Every American Pro runner had excellent high school coaching

Sowinski and Murphy didn’t come from top programs.

99% of high school coaches are compétent enough not to derail à runner with that kind of ability. Just about every coach will schedule 1-2 easy days after each hard workout and recommend à long run over the weekend. I rarely heard stories of kids being pushed too hard.

Pro runners are pros because of talent and not because of who had coached them in H.S.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

99% of high school coaches are compétent enough not to derail à runner with that kind of ability. Just about every coach will schedule 1-2 easy days after each hard workout and recommend à long run over the weekend. I rarely heard stories of kids being pushed too hard.

Pro runners are pros because of talent and not because of who had coached them in H.S.

I think you underestimate how a bad coach can screw a kid up either by over-racing or injuring them or just sucking the fun out of the sport.

A friend has a great line: have as a goal never to be a kid's last coach. That means the kid enjoys the experience enough to continue the sport.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

99% of high school coaches are compétent enough not to derail à runner with that kind of ability. Just about every coach will schedule 1-2 easy days after each hard workout and recommend à long run over the weekend. I rarely heard stories of kids being pushed too hard.

Pro runners are pros because of talent and not because of who had coached them in H.S.

/thread

Former Iowa Great wrote:

Sowinski and Murphy didn’t come from top programs.

I remember Jager saying his high school training wasn't very good.

This is going back a number of years, but Tim Broe came from a no-name program.

rare wrote:

I remember Jager saying his high school training wasn't very good.

While Jacobs is far from an amazing program, I think Jager was more referring to his personal training and not the program's training. He struggled with some injuries and had to experiment in how to build up mileage.

The program was solid enough to give him teammates for a 4x800 that set a then IHSA record of 7:40.

Look up Ritz’s high school training. Insanity. He was successful because he could survive, not due to the training.

I don't agree, I coached myself the last half of High School then went to a D1 school on scholarship. Made Jr Teams and Sr Teams in my era.

Proving you wrong wrote:

Look up Ritz’s high school training. Insanity. He was successful because he could survive, not due to the training.

False. Rockford is a perennial top program in the state of Michigan.

I don't know what the coaching was like, but Gary Bkorklund and Craig Virgin went to tiny schools.

Prove me wrong wrote:

Every pro was good to great in high school. Along with that innate talent came excellent developmental coaching. You never hear of professionals coming from some no name program.

TLDR: Competent developmental training is necessary to achieve your greatest results. Incompetent training ruins runners.

Absolutely. I quit HS track and field in 11th grade because our coach had no idea what he was doing and ended up contacting a college and becoming friends with some assistant coaches there and worked my way in. My coach tried to recruit me to make him look good but I had to decline his stuff and use the track in the morning. He made them do 3 things every day....max out on power clean....speed work...and timed miles. The entire track team. from jumpers to milers.