usatf races. If you get really fast people will want you at meets
What are your track times? In most cases, you would need to be very elite to get entered into certain types of invitationals. No chance at any of the state type meets.
Running unattached at high school invites depends on the state association rules and maybe the meet directors. I think you could run unattached at most Michigan high school invites if the race director allows it. I don't think you could run any in Pennsylvania due to state association rules. That is why one of their high runners ran at Eastern Michigan this year at a XC invite. If you are fast enough the the meet directors at smaller college races may let you run. Look for big invites outside of DI. You can also run New Balance Nationals indoor and outdoor if your times are fast enough. Look at which college meets the faster high school runners competed at in your region of the country.
How to beat the system:
Talk to AD, run for school with a private coach. Parents brought on as volunteer coach to officially have a coach present (In HS you are required to have a school coach there, parents don't count). Offer to pay all expenses. Most importantly say it has nothing to do with the coach but you are getting outside tutoring or have a class and need the flexibility academically.
In some states it is almost impossible to run unattached in high school unless you are elite high school level. Buy since you think you are, it should be no problem!
Elite high school runners run college and open meets. But since you are elite, you already know this!
Unless of course you aren't as elite as you are and it is actually you with the ego problem?
How do you know the new coach isn't a good coach? It sounds like you haven't even worked with him yet.
How fast are you and what region are you in? (Feel free to tell general times, not exact times, to protect your anonymity if you are nervous of being "outed" as well as a general region such as "southern california"). Knowing about how fast you are and how close you are to various big meets could help the advice.
Also do you realistically plan to be a top college recruit, or shooting to walk on at a top college, or etc. Could also change the advice.
For example if your goal is to run 435/940 this year, I'd probably advise you to just try out this coach you are worried about and give it your best.
unattached would be a mistake unless you are in a Maton type situation. Give the new coach a chance. Team leaders don't bail on the team at the first sign of change. also, quite a few elite elite runners are/were coached by coaches that had no prior experience with elite runners. It's high school, not college.
if you have a specific concern. like training, then talk to the coach. If s/he has a big ego then she will want you to be successful.