KudzuRunner hits the nail on the head.As a coach, I am not sure how it would have been handled. If the kid was a problem in the first place, he might have been removed. If he was a goofy kid, but steadily improving and worked in practiced, there would probably have been a stern, but reasonable, talking to.As much as we value individual success, high school cross country and track are team sports. The success of the team depends on everyone buying into the team culture and the coach's training. That means not only the varsity buy into the culture, but the JV needs to buy into as well because they will be the varsity in the near future.If the JV don't see consequences to screwing around, they don't see the same reason to take the sport as seriously as the varsity.From my experience, while our team won a conference and league title based on getting naturally talented kids, the back end of the varsity lineup (5-6-7 runners) started as 24:xx, 24:xx, and 44:xx in their first seasons. Buying into the value of hard work and the team concept turned them into 16:50, 17:34, and 18:35 5k runners. And the team needed those performances to win those titles.There is a time for goofing around, but the sport must be respected. And I am sure the cross country team that wins a title is going to value their high school memories more than some goofy selfie.
KudzuRunner wrote:
I think the important thing to understand is that the journalist's--not the runner's--photo won the award because it exposed the idiocy of a self-infatuated younger generation.
Narcissus lives.
But wait: wasn't Narcissus the beautiful young Greek so enamored (in love with: en-amor-ed) with the beautiful young man he saw when he peered into a stream that he was immobilized, frozen to the spot, removed from the currents of life, and turned into a plant.
Yes. And that's why the photo won an award. Because Narcissus is about immobilization. The photo reveals that even at the moment of maximum mobility, the younger generation is immobilized within self-adoration.
Sheesh.