The versatility of skills required to be a track and field coach
One of the spring sports in high schools and universities is track and field. The difficult part of track is that competition is at a large meet between several schools and not against one team at a time. So being able to watch a “home game” is often limited to one or two competitions a season.
I ran track in high school and college, my son ran track in high school and I have a grandson that runs track. I started to think about the coaches for track and field versus other sports. To be a track coach, the individual has to be a very multi-talented person. In terms of the ratio of athletes versus coaches, track is at the bottom of the list. Basketball in a big program may have a coach for every three or four players. Baseball has a tougher ratio of one coach for every seven or eight players. Track is more like one coach for every 20-30 athletes in some schools. In most schools, you have a coach for the boys’ and a coach for the girls’ teams. In track in many schools, you have one coach for both boys’ and girls’ track and field teams. Being a track coach requires a very broad background in the many events that comprise track competition. The big difference is that the many events are so different from each other and in many cases require a special knowledge of the event.
Looking at the many varied events in track and field shows how difficult it is to be knowledgeable in all of the events. Starting with the sprint events, you have the 100 and 200 meters for the very fast runners. At one time the 400-meter event was classified as a middle-distance event. It seems that the runners today are so fast it is now a sprint. The middle distance events include the 800 meters and mile (1,600 meters) and two-mile (3,200 meter). Training for these running events is different and requires a separate program to condition an athlete. After that comes the long-distance events like the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters and that again requires a special conditioning program. Add the high hurdles and the low hurdles to the sprint distances and once again it requires special training.
In the field events, you have the shot put, the discus, the hammer throw, and the javelin throws. The difference between putting a shot put and throwing a javelin is tremendous. Add a discus to the mix and it gets even more specialized. The hammer throw is often limited in smaller meets as it requires a “cage” around the athlete to make sure the athlete throws the hammer in the right direction after spinning around the circle.
Then the coach has to contend with the jumping events. There is a high jump, a long jump, and a triple jump to teach athletes. One event tries to go higher and another event tries to go longer in distance. The triple jump tries for distance but requires a one-leg take-off and hop like the high jump.
The pole vault is an event like no other event in a track meet. The athlete is expected to be a sprinter, a gymnast, have tremendous arm and shoulder strength and the ability to bring the legs up while swinging upside down on a flexible pole. It is the one event that has made drastic changes in rules and technology compared to other events. Most of the events have all remained the same with the exception of better running surfaces and better shoes for the athletes. Shoes for sprinters have a required limit of spikes for the athletes. One athlete tried “brush spikes” and was ruled ineligible and disqualified even though he set a world record. The pole vault started out with a bamboo pole, then an aluminum pole, and went over the bar to land in a pile of sawdust or sand. The athlete had to be a sprinter, high jumper, and gymnast to compete in the pole vault. And landing in a sand pile required a feet-first landing from 12-14 feet in the air. The rules allowed a flexible pole that has the athlete “riding” the bend in the pole up toward the bar as he or she extends the body upside down and pushes off the pole to land in a very soft sponge pit. The spikes on a shoe could not be changed but the stiff versus the flexible pole was allowed and it changed the event completely.
The other part of being a track and field coach is that it is a sport that lasts all school year. You have cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring. Are you sure you want to be a track and field coach?
