Bits and Pieces

The past two weeks I have had the opportunity to get back to my roots so to speak. First I spoke at the M-F Track & Filed clinic in Atlantic City where the audience was mainly high school coaches. It is always good to get to speak to high school coaches because they represent such an important stage in the developmental process. At the clinic I was also able to catch up with Joe P. a frequent contributor to this blog. He is a very bright guy who has worked at the high school level for a long time. He does great work and always stimulates me to think. With a one day turnaround back to the warm and friendly confines of Sarasota Florida I was off to Phoenix for the United States Track and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTCCA) convention. I was there to meet with the event group chairs for the USA Track & Filed Coaching education program regarding revision of the Level Two Training Theory curriculum. We had about six hours of very productive discussions about the curriculum and the coaching education program in general. This is something that is very dear to my heart since I was one of the original group of founding members and the first director of the program. Secondly I was given the opportunity to give two presentations to the coaches. It was real honor to present to this group of peers. There were many people in attendance who are people that I have learned from and respect highly. As a group of coaches track and field coaches tend to get it because they have to do everything, coach technique, condition, strength train and administer, frankly that is a reason why some of the best coaches in the Athletic Development field have track and field backgrounds. The presentations were kicked off by eight hours of presentations by Frans Bosch. This was the third time I have heard Frans and once gain I was blown away. You may not agree with everything he says, but he really makes you think.(Once I digest his presentation I will post the ideas that he stimulated this time around) His presentation was a great segue into my presentations. The other thing that was neat was to catch up with coaches that I had not seen for years, some of whom had a profound influence on my career. My heart has always been with track and field, the fundamentals that I learned as a track coach have been the foundation for any success I have had as a coach working with other sports.