Showing posts with label coaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coaching. Show all posts
Friday, October 7, 2011
coaching on line
A few weeks back I had a chat with a long time friend Tim Budic who suggested I start an on line training service. Charge a fee and write up programs for people looking for a coach. I think that this is a great idea. I love coaching, I write up workouts anyways, even if I don't have people to write them for, why not see if there are people out there who would be interested. Tim sent me a few examples of people that he knew for me to take a look at. It seemed easy enough, but i have yet to pull the trigger on this project. So I am asking you the readers of my blog, if there are any of you out there. Should I do this. Is there a market for this, do you think people would want me to coach them? Would love some feed back.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Really USATF, really
I spent the past weekend at the USATF Championships. The experience was good for me because of the people I was there with and who I got to talk to. The meet itself was pathetic. I understand that it is a non championship year and the races are not going to be as competitive as the Olympic Trials, but I was not very impressed with how the meet was run.
The Crowd was absolutely pathetic. $20 a day to sit in the heat with minimal shade and not a single water fountain in the stadium is a little ridiculous. The last day the stands were maybe half full. There was hardly anyone on the back stretch at all. Mostly coaches or people watching the vaults, you need to do something to get people in the stands, revamp the schedule, drop the ticket prices, something….
As far as advertising was concerned you would not have known that there was a track meet going on in town unless you stumbled on to the stadium and asked someone. There was not a single poster, flyer, banner, billboard, or anything anywhere in town or around. It is sad when NCAA puts up billboards and posters around town for regional meets for Division III and USATF can’t put anything up for a National Championship. But they will pay $4000 to the winner of each race, and $3000 to second and down to $500 for fith and sixth. Why don’t we spend some of that money and try and put people in the stands. I feel like USATF needs to realize if there are no fans that there will be no sport. Our sport cannot survive on once every four years. There are too many people involved in High School track and field for our sport to be in the state that it is in. So why don’t we try lowering ticket prices, maybe even give tickets away, have fun kids activities, autograph sessions something to get kids involved, something to get peoples butts in the seats.
I understand that the races are tactical, most championship races are, but come on ladies and gentlemen if we want to compete at the world level we might need to run faster than the Jr’s are running. I know that depth was a big reason for some of these results and it is a sad state when a US National Championship doesn’t mean very much to people and they don’t even show up. I think that falls back on the USATF
There were several points in the meet where there were looooooong pauses. There was a 45 minute break at one point where they decided to scratch the women’s 200 to just semis and they did that the day of the meet. So we sat in the stands in 90+ deg heat and waited for 45 minutes with nothing going on. The field sizes at the meet were very small, and I do not understand this. This is a not championship year. Why not give some people a chance to run at a US national meet and get the experience. Make the field sizes bigger. I also heard several stories of people who did not find out if they were in the meet or not until a day or two out. USATF people have lives, they have to make travel plans, they have to get hotels and flights and some even have to take time off from work to go. One hammer thrower went to the meet even though he ended up not qualifying, but he was in the stands because he already had to pay for his hotel and buy the time he found out it was too late to cancel.
In summary USATF and track and field is in a sad state, the people in charge are not getting it done and if you were in Des Moines you would see that is the case. The National Championships should be a celebration of our sport each year and this was not.
The Crowd was absolutely pathetic. $20 a day to sit in the heat with minimal shade and not a single water fountain in the stadium is a little ridiculous. The last day the stands were maybe half full. There was hardly anyone on the back stretch at all. Mostly coaches or people watching the vaults, you need to do something to get people in the stands, revamp the schedule, drop the ticket prices, something….
As far as advertising was concerned you would not have known that there was a track meet going on in town unless you stumbled on to the stadium and asked someone. There was not a single poster, flyer, banner, billboard, or anything anywhere in town or around. It is sad when NCAA puts up billboards and posters around town for regional meets for Division III and USATF can’t put anything up for a National Championship. But they will pay $4000 to the winner of each race, and $3000 to second and down to $500 for fith and sixth. Why don’t we spend some of that money and try and put people in the stands. I feel like USATF needs to realize if there are no fans that there will be no sport. Our sport cannot survive on once every four years. There are too many people involved in High School track and field for our sport to be in the state that it is in. So why don’t we try lowering ticket prices, maybe even give tickets away, have fun kids activities, autograph sessions something to get kids involved, something to get peoples butts in the seats.
