#coach s

[187days]

Bonus Day

I have a cold, but that didn’t stop me from coaching track today. It was the last regular season meet for this young team of mine, and it was awesome. Nearly everyone ran a PR, we got another individual qualifier on to post-season (in hurdles), my boys in the 4x200m beat one of their regional rivals (by a hair... it was such a great race). Everyone was in high spirits. 

This meet was doubly cool for me because my college coach, Coach S, was there (coaching a high school team is his “retired” job, heh). I managed to sneak up on him at the coaches meeting, which I thought was pretty impressive since I stand out at those meetings (most coaches are older than me- still!- and most are men). I tapped him on the shoulder and, in my snootiest voice, said, “Who let you in?” The coach on the other side of him thought I was being a serious jerk until Coach S turned, laughed, and shook my hand. 

Anyways, it’s always good to see him. Today, though, we had sprinters who were neck and neck in the boys 300m, and that was really cool. I mean, it was a moment, watching an athlete I’d trained race an athlete he’d trained. His won, but pulled mine to a monster PR, and they both placed, so... I just shrugged at Coach S, and said, “Old master and young student,” which made him laugh (and then glare because I’d called him old). I really did learn most of what I know from him; that was evident in these boys’ (nearly identical) technique. 

The first post-season meet is in two weeks!

[187days]

Bonus Day

The track team left town at 6:15AM. We came home eight hours later with sunburns and a trophy.

It was really anyone’s day today on the boys’ side of the competition; like, there were six or seven teams that were all in title contention. That my boys- who are nearly all freshmen and sophomores- scored enough points to get some hardware is awesome. I am thrilled for them. But, even if we’d finished in dead last, and they’d competed as hard as they did today, I’d have still been thrilled. They gave it absolutely everything they had. We got unexpected points in hurdles and discus, and massive points from the multi-event athletes who had to maintain high levels of performance all day long despite being tired, and exciting points from the 4x100 and 4x400 relays (fifth and second, respectively) because those races were just so tight. 

So, yeah, I’m super proud of them. 

And I’m proud of the girls, who are also a young team, for hanging onto fourth. We got lots of surprise points from them, as well: the 4x100m team running a massive PR and taking fifth place, one of the ninth grade girls throwing a discus five feet further than she’d ever thrown it, placing fourth, qualifying for the division championship (the next meet in the post-season)... While our upperclassmen were maybe disappointed to give up their championship crown, I don’t think anyone went home disappointed in how they performed in their individual events.

Cool thing: being out on the track with my 4x100m teams to practice hand-offs before the meet started, catching sight of my college coach (whose “retirement job” is coaching another team in the conference)- the man who taught me how to do this- watching me from the finish line. I really hope he could see how much he taught me, you know? Shaking hands with him at the end was cool, too.

Another cool thing: I have a really talented sophomore sprinter who is going to be a phenom (and an amazing captain) by the time he’s a senior. Last year, this was the last meet of his season, and it was really just for experience- he wasn’t seeded to score points in any event- but I told him his time was going to come. This year, he got points in two events, medaled in one, and has at least one more week to race. He’s trusted me, and trusted the process, and it’s awesome that it’s paying off. So at the end of the meet, I said, “How’s it feel now that your time is here?” and got a big grin.

At one point, I also called him an evolving Pokemon because he’s going from dasher to 200m-400m specialist, and everyone laughed at that. I’m equal parts wise, serious, and raging goofball when I coach.

And that’s the best way to be.

[187days]

Bonus Day

The regular indoor track season ended today with a huge morning meet at the best facility in the state. My team’s reaction to being there: “Oh man, we gotta send it!”

Yup.

So many kids ran PRs, and about a dozen are going to advance to the post-season. I think the most awesome surprise was that our 4x400 relay teams both rocketed up the rankings! Head Coach and I had hoped they’d run well, but we had no idea they’d run THAT well. The girls- three of whom are rookies- moved into the top 15, and the boys moved into medal contention! I seriously had not thought they’d throw down that kind of time today because they’d had to race so hard in their individual events before the relay. The unexpectedness made it even more exciting.

