Hello and thanks for checking out my blog! By the time you read this, I’ll likely be settled into my new school routine. (Though I’ll never get used to the waking up early part!) One of my favorite things about middle school is the after-school sports program. While I’m still playing soccer on the weekends, this fall, I tried out for my school’s cross-country team. Unlike regular track, cross-country involves running on grass and dirt paths. It turns out that without a soccer ball at my feet, I run much faster than I thought. The coach says if I keep up the hard work, I could become one of the team’s top runners.
One of the other benefits of joining a new team means meeting new people. There are seventh and eighth graders on the cross-country team, so it’s a bunch of kids I didn’t know. And as I’ve recently learned, not everyone on the team has a good attitude. Thanks to an incident involving one of my teammates, I learned an important life lesson: your coach is responsible for the success of your team. Even if you don’t always agree with your coach’s methods, it’s important to respect the coach’s leadership. By having a positive mindset, you’ll be more likely to improve your own and your team’s performance. That’s way better than getting off track—which is what happened to my teammate, Chase.
Here’s the story…
Make a run for it
Having only played sports that involved hitting, kicking, or throwing a ball, cross-country was new to me. It’s literally a sport about how fast you can run over a certain distance. That’s it. No goals, no baskets, no points. Only time.
This year, the cross-country team had a new coach. From what I could gather, Coach Jack was a lot different from the previous year’s coach.
Chase, an eighth grader with a perfect runner’s name, wasn’t shy about telling the other kids that Coach Jack wasn’t a good coach.
“He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Chase said to a bunch of us after practice. “This season is going to stink.” I glanced over at the coach. It didn’t seem like he’d heard Chase’s remarks. Thank goodness!
Still, I was surprised by Chase’s comments. Why would our school hire Coach Jack if he was a bad coach? You usually aren’t selected to be a coach if you’re the worst candidate for the job. But, being new to the team, I didn’t want to get on Chase’s bad side. So, I kept my mouth shut and said nothing. I didn’t want to get off track with my new teammate.
Chase, who was very fast when he wasn’t complaining, continued to butt heads with Coach Jack.
During warmups in the park one afternoon, the coach asked us to take off our sneakers to do some calf stretches.
“I don’t want to take my sneakers off,” Chase said. He scanned the area where he was standing. “I can tell the ground is dirty. What if a dog’s gone to the bathroom where I’m stretching? I’m not doing this exercise.” Chase crossed his arms boldly and shook his head “no.” Coach Jack, who seemed like a patient person, got red in the face.
“This is a stretch designed to loosen your calf muscles,” the coach said. “It’s meant to prevent injury. You can’t run if you’re injured, Chase.” The coach didn’t look pleased about having his methods questioned. I’ll admit, I didn’t really want to do the shoe-less stretch either. But it probably wouldn’t take all that long before we could run. Besides, I knew my mom would wash my socks immediately when I got home.
“Why can’t I just do the stretch with my sneakers on?” Chase asked. He wasn’t backing down. But neither was the coach.
“The stretch isn’t as effective when you’re wearing shoes,” Coach Jack said. “Look, Chase, I’m not trying to be difficult. I just want you to stay healthy.” Chase didn’t seem convinced.
“It’s a dumb stretch. I don’t want to do it.” We all stared at Chase with our mouths open. Boy, this practice sure had gotten off track fast.
Run along
We all stared at Chase and the coach, wondering what would happen next. Chase was really testing Coach Jack. But it didn’t seem like the coach was going to change his mind.
“Chase, if you don’t want to participate in the stretch, that’s fine. This is the training plan for today. If you don’t do it, you can sit out the practice.” Chase shrugged his shoulders and muttered “fine” to the coach. Chase glowered at Coach Jack for the rest of the practice. I could tell both the coach and Chase were frustrated by how the practice had gotten so far off track.
The rest of us continued on with practice. And yes, while the shoe-less calf stretch was annoying, it didn’t take long. The rest of the practice was fine. I could tell Chase was especially bummed out when we played everyone’s favorite game, Manhunt. (In case you don’t know, Manhunt is kind of like reverse hide-and-seek and tag, all rolled into one.) We had so much fun running around together, we had forgotten that we’d just run a ton of laps. If Chase hadn’t been sitting on a bench the whole time, we might have forgotten how Chase and the coach’s disagreement had gotten the start of practice way off track.
The next day, we all met together for practice. But before we did any stretching (with or without shoes), the coach had us all sit down.
“I wanted to address some issues raised at practice yesterday. As I mentioned, we do stretches as to make sure our muscles are limber before a run. Following my instructions are a key part of being members of this team. If you disagree, we can talk about it. But I’ve been a coach for a long time. And a number of kids I’ve coached have gone on to compete at the highest levels. I know what I’m doing.” Coach Jack looked at everyone as he spoke. I noticed he made the most eye contact with Chase. Or at least he tried to. Chase must’ve known the speech was about him and his attitude. I bet that’s why Chase kept his eyes focused on the ground.
The assistant coach, Coach Kate, spoke next. “As team members, your goal isn’t just to win races. It’s also to gain new skills and reach your full potential. And I promise you that Coach Jack and I will help get you there.”
No one said anything in response. I think we all just wanted our team to go from off track to back on track.
Toeing the line
After the Coach’s remarks, Chase didn’t argue or complain. He did the calf stretch with his shoes off. But I noticed he stood on his school binder, so his feet didn’t touch the ground. The coach saw what Chase was doing but didn’t say anything. When it was time to do our timed runs, Chase was the fastest of all of us. By a lot.
The last practice before the meet, I noticed Coach Jack had pulled Chase aside.
“Chase, since you missed Tuesday’s practice, you don’t have the required number of practices to compete in Thursday’s meet. You’ll have to sit it out until our meet next week. You’ll have your required ten practices by then.”
“But I’ll have my tenth practice on the day of the meet,” Chase said. “Can’t I run anyway?”
“Sorry, Chase. Those are the league rules. It wouldn’t be fair to the other runners if you got to compete with less than the required number of practice days. Everyone else put the time into the practices.” The coach spoke firmly. He didn’t leave any room for negotiation.
“Fine. I get it,” Chase said after a pause. Chase didn’t have to say anything after that. He got the message. The rules were the rules, and Chase’s missed practice cost him.
Going the extra mile
Although we really could’ve used Chase at our meet that Thursday, we all learned a valuable lesson from Chase’s experience. Talking back to the coach wasn’t going to make you a better runner. It only served to get you off track from competing.
There’s no doubt that our coaches wanted us to succeed and do well. They also wanted us to be healthy and productive. Even if it meant doing stretches that we didn’t really like.
After the hiccup with Coach Jack that week, Chase worked extra hard in every practice that followed. He was the first one to arrive at practice, and the last one to leave. He even did extra workouts on the weekend. While they’d gotten off to a rocky start, Chase’s dedication to improving earned Coach Jack’s respect.
At the next track meet, it was no surprise to any of us when Chase came in first by a mile. (Well, not quite.) And guess what? After that, Coach Jack let everyone choose to do those awful calf stretches inside if we preferred. He got no complaints from me!
Until next time, be your best you.
Do you have any stories about learning an important lesson from an experience? Please share with them me in the comments section!