I understand that the races are tactical, most championship races are, but come on ladies and gentlemen if we want to compete at the world level we might need to run faster than the Jr’s are running. I know that depth was a big reason for some of these results and it is a sad state when a US National Championship doesn’t mean very much to people and they don’t even show up. I think that falls back on the USATF
There were several points in the meet where there were looooooong pauses. There was a 45 minute break at one point where they decided to scratch the women’s 200 to just semis and they did that the day of the meet. So we sat in the stands in 90+ deg heat and waited for 45 minutes with nothing going on. The field sizes at the meet were very small, and I do not understand this. This is a not championship year. Why not give some people a chance to run at a US national meet and get the experience. Make the field sizes bigger. I also heard several stories of people who did not find out if they were in the meet or not until a day or two out. USATF people have lives, they have to make travel plans, they have to get hotels and flights and some even have to take time off from work to go. One hammer thrower went to the meet even though he ended up not qualifying, but he was in the stands because he already had to pay for his hotel and buy the time he found out it was too late to cancel.
In summary USATF and track and field is in a sad state, the people in charge are not getting it done and if you were in Des Moines you would see that is the case. The National Championships should be a celebration of our sport each year and this was not.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Been a long time
It has been a long time since I have posted on here. And in that time a lot has happened, I don't even know where to begin. This year has had its ups and downs. Fortunately it has had more ups than downs. I have slept in more beds and couches than I care to remember, I have spent more time on the road than I ever have in the past. Between trips for the team going to meets and trips for recruiting it has been a very busy year.
For recruiting I have gone to California three times, Texas twice, Missouri at least three times. All of the trips were productive in one way or another. I have gone through patches where we would have 5 kids verbally commit and sign and others where I would have 5 kids tell me we were not established enough of a program, and who could blame them looking at our past. But I was not concerned with our past and knew if I just kept working and made one more call or made one more home visit that we would get maybe one more kid. As of today we have 28 new men and 10 new women with the recruiting not done just yet. In the past couple of weeks we have had a hot streak of men committing to the program. I am hoping that we can get a few more girls to come on board before the summer ends. Next year is going to be exciting.
As for the current team we have made huge leaps and bounds from where we were last year. Things can always go smoother and I still have a lot of learning to do as a young coach, but we are making some great progress. Both the men and the women scored more points at conference than they have in recent history and we had several conference champs and even a National Champ. I am very excited for what the future holds for McPherson College track and cross country.
Personally I wore myself down this year. I have still only had two days off of work since winter break. I have been sleeping in all of this week and plan on sleeping in until I feel my body has caught up with lack of sleep. 5 hours just doesn't cut it for me. I have stuck to my new years resolution fairly well and have been reading more. I have read several books, mostly about running or coaching and plan to continue to do this. I hope this summer that I will be able to read even more. My running has taken a hit due to injury the past few months but I hope to get rid of the nail that seems to be stuck in my heal in the next few weeks by meeting with a ART doc i talked with yesterday who has a practice in Wichita.
For now I think that catches up on where my life is. I hope this summer to get a good start on recruiting for next year, to get more organized with the administrative side of things and to read and learn a lot. I am very excited for what the next school year will bring and to see all the hard work this year pay off.
For recruiting I have gone to California three times, Texas twice, Missouri at least three times. All of the trips were productive in one way or another. I have gone through patches where we would have 5 kids verbally commit and sign and others where I would have 5 kids tell me we were not established enough of a program, and who could blame them looking at our past. But I was not concerned with our past and knew if I just kept working and made one more call or made one more home visit that we would get maybe one more kid. As of today we have 28 new men and 10 new women with the recruiting not done just yet. In the past couple of weeks we have had a hot streak of men committing to the program. I am hoping that we can get a few more girls to come on board before the summer ends. Next year is going to be exciting.
