[cliffordwinburn]

cliffordwinburn on July 14, 2007 at 7:19 am #13219

On the west coast (California, Oregon, Washington, etc.)  other sport athletes from basketball, football, and soccer have come to community colleges or walked on to major universities and dominate the other athletes who have been training the track and field way (basic periodization of max strength, power, med ball throws, sprints, and all that stuff us track athletes do to make us better) for years.  I don't quite understand why people from soccer and football that come out for track their first year will dominate the sprints or jumps?  There are numerous of these athletes on the west coast, is it the same in the east coast or south?  I just don't know what to think about track and field conditioning when athletes who have been doing track and field conditioning for years and to be blown out of the water by some soccer player or football guy that comes out for track?  Is track and field conditioning overrated?  Is the majority of track and field conditioning all for nothing?  Are track coaches all caught up in this periodization of exercise and philosophy that performance is SLOW for most athletes?  I've seen sprinters quit track and go to football or soccer and then come back in a year and are MUCH faster than they were!  Is it just happening over here in Washington, Oregon, and California?

[winnesota]

winnesota on July 14, 2007 at 7:25 am #65579

I've never seen this, but if I had to guess I would say that other sport athletes who beat track athletes are a result of the track athletes being on a poor program.  I would assume that track athletes on a good program would, in fact, beat other sport athletes on the track…

[davan]

davan on July 14, 2007 at 8:10 am #65580

Dominated who? Walter Dix? Pretty sure he trains for track year round… pretty sure he ran 9.93 as well. Most of the very good track athletes that play football in NCAA are better at track (aka Xavier Carter, Holiday, etc.) with few exceptions. What guys from Oregon/Cali/Washington are dominating the sprints that just walked on?

[cliffordwinburn]

cliffordwinburn on July 14, 2007 at 11:22 am #65581

I can see you refering to D1 athletes mostly.  There are a few though over here if you look on there athletic websites.  But there has been a lot in the community colleges that came out and run 100 meters from 10.7ish to 10.5ish.  I think those are good times for just showing up, and not a lot of D2, but some NAIA.  Obviously none of them are as famous as Walter Dix or Holiday, or Carter!  Those athletes are extraordinars!  I'm just refering to 10.7 to 10.5 range.  Sorry for not being more clear, but it's just shocking to see more and more of it.  The numbers are increasing of athletes of other sports coming out for track that are better.  The walk ons are in washington, and some at Oregon because I know athletes there because I live here so I would know who's on scholarship and not… In Cali there is if you look at the athletic websites.  It's just shocking to see the number of these athletes increasing!  I'd like to think those numbers of athletes would be shrinking with all the knowlege about speed in track and field?!

[Mike Young]

Mike Young on July 14, 2007 at 8:24 pm #65582

I've seen this phenomenon but it's almost always at lower levels like high school or junior college. I think the primary reason is that the best talent in the U.S. often gravitates to the more glamorous sports. As a result, lesser talented athletes can train perfectly but only close the gap on their more talented but less well trained counterparts who have been doing other sports. At higher levels of the sport (good D1 collegiate athletics, national and international class) you'd almost never find a non-track athlete beat a track athlete.

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