Marathons: Adults Doing Athletics Right

"The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely."
-George Sheehan

Running was punishment. We ran several laps for being late. Having an attitude or just not getting your head in the game resulted in a few more suicides at the end of practice. Sprints and long runs were devised as torture devices by coaches, right? Well, I believed all of this to be true and thought my older brother tended towards masochism when he ran cross country and track in high school. He then challenged me to join the cross country team my junior year in high school after dropping another sport. Curious as to the appeal and unable to back down from a challenge, I began running over the summer and joined in the fall semester. Since then, I have never looked back. I fell in love with the running culture. I ran two years of cross country and completed two half marathons as well as one full marathon.

There is a culture which surrounds running and within the last few decades has spurred a surge in marathons and shorter distance runs across the United States and the world. The overwhelming majority of participants range from young adults to well beyond middle-aged. In the midst of a society in which kids travel to neighboring states to compete in athletics at an age when cooties are still a very real concern, adults are seeking out a different type of athletic challenge and having the fun. I am not asserting that kids don’t love sports, nor am I attempting to demonize competition at a young age. Instead, I am trying to call attention to the surge of people competing in marathons and emphasize how they are reaping the benefits of athletics—in terms of the physique as well as character—after everyone else has checked them out as too old to “play”. Those who obsess over youth sports could learn from the adults lacing up their shoes, donning their game faces and running 26.2 miles.

Quite a few things make marathon running unique. First of all, it requires infinitely less gear than most other athletic activities. You need a just need cleared space and running shoes. That makes it more accessible to people from all classes. Also, training can be done at one’s own pace and runs can be completed either with peers or all alone at whatever time is most convenient. People can be as fast or slow as they desire and they can still run (with the exception of races like the Boston Marathon). Running is an equal opportunity sport. It’s democratic. A large number of service organizations and charities encourage persons to run and raise money for a greater cause; thus it contributes to the larger society. The race day also has the excitement and atmosphere comparative to a street festival. Marathon races are social affairs! Asking most people who have participated in marathons about their experiences, it is likely to get responses from people raving about how competing in a marathon was a transformative experience.

I am writing this to draw attention to the phenomenon of marathon running and offer it as a sharp contrast to what people criticize about youth sports. The adults have got it right. Marathons are, if nothing else, inspiring—something the world needs. Kathrine Switzer, a women’s marathoning pioneer, said “If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon”. She’s right.


Connie Jones, ND 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching

Consequences of specialization in early ages.

Specialization in early ages is a serious and relevant problem in high school and youth sports due to several reasons. I believe that athletes in young ages should develop different physical skills by participating in various activities and different sports in order to build up the basis for future improvement. The limited range of skills performed during early sport specialization has the potential to limit overall motor skill development. This may affect long term physical activity involvement by decreasing the likelihood of participation in alternative physical activities. In addition, I believe that specialization in youth sport can cause an athlete to burn out at an early age. For example, if a runner is doing a lot of heavy weight lifting too early in his career it can negatively affect his performance on the long term. The athlete will have physical pain and injuries later on because of the excessive forms of training. Finally I believe that early specialization can cause massive drop out of sport because of lack of enjoyment and socialization. Repetitive, monotone and hard practices in early age do not attract youth athletes. Due to the above listed negative consequences of early age specialization, coaches should let young athletes participate in various sports, and focus on creating a fun environment for all kids.