As for the current team we have made huge leaps and bounds from where we were last year. Things can always go smoother and I still have a lot of learning to do as a young coach, but we are making some great progress. Both the men and the women scored more points at conference than they have in recent history and we had several conference champs and even a National Champ. I am very excited for what the future holds for McPherson College track and cross country.
Personally I wore myself down this year. I have still only had two days off of work since winter break. I have been sleeping in all of this week and plan on sleeping in until I feel my body has caught up with lack of sleep. 5 hours just doesn't cut it for me. I have stuck to my new years resolution fairly well and have been reading more. I have read several books, mostly about running or coaching and plan to continue to do this. I hope this summer that I will be able to read even more. My running has taken a hit due to injury the past few months but I hope to get rid of the nail that seems to be stuck in my heal in the next few weeks by meeting with a ART doc i talked with yesterday who has a practice in Wichita.
For now I think that catches up on where my life is. I hope this summer to get a good start on recruiting for next year, to get more organized with the administrative side of things and to read and learn a lot. I am very excited for what the next school year will bring and to see all the hard work this year pay off.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Inspiration
My mom bought me a John Wooden book for my birthday. First off the dude can flat out coach. I have picked up big time lessons off of each page. Almost everything the man writes is inspirational. I find myself just wanting to read this book all the time.
His big thing is SUCCESS. Not winning or loosing but being as successful as you can be, doing the very best you can in practice day in and day out. I have found myself gravitating to this the past few years. If I work with my team and prepare them the best I can do run the best they can when it counts that is all that matters. He also speaks of holding tight to your principles and being true to who you are. This is something that I have been struggling with more than I have in my life as of late, how strong do I put my foot down on things and what do I let slide. I need to make sure that I do not feel like I am being taken advantage of and putting the team first. Wooden was very big into making good decisions for the team and what is best for the group. This is definitely the direction I want my teams to head in.
Be a team, work as a team to be the best we can. If we are the best we can be and work at that goal on a daily basis we will be successful on the track but more importantly in life. I need to make this very clear in the recruiting process so that I am getting the people on the team that will buy into the system. So far I feel that I have done a good job of this. I also feel that the majority of the people on the team are buying into this as well.
I have also gotten inspiration for some recruiting pieces for next year. I am going to stick with the success theme, more to come on that I cant give all my secrets away :)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
team dynamics
There are some team leaders that are starting to emerge from the group slowly but surely. It is nice to have people that I can trust within the team. I had a class room session with the distance people to go over why they are doing the workouts and mileage that I am having them do. There were a few questions that came up on people wanting to know. I have wanted to do this since I got here but have felt strapped for time on a daily basis to fit in the things we need to do and get them off to night class, work, dinner or wherever else they go after practice. SO on Thursday we had an easy run so I decided to do it then. I went into the classroom and drew up a big calender and put all of our long runs and workouts up and talked them through the progression of everything. The exciting part about the whole meeting was that most of the group came out of it very excited not only for this season but for next year. I am going to do a much more in depth talk at cross country camp next summer, but I feel that the majority of them understand and buy in to what I am trying to accomplish.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Work work work work
I have spent a lot of time in the office this week. I have started to take a graphic arts class to become more savvy on photo shop, in design etc. so I can work on recruiting pieces on my own time when the inspiration hits me. the class has been fun and I have learned a lot.
With out having Beck here I have spent all of my time outside of eating and sleeping and running in my office working. I am in the office by no later than 8 am and have been going home around 10:30 at night after finishing up my phone calls. I am starting to make some head way with the recruiting process but I still have a lot to figure out with the scholarship situation. We do not have what you would normally think of for scholarships and things have to get passed through AD and admissions people. It has been a busy time but I have not felt over worked just yet.
