Middle School Track
I’m coaching a brand new track team this year. We are now in our 5th week of practice, with two of four meets under our belts. None of these kids have ever run track before. A few of them have been on my cross country team for the past two years, but most of the team is brand new to running. These are 5th-8th graders, many of whom have never been able to run even a quarter mile without stopping before.
I have found that pushing past the point of discomfort is a foreign concept to many children, understandably. They haven’t learned to distinguish between discomfort and pain perhaps. They think they need to stop and walk as soon as they become uncomfortable, when what they really need to do is learn to embrace the discomfort until it goes away. No, I’m not saying they should run through pain. I’m not trying to injure anyone. But if you quit running every time it gets uncomfortable, you’re never going to find out what you are capable of. So, one of my big jobs as a coach of children is to help them learn how to push their limits, just a little bit at a time. Some take to this quicker than others.
We only practice twice a week, but it doesn’t take long for me to hear some challenging each other to try to run x amount of laps before stopping to walk, while others sprint the first 100m of the warm up and then walk the rest of the lap to recover, despite my repeated suggestions to jog instead of running. (Those ones will end up needing me to jog with them, not allowing them to get ahead of me, so they can see how much easier it is if you slow down. I have found that jogging is a foreign and difficult concept for beginners.)
As our first meet approaches, I have to decide which events to place each child in. I make sure everyone knows and understands that I absolutely do not care what place they come in. All I care about is that they do their best. Almost everyone wants to run the 100m because they imagine it to be the easiest. Easy as in short, but not so easy if you want to finish closer to the front of the pack than the back. We are only allowed to enter 3 per event, so I can’t grant everyone their wish. I suggest to a few of them that I believe they can run the mile, but that I will let them try the 200 or 400 first, since they are new to running. They have respectable finish times in the distances I place them in, but I know the mile is where they belong. I can tell which runners have the endurance even if they can’t.
There are two boys in particular that convince to try out the mile in our second meet. They are a bit skeptical, but they have been doing well in practice and they trust me. They both end up in different heats, and both run alone for most of the four laps, though with someone to chase not too far ahead. Both finish under 8:00. I congratulate them, tell them thanks for giving it a try.
I find out the next day that one of them had been doing extra runs at home to prepare, and had set a time goal for himself, unknown to me. He beat his goal and was proud of himself, but hopes to go back to a shorter distance in our next meet. I get a message from the other boy’s mom telling me how he is still on cloud 9 the next day and now wants to run cross country in the fall. He is only in 5th grade, so I have a chance to coach him for 3 more years and really help him find his potential.
This is why I love coaching. Whether it is kids or adults, I get to help people find joy and accomplishment in running. I get to help people stretch their comfort zones and discover what they are capable of. Everybody just needs a little nudge and someone to believe in them and help them find their potential. In a time where it seems most kids would rather stay home on the couch and stare at screens than get up and exercise, I’m so glad to get to help some of them find joy and accomplishment in exercise. I will never discourage anyone from exercising. Part of my job as a coach is to set the bar high, but not so high that they will find it unattainable and give up. Just high enough that they can believe in themselves. I have to set different bars for different students, and sometimes it takes me a few practices to figure out who needs which kind of encouragement. But my goal is to reach everyone, and make sure everyone wants to come back the next day and keep trying. I love this job, and I love seeing how proud each child is when they accomplish something they didn’t believe they could.
