By Michael Newman

 

So much for it being a nice sunny weekend last Friday and Saturday. It was amazing that no meets were cancelled. So, major props go out to all the coaches, athletes and fans that braved the strong winds and sometime rain to be in the elements so to speak.

 

The weekend also brought out some of the strangest things that I have seen over a period of time. I am only going to mention a few that I saw in my travels over the last week.

 

Healthy at last

Not a strange story, but a good one especially for Jonathan Boey (MacArthur HS, Decatur). Boey had a great weekend at the Harold Jester Earlybird Meet in Champaign running 10.59 & 21.89 with the aid of a strong tailwind like most of the other sprinters had over the weekend.

 

The tables turned for him on Tuesday. Rather, the winds turned. Boey competed Tuesday at the Solon Lion Invitational at Springfield against the defending 2A 100 Meter Champion Reggie Bratton (Jacksonville HS, Jacksonville). Boey looked great in winning the 100 (10.77) setting a new meet record. Bratton was a distant second (11.45). According to Springfield Lanphier Coach Mike Garcia, Boey ran that 100 Meter race into a 15 mph headwind. Wow.

 

This is a good sign for Boey. Last year at this time, he injured his hamstring which hampered the rest of his season. I hope writing this down is not a jinx for him. I have a feeling it will not.

 

Curveballs

You are preparing mentally to run a race. When you get off the bus, the conditions are not at your liking. The big question is how do you adjust to it?

 

I know as a former distance runner I would try to make the best out of the situation. I wanted to run fast in every meet, but when you have strong winds it is going to change your race strategy. I saw that a number of times in races where no one wanted to battle the winds, it was a matter of patience for making a move. It will come in handy when we get to the state meet. You will have thoughts of running lightning fast and the pace will dictate otherwise.

 

The same can be said about the field events. Jumping or throwing in conditions like that will be a test of your mental capabilities adjusting your step or motion.

 

Those adjustments will be the difference for a successful athlete.

 

Curveballs Part 2

The biggest test for athletes is to adjust their preparation for a race when the meet is being delayed or running behind schedule. Sometimes, the delays do not happen because of something else that was happening n the meet.

 

One of the meets that I was going to be at last Saturday was the Schaumburg Saxon Invitational. Due to a malfunction in the timing system, the start of the running prelims was delayed. On a cold, windy day, this is not a good thing. I hated doing this, but I left the meet before it even started because I had a bad feeling about it. I think I made the right call.

 

As I was watching the Long Jump warm-ups at Wheaton North, I received a message from one of the coaches who was still at the Schaumburg meet. He told me that they had just finished the 100 Meter High Hurdle prelims! He then went on to tell me the timing system that they were using was called FUAT (You can use your imagination on that). It took light of an impossible situation. It did not have to be impossible situation if the meet director would have thought outside of the box.

 

When a timing system continues and continues to not do what it is supposed to do, it only hurts the athlete more and more. It was a matter of stubbornness that the system was being used. Before I left the Schaumburg campus, I know some of the coaches were making suggestions of getting the meet going by doing it the old fashioned way…by hand timing.

 

Yes, the meet would not have FAT timing. But who does it benefit when it is not working properly? It did not help anyone who was at the meet who had to suffer through the conditions. I am sure coaches would have volunteered to help with the timing. As far as I know, it was not an option. If the meet was hand timed, perhaps the entire meet would have been contested. Because all of the delays, a storm system blew in rain and lightning thus not finishing the last three events. Three opportunities for athletes to compete were gone.

 

Moral of the story: always have a back-up plan.

 

Walk…don’t run

The thing that made me laugh inside the hardest was at the end of a meet where coaches were inside of the press box waiting for the final results. It was freezing outside and I know athletes were rushing to get inside.

 

As I was looking at my notes, I heard one of the coaches exclaim “You don’t need to run!”

 

I looked out towards the track, I saw two athletes running towards their bus. The thing was that they were carrying two pole vault poles. “Do they realize how much those poles cost?” the coach said putting his hand to his head. Depending on what quality of a pole is, the cost can be close to $1500 for the poles as I was told.

 

I still had to laugh at what I watched. The things you see at a track meet.

 

Adjusting to a new school

One of a coach’s many worries is how a transfer student will adjust to a new school environment. This was the case for Wheaton-Warrenville South Girls’ Track Coach Rob Harvey.

 

Last year, Helen Majer moved with her family from Germany. Her father had taken a new position with a company and had already been in the United States for a year. The family moved the following year.

 

So how does Harvey know that this student-athlete has adjusted to the Wheaton school?

 

“She told me the other day that she is now dreaming in English,” Harvey said. “When she thinks of her friends in Germany, she still dreams in German. But those with her new friends are in English.” From that, Harvey can tell that she is making the adjustment socially very nicely.

 

The senior is making the adjustment nicely on the track as well. She was one of the top 5 runners on the Lady Tigers cross country team in the fall. She will be one of the runners that Harvey will depend on in the state series as Wheaton-Warrenville South looks to defend their 4 x 800 Relay 3A state title. Majer ran 2:25 in her first outdoor meet in blustery conditions.

 

And finally…

The coach is an influential person in the growth of a young student-athlete. But sometimes we forget about the meet referee or starter can be just as influential.

 

The meet referee or starter is the police officer of the track meet. He makes sure that the races start correctly and the races are run fairly within the rules of track & field. There are times that the official has to explain to the athlete what they did wrong or why they were disqualified. I did not see this in a track meet that I was at recently.

 

It happened during a small meet where some athletes were competing for the first time. The athlete went out of the blocks in a hurdle race and was struggling over the first hurdle. He messed up his steps on the second hurdle, had to stop, and eventually had to walk around the hurdle. He went on to finish the race and was given a time. With him going around the hurdle, it resulted in a disqualification as it should have been.

 

It is the job for the starter to inform the athlete or coach of the disqualification. As I was standing near the finish line, the starter approached the athlete. I could tell the athlete was a little frustrated because he messed up his steps but happy that he had finished.

 

“You went around the hurdle. You are disqualified son. Your time does not count.” The starter used a matter of fact tone.

 

My dad was a starter / official for 10+ years. He always used the small meets as a chance for a teaching moment. If an athlete did something wrong, he would go up and explain what had happened. He would tell them in a bigger meet, they would have been disqualified. He had one instance where he saw the athlete later in the year and the athlete did the same thing. The athlete was disqualified.

 

I was fortunate (Yes, fortunate) that I was never disqualified in a race. I did remember one time where I was lining up at the starting line at an indoor meet at Oak Park. I was getting anxious to get the race going as there was a problem with the starting pistol. Roy Gummerson, the legendary coach at Oak Park, was lining up the athletes on the line and was also an assistant starter on that day. I was pretty vocal on that line.

 

Coach Gummerson came up to me and pulled me aside. “You know, the race is not going anywhere. You all are in the same place. So just relax you ol’ fossil,” he said. He was smiling when he told me that. It was something that I carried for the rest of my running career.

 

I have seen starters explain things to athletes and there was compassion in their voice as they told the athlete where to stand in a relay zone or explaining something that happened. I am sure the athlete went away from the instance with a positive outlook on how they would approach the situation the next time.

 

The hurdle athlete did not get that from the explanation from that starter. I wonder if the athlete got the same feeling after that recent incident.

 

It still bugs me today. Maybe that is why it is at the end of this piece. The molding of a young athlete in this sport starts with the little actions that mentors give. It can be a tone or the way we say it or express it. Respect garners respect. Something to think about the next time you are ready to explain something to a young person. That includes meet officials.

 

Have a good weekend.

msn