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    The Demise of Track & Field

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    By on Vern Gambetta's Blog
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    Track & Field is my passion! I owe so much of what I know about training to this sport. Most of my best friends come from some association with Track & Field, but this is a sport in big trouble. I watched the Prefontaine meet on Sunday. What a joke. The two fastest men in the world running in separate races! Come guys the essence of the sport is competition, not records! It was great to see NIKE put so much money into the meet, but does that mean that everyone has to wear the same NIKE uniforms so the fan cannot tell any of the competitors apart. Is that the way to sell the sport? If you saw the meet there was a big portrait of Bill Bowerman hanging from the stands. I wonder what he would saw if he were still alive?

    Also the TV coverage sucked! Larry Rosom, wherever they got him, needs to stop talking about these stupid football analogies. Dwight Stones needs to retire, that would help the sport immensely.

    The following sums it all quite well. This was in the Sunday, Portalnd Oregonian

    by John Canzano:

    “L emme get this straight: The two fastest men in the world — Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell — are in Eugene today, where they both will run 100 meters at the Prefontaine Classic, but they won’t compete against each other because you have to pay big dollars these days for that kind of exclusivity?

    And let me get this straight: Gatlin still is coached by Trevor Graham, who in recent years has had nine of his athletes test positive for drugs?

    Good to see track and field is cleaning itself up, no?

    Two years ago at this event, athletes acknowledged their sport had a drug and image problem. They talked about sticking together and saving track and field. And yet here they are again, woeful, ignorant and with the same problems amplified.”

    Vern Gambetta

    Vern Gambetta

    Director at Gambetta Sports Training Systems
    Vern is the Director of Gambetta Sports Training Systems. He has been the a conditioning coach for several MLS teams as well as the conditioning consultant to the US Men's World Cup Soccer team. Vern is the former Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets. He has lectured and conducted clinics in Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe and has authored six books and over one hundred articles related to coaching and sport performance in a variety of sports. He has a BA in teaching with a coaching minor and an MA in Education with an emphasis in physical education from Stanford University.
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