CoachesEducation.com

My son, Yarride, is 12 years old (dob 7/16/93). He runs the 100 meters around 12.5 secs and the 200s around 26 secs. At these speeds he has been one of the fastest in New Zealand and been setting goals for himself of going under 12 secs by the end of the year. He believed these were attainable goals, and was very excited about pursuing a career in athletics. Recently, he was selected to run for New Zealand at the Pacific School Games in Melbourne in Nov. However, on Friday he was informed that he had been dropped from the team because one of the other kids had run a time of 11.65 secs in the 100s. this has obviously shattered him and he is thinking of giving up track as he thinks that if his age competitors are already running such times then he has no hope. The boy who ran the time competed against Yarride in Jan 05 in a national event and ran 13.77, 14.12 and 14.12 for the preliminaries, semis and finals of the 100s. Yarride's corresponding times were 12.97, 13.29 and 12.92 for the corresponding races, winning the gold medal in the final. On March 12 this boy ran 11.65 while Yarride ran 12.53 on March 20. what I would like to know is whether that type of improvement (2.5 secs over 2 months) is possible through body development or through some regime of exercise or a combination. If it is solely through body development then Yarride can do nothing. If there is some regime that he can do, we would appreciate knowing about it. I had not thought an 11/12 year olds could run such times. In New Zealand kids compete depending on what their age is on Jan 1, so this boy has to have been born on or after Jan 1, 2005. I have no idea what a good or exceptional time for this age group is.

sorry that second last sentence should have read this boy would have to have been born on or after Jan 1, 1993.

Huh?

Vincent
Don't tell me something NZ Children's Athletics did surprised you. I learned in my first year how horrible it is to deal with them. My son has won the regional 100m four years running here and wasn't even contacted about Pacific Games.

Don't stress. As a coach I tell parents that no one cares how good you're kid is when they're 12. When they get to 17/18 and are still doing the sport and excelling they will be knocking on your door.

Just nurture your son in the sport and make sure he still does other sports till he's around 6th form. Then make the decision on which sport he can go the farthest with.

And to my knowledge there's no kid under 13 in NZ running sub-12. Lance Smith down in Invercargill has the best sprinter in that age group to my knowledge and I am assuming it might be your son.

Lastly, a setback at 12 is not the type of thing your son should let push him out of a sport.

Cheers

To The Fern Thanks for your comments. Much appreciate them. We live in Gisborne and my son has not yet managed sub 12 secs. He is still working hard at reaching that target. I am beginning to understand how you feel about NZ Children's Athletics. I have written to NZ Athletics as I found a number of discrepancies regarding their selections, but have not heard back from them. Will let you know if anything happens but I doubt if it will.