March 18, 2014
Got back from New Balance High School Indoor Nationals early Monday morning. It was an exciting meet at an excellent track and field venue – the Armory in New York City. I had one female hurdler who competed in the 60m hurdles. She finished seventh overall and set a huge personal best in the finals. I was happy with that, and am honestly not too disappointed that she didn’t finish higher. We’ll work on things and see if we can’t finish higher by the time outdoor nationals rolls around.
I don’t know how other coaches feel, but I find meets like this one to be so emotionally exhausting. I constantly find myself poring over every little detail regarding warm-ups, mental focus, and the logistical things like check-in, hip numbers, bib numbers, lane assignments. In the back of my mind I’m always remembering that fiasco in the 1972 Olympics when two American sprinters missed their race because the schedule had changed but their coach was still going by the old one.
I tell my athletes to approach nationals as they approach any other meet – stick to the routine, channel your nervous energy. But nationals is not just another meet. It’s a culminating meet. It’s the meet where you find out whether or not you put in enough of the right kind of work.
As my girl was warming up for the final, I found myself thinking back to random workouts we’d done months ago, wondering if I should’ve implemented more drills to fix that lead leg that still kicks out, if I should’ve had her practice her start with the boys to help her react to the gun faster.
More than anything, these big meets that require long hotel stays fill me with a deep homesickness. I don’t like traveling. It takes me away from my wife, my daughter, and my stepson. I’m the only track head in the family. On the drive up from NC to NY, our head coach had her daughter and her son – both of whom run – in the van with us. Our middle-distance coach had his son – a senior on the team – with him. Several parents of our athletes came along for the trip. Seeing these family members together just reminded me of how much I wanted to get back to my family back home.
As I’m writing this blog post, I’m in my bedroom listening to alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett on iTunes, my wife and daughter are downstairs in the living room watching TV, and the songbirds are chillin’ by the bird feeder in the backyard. That’s the good life for me.
I love track, and I relish the role I play in my athletes’ lives. But I could do without the travel. Props to you who coaches who do it on the regular.