With out having Beck here I have spent all of my time outside of eating and sleeping and running in my office working. I am in the office by no later than 8 am and have been going home around 10:30 at night after finishing up my phone calls. I am starting to make some head way with the recruiting process but I still have a lot to figure out with the scholarship situation. We do not have what you would normally think of for scholarships and things have to get passed through AD and admissions people. It has been a busy time but I have not felt over worked just yet.
Team Goal session
Yesterday we had our first team goal session. The conversations were good ones and the distance runners even came back after practice to talk some more about what they want to accomplish and where they want to go with the team. I am very excited to collect all of the information and put it together. They are buying into the changes that need to be made and I feel we are turning a corner.
first team meeting
My name is Joe Eby, I am very excited to be here today and have the opportunity to lead this team into the future. I wanted to have this meeting to let you know where I stand from the start. I want this to be your team, so you will set the direction but I want to give you some guidelines. I not only want this to be a competitive team in the conference but at the national level as well. Everyone who is willing to put the time and effort in to becoming the best athlete they can is welcome on this team and I will do everything in my power to help you reach your goals. But remember that this is not a club sport this is collegiate athletics and I want you to treat it as such. This school and this program can be successful. I know what it takes to build a successful team and I want each and everyone of you to help shape a be a part of it. But I also want the commitment from each of you to make this the best TEAM that we can.
I am a big believer in athletics as a life style. To me this means a proper well balanced diet, at least 8+ hours of quality sleep a night, meaning going to be around the same time every night and getting up at the same time every morning. No drugs whether recreational or performance enhancing and no alcohol. Having said that I am not naive to thing that college kids do not and will not drink alcohol but there is a time and a place and in season is not that time and place. If you are under the age of 21 keep in mind that it is illegal for you to ever drink alcohol so be mindful of your decisions.
For most of you I am not going to intervene in your training. Your event coaches are the experts in there area and it is going to stay that way. There will be a few minor tweaks to some procedures but not major changes. The distance and mid distance and long sprints will see the greatest change and we will talk about that in a few minutes.
I am a big believer in athletics as a life style. To me this means a proper well balanced diet, at least 8+ hours of quality sleep a night, meaning going to be around the same time every night and getting up at the same time every morning. No drugs whether recreational or performance enhancing and no alcohol. Having said that I am not naive to thing that college kids do not and will not drink alcohol but there is a time and a place and in season is not that time and place. If you are under the age of 21 keep in mind that it is illegal for you to ever drink alcohol so be mindful of your decisions.
For most of you I am not going to intervene in your training. Your event coaches are the experts in there area and it is going to stay that way. There will be a few minor tweaks to some procedures but not major changes. The distance and mid distance and long sprints will see the greatest change and we will talk about that in a few minutes.
Team Culture
So I have officially been in McPherson for 2 weeks 2 hours and about 17 min. The first two weeks have been a journey for sure. I have inherited a talented but very small team who just need some direction and will become a much better team.
My first week here we had a meet and I wanted to see how they conducted themselves at the meet and how they went about warming up and cooling down and racing and eating etc.... How mentally prepared they were to race when they step on the line and how good were their race tactics. Well lets just say we have a long ways to go and I took a lot of little things for granted while I was at Allegheny and DePauw. There is no Sr. leader who just knows how to do a lot of the little things because when they were freshman someone taught them.
I also am going to have to break these kids down and build them back up. A little like Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. There is lots of talent they just don't know the fundamentals . It is going to be an exciting journey and a challenge they I am up for and so far the athletes are up for.
My first week here we had a meet and I wanted to see how they conducted themselves at the meet and how they went about warming up and cooling down and racing and eating etc.... How mentally prepared they were to race when they step on the line and how good were their race tactics. Well lets just say we have a long ways to go and I took a lot of little things for granted while I was at Allegheny and DePauw. There is no Sr. leader who just knows how to do a lot of the little things because when they were freshman someone taught them.
I also am going to have to break these kids down and build them back up. A little like Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. There is lots of talent they just don't know the fundamentals . It is going to be an exciting journey and a challenge they I am up for and so far the athletes are up for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)