Re: t-and-f: Elite expectations

[Conway Hill]

I think too oftern expectations are born of history ... We (the US) have ALWAYS been on or near the top in sprinting ... So it is ASSUMED that we always will be ... The same has been true of the horizontal jumps and pole vault ... Therefore when the occasion/time period comes along when that is not the case it is almost considered a national travesty ...   However we have been up and down with respect to distance/middle distance running ... We have the occasional star that comes along (Ryun, Liquori, Salazar, etc) ... But never a "stable" of talent ... So therefore I think it is not "expected" for us to have/devlop it ... Simply because we have never really had it ... Not saying that I personally believe in that philosophy, but I think that is the way it is in the US ...   For example, while there has been some nice young talent coming out of high school the past couple of years in the mile/2 mile range, the US has focused on the young star in Webb ... Almost as if the hopes of the nation are to rest on his shoulders with respect to the mile/1500 meters and US fortunes ... It was almost as if Sage didn't run 4:00.29 ... OR that Hall ran the equivalent of 4:03.13 ... Because we have Webb and all we need is one ...   Now that may be somewhat of an exageration .... But it is not too far off ... We're happy to have one (maybe two) international hopes when it comes to the distances ... We are fine as long as Kennedy is right there ready to challenge ... We're ok if Scott can stay close ... But even a silver medal is not good enough at anything under 800 meters ... We wonder aloud why we can't "sweep" sprint events any more ... We question if the right "back ups" were there ... There are boos and howls if a baton is dropped ... When what we should be wondering is why we can't train more than one or two middle distance/distance runners at a time that are able to compete against the worlds elite !!!!!   Conway ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed & Dana Parrot Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 9:39 AM To: 't-and-f@darkwing. uoregon. edu' (E-mail) Subject: Re: t-and-f: Elite expectations DGS wrote: >An example is Webb.  There is a lot of discussion about his successes, and times, but there are also discussions regarding if he >is running too much, too fast, too soon.  It becomes evident when we start to discuss sprinters or foreign distance runners.   >Junior sprinters are expected to be world class by the time the finish college, if not sooner, and there is rare talk of over training >when we discuss foreign juniors. That is a good point that many people question whether a distance runner is doing "too much too soon", but the question is rarely considered for sprinters.  I tend to think that doing too much is as much related to attitude than physiology, but either way, it never seems to be a concern about sprinters.  Yet every year we see just as many high school sprint talents who fail to succeed at the next level as we do distance runners.  Perhaps some of this IS related to what they did or didn't do in high school, just as it may be with the distance runners.  I don't know very much about how the sub 10.5 high school sprinters train.   As for world distance juniors, it is my impression that two countries - Ethiopia and Kenya - dominate, with a few north Africans as well.  I suspect that the 3:42 and 13:35 junior times that Kebba is telling us aren't good enough would be considered excellent by every non-African country in the world.  Not to mention the fact that the Africans themselves will admit that the accuracy of their birth records are not all that great by western standards.   I do agree that expectations are not what they should be as a general rule.  To some extent, it's a chicken and an egg concept.  If you're used to local dual and tri-meets won with a 5:00 mile and you watch a local league meet won in 4:45, a 4:25 runner will be a superstar.  A 4:10 miler seems like someone from another planet. Add to that the annoyingly popular concept of "everyone's a winner" and you have an expectation/attitude/performance problem that will not be fixed simply by telling today's best high schoolers that they stink.   - ed Parrot     Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com