There were quite a few things to be happy about on a day that was cold, blustery, and coming after a short but hard week of work without a ton of specific event prep. Namely I am happy with the performances that we had in the 400m (though more athletes need to run it). There are a handful of names I could mention here, but I mainly want to mention Nick Stalzer's run. I wish we had video of that...what a race. Fresh off the basketball court I knew he had some endurance, but when he blazed out the first 200m of the race I expected him to hit the wall at the half-way point (you know you did too!). No way, no how. Nick finished it up, and I think it was probably the biggest crowd pleaser of the day as far as CV is concerned. Can't wait to see what else he has in store.
Lots of good things happened for both the boys and girls. Many of our 400m boys from last year got off to fast starts again (Townsend 52+, Schultz 54+). Sydney Davis turned some coaches heads in the 400m on the girls side. Probably the best performances of the day for the girls were turned in by Mackenzie Pettit by running the fastest handheld times in the 100m, 200m, and 100h along with shining marks in the jumps.
From the distance crew: Mason Arther turned in a solid performance in the mile.
I have no marks from the jumps, but Coaches Smith and Huber told me their are some very promising jumpers with us now on both sides in both long and triple jump.
One thing that needs to change, and we will talk about this more in the coming week, is the default answer to the question "what are you running today?" The default answer is typically "the 100, 200, and long jump". I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but very few of us are gifted enough to be good at these short burst activities. You and the team will be a lot better off with an answer similar to "the 400, the 4x400, and whatever else I can that helps me improve my time in the 400m". An added benefit: being a good 400m runner can make you a better 100/200 runner--there are a couple people on this team that attest to that.
Something to watch and learn from...
Block starts
Here are some videos I have from this weekend. I want you to ask two questions
- Is the athlete exploding out of the blocks or just stepping?
- How is the athletes form once out of the blocks? (figure-4, on the balls of the feet, knees up?)
Coaches my be asking some athletes to switch events, or trying to get you to strongly consider other events. Please realize if they do this it is because you show promise in the events you are trying now, but are just short of the marks that are needed to star in those rolls. We feel that switching events benefits the team, yet we will recommend changes that are complimentary to the events you wish to participate in (i.e., 400m to the 300hurdles, or 100m to the long or high jump, or throws to pole vault).
See you tomorrow. We will meet inside then head outside.
Coach Nack
