Track and field question 2 (lift, build, versus, running)
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I'll add that a good family friend, ran track through high school and currently runs 400M for a Division 1 college in Texas. She was a top 8 runner in her event at the high school state level in Texas. Very little of her training involved weights (maybe now in college). Her family hired a top coach (works with Olympians), and her training was focused on track speed.
Many high school coaches are re-purposed gym teachers. They know almost nothing about aerobic threshold, VO2 max, or developing explosive power. If your daughter grows to really like track and wants to excel, you should find out where in your area the best kids train. It is probably with a "track club" not the school.
My daughter is trying out for track for the first time. She's 12.
She was timed in the 100 yard dash at 15 secords.....
Is that good or bad??
This entire discussion is putting the cart before the horse. Your daughter was timed running the 100 meter (I doubt someone timed her in the 100 yard) dash once. You are now asking questions about training methods. Give it some time and see if she maintains interest through the season. Excellence in most events is based on natural ability. The best thing you can do is encourage her to stick with it and try different events.
Watch some practices and meets and see if she is getting any individual coaching. In some events coaching makes a huge difference and in others it has minimal effect. My experience is that the pole vault and throwing events are where coaching has the most impact. Mu daughter had some excellent coaches and still holds two school records and qualified for the state track meet
I would also encourage her to run cross country in the fall if she is not participating in another sport.
Excellence in most events is based on natural ability.
Although I agree with much of your post, this portion is problematic.
How do you define excellence? World class elite performance? Good enough to medal at state level competition in high school? NCAA champion?
I think natural ability is most significant at the elite level. But short of that, good technique and dedication is responsible for almost all achievement in sports.
By my standard, my 5'7 inch son, achieved excellence by medaling multiple times in Texas state high school swimming. But most might say he was not blessed with natural ability. It took him three years to truly learn how to swim butterfly. But he was determined to get it right, and he did.
A person might not be blessed with an abundance of fast twitch muscle fibers. So maybe they can't be the next Usain Bolt. But they could be a great middle distance or long distance runner.
It helps to be 6'5 if you want to be an Olympic freestyle swimming champion. But genetics and natural ability are not the same thing. And what exactly is natural ability?
Although I agree with much of your post, this portion is problematic.
How do you define excellence? World class elite performance? Good enough to medal at state level competition in high school? NCAA champion?
I think natural ability is most significant at the elite level. But short of that, good technique and dedication is responsible for almost all achievement in sports.
By my standard, my 5'7 inch son, achieved excellence by medaling multiple times in Texas state high school swimming. But most might say he was not blessed with natural ability. It took him three years to truly learn how to swim butterfly. But he was determined to get it right, and he did.
A person might not be blessed with an abundance of fast twitch muscle fibers. So maybe they can't be the next Usain Bolt. But they could be a great middle distance or long distance runner.
It helps to be 6'5 if you want to be an Olympic freestyle swimming champion. But genetics and natural ability are not the same thing. And what exactly is natural ability?
I think the easiest way to understand athletic natural ability is to compare it to intelligence. How many people with below average IQ are capable of becoming a doctor or passing the bar exam? People will cite cases of overachievers, but in all liklihood they had over average IQ. Whether it is athletic ability or intellectual ability, the most you can do is maximize your inherent ability.
As far as athletic ability, you can start your child at an early age, expose them to as many sports as possible, hire private coaches, put them on weight training programs, etc. The best you can do is find the sport they are best suited and give them the opportunity to compete at the highest level possible. Without natural ability such as speed, coordination, and a host of other factors, they will never be an Olympic or D-1 athlete.
In sports such as distance running or swimming, there is the potential to go further with average ability since many of the best athletes are not attracted to these sports. In the U.S., the majority of male athletes are attracted to baseball, basketball, football, and to a lessor extent hockey, soccer, golf and tennis. Distance running and swimming provide an opportunity for boys who primarily don't excel at the first three. But even these sports require above average natural ability to excel. Excellance in distance running for example requires aerobic threshold and lactate theshold levels that are different from the average person.
How did she do against the other girls she was running against? If she is in the top three, she has a shot at placing in dual meets. I would think that time would place in a junior high dual meet.
So either she has improved her form and efficiency since the 100m or she is more geared towards longer events. 100m is one of those distances that is heavily reliant on genetics and pure speed. She may be a more natural floater than exploder (haha, I made those up). I would be curious to see how she would do in, say, the 400m or 800m.
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