Can you elaborate on your long-term view for the training and development of high school athletes?

Question

Drew Wartenburg · Answer

Can you elaborate on your long-term view for the training and development of high school athletes? High school is a unique time for most athletes and the coaches that guide them. Given that it is a developmental phase of the sport for the vast majority of athletes that oftentimes are not going to bring experience in track and field and cross country to the high school setting, they may be experimenting for the first time with the demands of the sport. I always look at the high school years as the first four of what is possibly an eight or a nine year trajectory if that athlete is going to continue running and racing training as a collegiate athlete following high school. What that, or where that all leads me is to use the high school years as a developmental phase, leaving the athlete on the doorstep of a college program with some upside, some room to grow, and some stones yet unturned. One phenomenon that I see a lot in high school is the fact that athletes are often able to do things in training that they aren't yet ready to replicate in the competitive sphere. An example would be taking a high school boy that might be able to run eight 400 meter repeats in 70 seconds and then is banging his head against the wall trying to figure out why he can't run 440 for the mile. One of the things that I always do is try to have racing ability and performance drive training, not the reverse.

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"Can you elaborate on your long-term view for the training and development of high school athletes?"