I also got to catch up with my college coach, Coach S (who is coaching a high school team because retirement would be boring), which was so cool. I joke around with him a ton- and do goofy stuff like mimicking his mannerisms while he’s talking to his team- but he’s one of the few people I really respect, and can talk to about basically anything. When he asked how my year’s been, I shared a sentiment I’d posted on Twitter yesterday: I’ve never simultaneously felt like I’m succeeding so much or failing so hard with my students. I don’t know if that always comes through in my entries because I try to be positive and optimistic when I reflect on my days, but some of them have been tough. I told Coach S that I was going to learn from it, though, and he said he was sure I would. 

That’s nice to hear. 

And now... On to post-season!

[187days]

Bonus Day

Today was the Meet of Champions. Nine of our girls qualified (three individual events, two relays), and all of them finished in the top ten in their respective events, which is pretty darn impressive. I told my sprinters beforehand to trust their training, and to enjoy themselves because it’s a big deal to make it this far. Not a lot of athletes run PRs in June after a long competition season, but mine all came darn close, and two of them are moving on to the New England Championships, which is very cool. 

I saw Coach S there with a couple of his athletes as the meet was starting, and saw my old high school coaches later on, too. One of them actually came over to wish my sprinters luck, and to say he’d be cheering them on since I was coaching them. That was nice of him. 

New Englands are the same day as graduation, so only The Head Coach is going to go down with our athletes- I’ll obviously be busy- which means that’s the end of my season. And it was a really good ending.

[187days]

Bonus Day

It was a hot day for a track meet. We all got sunburned, despite numerous applications of sunscreen, but my athletes managed to stay relatively cool, stay hydrated, and compete really well. We had a lot of PRs, and a bunch of our athletes qualified for the post-season, or moved up the rankings. And they won a bunch of medals, which is always fun. 

There were a couple of really good battles- some of which we won, some of which we didn’t- and the only race that was a bummer was the boys 4x1 because they bobbled a hand-off. The anchor broke too early. It happens sometimes when young athletes meet competition nerves, and they still managed a second place finish, so I’m not disappointed in them at all. Of course, they wanted to win, though. But next week is the conference championship, so they’ll have a chance to do better and in a more consequential meet.

Overall, our boys aren’t in title contention- our team’s too small- but they’re going to pick up points in a lot of events, and there are several they could win. On the other hand, our girls are in title contention, along with maybe three or four other teams, so this was a chance to scope out some of the competition and get ready to really race hard. 

A really cool thing about the meet: my college coach was coaching another high school team (because he got bored being retired again), and my college team’s athletic trainer was watching his teenaged daughters competing. It was good to see both of them because, as long time readers know, I learned a lot from them when I was younger. They’re good people. Also, I hadn’t seen either of them since before the pandemic, so we spoke a little bit about how we’d handled these last three years, how our families are, the usual catch-up things. 

It’s good to get home at a reasonable hour. I grabbed some food from the grocery store, came home, took a very cold shower, and now I have the evening to relax!

[187days]

Bonus Day

I really couldn’t have asked for a better day as a coach than the one I had with my team today. It’s the first of two post-season qualifier meets, and we were worried earlier in the week that it might get snowed out; instead, it was a beautiful day. And the results? Couldn’t have been better. The Head Coach and I are so proud.

The relays were the best thing to watch. The girls 4x400m team cut eight seconds off their time, and the third runner, who’s ran the same split every single race and wanted so badly to get faster cut off a whopping four seconds, so half the team’s improvement came from her. That’s huge, and she was rightfully elated- and so were her teammates! That puts them back in contention for States, which is an accomplishment since all four are only sophomores. The girls 4x200m team ran next, and cut their PR by two seconds. The most surprising, though, is that the boys team also ran a PR; I say it’s surprising because we’re running with an alternate at anchor, and, boy, did he fight. We were in a heat with a team we’ve traded wins and losses with all season- a team whose coaching staff we’re friendly with, so it’s fun- and we lost to them this time, but still. These boys ran a second and change faster than they’d run when we weren’t using our alternate, so I’m thrilled. Oh, and the starter also ran the 55m and PRed at that, too.

This was one of the meets at which my own middle school, high school, and college coaches were all coaching rival teams. That’s always really fun. At one point, as my girls were running the 4x200m, and their teammates and I were cheering for them, I caught my college coach’s eye, and he gave me a huge grin. He knows that everything I’ve taught my team about how to go fast comes from what he taught me.