Then there were other coaching assignments

As basketball season ended, I moved into coaching track. This was about the most mismatched assignment ever. I didn’t run, couldn’t jump, and had never participated in track. My only experience was as a spectator at a couple of track meets, and I had watched the Olympics on TV.

My 5-6 grade boys participated in a number of events. They had sprints, relays, and distances. Field events were long jump, high jump, shot put, discus, and triple jump. Fortunately pole vault was restricted to grades 7 and 8.

Gerry Kreuder told me that I didn’t need to know anything, just supervise the kids. I was an expert in not knowing. I did purchase a book on how to coach track and field. This told me all the things the students needed to know. My problem was trying to translate this information into activity. I learned fairly quickly that the boys would need to coach each other. I could tell them what was in the book, but they had to figure it out and help each other. This actually worked because, during a track meet, there are multiple events going on at the same time. One coach simply couldn’t be at every event to help.

All of the coaches helped with the various events. When it came to races, we were all assigned to be a "picker". Each coach was assigned a place to pick, 1st, 2nd etc. The toughest race to pick was the 50 yd (before metrics) dash. Being assigned 3rd was really tough with all boys hitting the finish within a fraction of a second.Often no one got picked for 3rd as someone picked the 2nd and 4th and missed the 3rd place finisher.

Since no school in our conference had few competing in track, we often had to compete against 7^th graders from bigger schools. We were not very successful in spite of some very good athletes. The exception was the Savanna Invitational Track meet where we competed in our grade level. It was at this meet that I learned strategy from Gerry. With each athlete limited to 4 events, Gerry taught me how to organize for the most points. Placing the fastest runner in an individual sprint event was not always the best approach. Sometimes they were best used in longer races. Placement in relays and medleys was also a game of strategy.Four years later, with Gerry’s help, and some outstanding athletes, we won the event.

The best year for coaching boys track was my last (1981). With only 12 boys in 7^th grade and only part of them out for track, we took on track powerhouse Erie Jr. High on their track. With Robbie Bradley taking top honors in four events, including anchoring the medley relay, we beat them. It may have been their only loss.

My experience with girls also included track. Again, we were forced to compete with much larger schools. We didn’t win a lot, but we had some great individual performances. I coached girls for both the  1975 and 1976 seasons.