Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

From: XXXXXXXX
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:14 AM
To: XXXXXXXX
Cc: XXXXXXXX
Subject: re: An opportunity to work together

Latif, Thank you for your message. I find myself getting less and less involved with websites in our sport. While I don’t know you personally, I am not in support of sites that are open to any and all athletes. Coaches looking for support are one thing, but too often I read questions posted by kids or their parents, and the quickly offered - authoritative answer of a self styled expert, in a continual process that I feel is not appropriate. To explain further. The typical posts I see on sites such as yours, are questions posed by HS and some college athletes. When that individual is working under an on-site coach which is the case pretty much all the time, I do not think it appropriate to weigh in with responses. Too often the questioner is someone who is either unhappy with or in disagreement with their coach. No matter how limited the coach's qualifications, it is irresponsible for a 3rd party to jump in with a quick fix response. 99 times out of 100, the man on the ground is the best option for that kid’s success. To me it’s similar to the idea of being a parent raising my own children and having them go and call Mike Brady, Grandpa Walton or some other sitcom father to solve their problems because we all know they must be geniuses given the way they solve the world’s problems within the confines of a 30 minute time window (of a TV show) Sadly, the real world doesn’t function like that. I carry very high qualifications in our sport and am fortunate to work with some of the best athletes in the US, yet I am not immune to having my athletes here at school tell me that they would rather work with someone on the outside. This is unacceptable on many levels. Similarly, I try to avoid doing anything like this as I interact with people in our sport. Pretty much, if I can’t guarantee that I am exchanging information directly with a coach on a website or thru email, I choose not to. I also avoid any “for profit” websites. Having worked for 25 underpaid and underappreciated years in coaching, I find that I choose to interact with similar folks. I wish you luck and hope that your endeavor is a success.

Sincerely, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX