USATF Coaches Education Meltdown

This is a very interesting case study in "Is it the curriculum or is it the instructor?". Where is the true educational value in this or any education system? USATF will probably claim ownership of all the written materials, but the delivery and the way it is taught is owned by the instructors. With just about every instructor gone it would seem, can the curriculum live on anyway? This is a progressive piece of work since 1982, could USATF really abandon it for a new haphazzard curriculum set up by reductionists, e.g. coaches/instructors who have had one good athlete, but tell good stories?

I taught a couple Level II's alongside Boo and I can tell you that it was hard and I was bad. The material is outstanding, true (though it should be pointed out that these same instructors created most of the material). But the ability to convey that material in a way that both captures attention and makes the information accessible to all is a skill and a gift. Just knowing the stuff inside and out and even being able to use it in practice well is not nearly enough.

Former Instructor wrote:

I taught a couple Level II's alongside Boo and I can tell you that it was hard and I was bad. The material is outstanding, true (though it should be pointed out that these same instructors created most of the material). But the ability to convey that material in a way that both captures attention and makes the information accessible to all is a skill and a gift. Just knowing the stuff inside and out and even being able to use it in practice well is not nearly enough.

This is what Mike Y and Boo do really well that even some of the other level 2 instructors don't. They teach as though they have the book right in front of them. It's like they have the thing memorized and its a performance not a presentation. Good luck to F-U SATF trying to replace that.

sorry to say wrote:

No offense - Perhaps your lack of success stems from your lack of professional knowledge. A losing coach is always trying to find reasons for his/her failure. Look inward, coach.

I haven't had a lack of success in my coaching, not sure why you included that when it wasn't mentioned in the post?

Just stating my opinion that the endurance curriculum is lacking. The physiology is out of date and the basic training curriculum promotes one way to train, which isn't how the best distance runners are actually training.

sorry to say wrote:

No offense - Perhaps your lack of success stems from your lack of professional knowledge. A losing coach is always trying to find reasons for his/her failure. Look inward, coach.

idunnoy wrote:

I haven't had a lack of success in my coaching, not sure why you included that when it wasn't mentioned in the post?

Sounds like he is projecting his own experiences on to you.

Like I said in an earlier post I took 2 Level courses. The thing they both had in common were there were two "know it alls" as students both times. They made sure to make it clear they already knew the answers because they brought up their best athletes early on. The transparency of people like that is so obvious. (They made the group projects a real chore). Outdated physiology? Not sure at all what that is about. In my notes the instructors referenced Wilmore, Costill and Vigil constantly. Which I still do, by the way. So they are out-dated? Which exercise physiologist studies do you follow, Brad Hudson?

It looks like the registration information for the Level 2 schools this summer at Villanova is posted.

My only question is, when it says that the Endurance course is "800 meters, 10,000 meters and racewalking" does that mean it is literally only over those 3 events? All of the other courses appear to be all encompassing, for example Jumps includes high jump, long jump, triple jump, pole vault.

Can anyone provide any more info regarding what the Endurance course does or does not include.

Thanks!

Just some coach wrote:

I have been in touch with one of the coaches and he thinks they will devise their own thing. He didn't say under what aegis, but my guess would be US Track Coaches Association. I hope they can bring the originators back on board-Gambetta and Vigil etc. It should make USATF think twice, but you never can tell with them.

I just received my first issue of "Techniques" put out by USTFCCCA. Editorial staff and others include, among others, Mike Corn, Vern Gambetta, Boo Schexnayder, Larry Judge, Ralph Vernacchia, Will Freeman, and Scott Christensen. Not sure if they've had this kind of involvement all along, but that's a big chunk of the staff I encountered at my L2/L3 schools.

Amazing....applications actually go to none other than Terry Crawford. So the very lady who forced out all the top instructors has taken control. Sounds like a coup if I've ever seen it. We should all send in fake applications just to waste her time.

I was going to go because it is on the East Coast this year and I can drive to Philly. No way am I spending this much $$$$$ for a trial balloon. It is considerable money anyway, even with the people whom I really wanted to hear and meet.

A good indication of the state of USATF can be seen if you go the web page. It is vintage. Impossible to read and not updated for years. It is ugly and clumsy and inefficient That is their face to the world?

Kind of USATF in a nutshell!!

website woes wrote:

A good indication of the state of USATF can be seen if you go the web page. It is vintage. Impossible to read and not updated for years. It is ugly and clumsy and inefficient That is their face to the world?

sorry to say wrote:

No offense - Perhaps your lack of success stems from your lack of professional knowledge. A losing coach is always trying to find reasons for his/her failure. Look inward, coach.

what a stupid senseless post! they guy's saying he went to L2 because he didn't have all the answers, and as a direct result his team got better. how is that NOT looking inward? some of you people are real jackasses.

Count me out. Everyone I wanted to go see won't be there. USATF is a total failure to have broken up their only functional division.

Being a Level 2 taker when it was at UNC-Asheville I am pretty disappointed in the instructors just all up and quitting. I saw they hung together because I found Boo and Schmidt and Christenson and Corn having fun at an Outback Steakhose one night, but quitting is a little over the top. I heard about this last weekend and figured it would be all fussed out by now. The USATF website does not currently give much details about who might be the teachers this summer.

There isn't a list of instructors because no one at the USATF national office, especially Terry Crawford, has any idea of who taught what. Almost every one of the people who were responsible for organizing the lessons and handling the administration of the program are gone. They have no idea how they are going to pull this thing off. Good luck getting your questions answered by Terry Crawford or anyone at the national office. In spite of the press release (how pitiful is that that USATF would use LetsRun for an official response to the problems they are facing with Coaching Ed?) the program is in total disarray and I would suggest that anyone planning to attend the Level 2 School this summer wait at least a year to see if they regroup. There are a number of other issues that will come to light about this whole thing in the coming months, the surface has only been scratched.

oh there'll be a wlcoming committe for terry if she ever comes back- we'll shoot on sight brotha!!! her and her little pet goat too!The Sheriff-

The Overseer wrote:

God I hope so Coach!! Ask anyone in SLO how much they miss her!

saywhat?!?! wrote:

It looks like the registration information for the Level 2 schools this summer at Villanova is posted.

My only question is, when it says that the Endurance course is "800 meters, 10,000 meters and racewalking" does that mean it is literally only over those 3 events? All of the other courses appear to be all encompassing, for example Jumps includes high jump, long jump, triple jump, pole vault.

Can anyone provide any more info regarding what the Endurance course does or does not include.

Thanks!

Relax, it's a typo, should read "800 meters - 10,000 meters and racewalking" (I've never heard of RW being covered)

It was last year (Boulder). The instructors let one of the coaches (former elite racewalker and coach of a world record holder) teach the segment. Still think racewalking is ridiculous.