Highland Park girls celebrate after their first meet of the year (Highland Park girls photo credit)
The first meets of the year are in the books. It has been interesting to me to view the progress of the season and how steadily it is moving. I say this rather loosely under the immortal words of Lane Tech coach Kris Roof who often utters, "cross country is a short season." Well yeah if you go by the schedule September-November then cross country is a very short season. But real astute coaches and programs know better. They all know that cross country season starts two weeks after the final track and field meet is in the books. Mid-June marks the start of a new school year and a new set of optimism.
For the first time in more than eight years I used the entire summer to train those eager to become better long-term track and cross country athletes. It was a running camp if you will. We did not focus at all on racing. We did have a few time trials but everything was focused on development. Hmm, this kind of thinking reminds me of how the Africans and Euros develop their kids. Our "running club" was a unique one indeed and not for everyone. The Chicagoland Youth Performance Group is what I officially call it. We had kids from virtually all ages 10-18 training with us. I honestly felt like a teacher more than a coach (both interchangeable terms) in that I learned I had more patience in me. Could it be that maturity was the key ingredient? I'm not sure but I had a lot of fun coaching and spending time with eager yearlings.
Stay tuned for more cross country development talk this season...