longtimecoach wrote:
This fall will be the first time I make cuts in xc. Only returning runners can be cut. All newcomers make the team. I have noticed a small change in the culture of our team, so I have decided to hold the returning runners accountable for their summer training. Each kid was given a time trial standard to hit at the beginning of the season. Not a difficult standard, but one that assures me they didn't something over the summer. If they don't hit their time they don't make the team. Hopefully it works.
So I’m legitimately curious what drives this militant level of commitment that high school XC coaches demand out of the runners on the team. Summer running, mandatory attendance policies, etc. I remember really despising this absurd burden of performance that is placed on young people who really could gain a lot more from flexibility.
When I didn’t attend summer practices due to my summer jobs, I was aggressively questioned due to my “lack of commitment”. Looking at how I’ve turned out in life compared to the “dedicated” runners, I have to laugh at how dumb high school running coaches can be. “Oh cool, Try Hard Harry attended every summer practice, but now is approaching 30 with $30k of student loan debt while waiting tables reminiscing about the high school running glory days... what a life!”
It wasn’t until I quit running, went to college and got a job in the private sector that I slowly began to see the comedy in this level of obsession over high school running.