Miklos Szebeny, ND 2011
Track athlete
Social Foundations of Coaching

No Prayer on the Field

I came from a very small public school in Northern California; an area that has only recently adopted a “no prayer in public schools” policy. I had no personal qualms with this subject only because I made the conscious choice to lead a secular lifestyle, but I had friends on both sides of the issue ready to claw each other to death over whether prayer should be allowed in schools or not. As so happened to be the case at my school and schools all over the country, certain high profile faculty members had a habit of reciting a prayer to Our Lady before any athletic contest. The football team in particular did not have any intention of stopping since the prayer was part of preparing them to play. It was tradition, habit, good luck, etc. But the administration soon found a way to get the coach to give up his pre-game prayer, and many team members felt it was unfair. They argued that the majority of the team was already Catholic if not Protestant, and the only non-religious athlete on the team (yours truly) did not mind praying before a game. The administration, however, did not budge on the issue, even less so when angry parents phoned in to harass them. I recall my government teacher and I talk at length over the issue of prayer in school, and we spoke of different ways to interpret the First Amendment. Personally, I hold the belief that the stance on prayer in schools should be taken so that no one denomination or faith suppresses the expression of another one. Yes, this means that the school administration and faculty should not take a vested interest in one religion over another, but this can be argued to include secularism as a basis of faith. I think that the administration should have allowed there to be prayer for the football team or any other team that followed a few simple guidelines, namely, if anyone wants to pray to a different god or deity it should be allowed, and no administration or faculty members can be a lead or be a part of the prayer. The best policy, in my opinion, is to allow students the freedom to choose their religious affiliation instead of trying to suppress it because therein lies a form of exclusionary discrimination. Religion is tied so closely together with language and culture that it seems unreasonable to deny a student the right to show his/her devotion as long as he/she isn’t disturbing anyone. And, in all honesty, praying never hurt anyone; I, an atheist, can attest to that.

Antonio Renteria
Social Foundations of Coaching

WHERE DOES DISCIPLINE FIT INTO THE GROW APPROACH FOR COACHES?

As the face of a team, school or organization one of the largest responsibilities a coach is entrusted with is the position as ethical role model. Every coach is an example for his or her team, and the team philosophy and rules that each coach establishes will inevitably be tested and challenged many times throughout their coaching career. The most difficult decisions that I believe coaches have to make is how to discipline players when they violate team or school rules. However, a coach must also be willing to adapt and change rules over time. Many coaches agree rule making is a constant on-going process that is modified and enforced differently from year to year. With all of that change being said, how do coaches keep consistent and retain their decision-making integrity? Where does discipline fit into the GROW approach?
No matter what age group you are coaching, giving Ownership to the athletes is an essential part of establishing a basis for discipline that will help a coach and teams achieve fairness as a unit. The best opportunity a coach can create for athletes is to give players Ownership by responsibility and decision-making situations to help them GROW. It is important to assign players different jobs to setting up practice, handling equipment, cleaning up practice and other tasks of that nature can give players Ownership of the team and teach them responsibility. Players must see and feel that the team is dependent on each and every one of their actions or else the group as a whole will suffer. If they fail to uphold the team rules and responsibilities under the coach’s watch, it is easier to correct and enforce discipline. The goal is that players will transcend this attitude to their off-field conduct, and realize that if they fail to uphold their responsibilities by affecting the team in a negative fashion, there will be discipline to prevent future occurrences. That is when the coach’s job becomes extremely difficult. The decision contains many elements; how light or how severe a punishment, what type of punishment etc. Every coach will handle their team differently, but I did find an article below that helped me formulate two DON’Ts for discipline that can help guide your future decision making to help keep you consistent and fair.

1.) Caution with physical forms of punishment
I tend to agree that this is a rather outdated form of discipline. With the current generation of youth, I feel like punishments such as extra sprints and other taxing forms of energy are a waste of precious practice time and further distract players. There is also a possibility that a team-wide punishment for an individual violation or shortcoming can create that individual’s teammates to develop resentment against him or her, creating a negative environment that doesn’t help anyone GROW. There are just some cases where the team has no control over their teammate’s actions (e.g. disrespecting coaches or officials) because it is just the character/nature of that particular player and would better be addressed and corrected separate from the team.

2.) Athlete’s deserve an explanation of discipline
In order to ensure that the athlete fully understands what he or she did wrong and why it will not be tolerated, it is important that the coach offers an explanation so that the player and the coach understand each other. Disciplining player’s can often cause a strain in the player-coach relationship, so I believe it is important for the coach to be the “adult” and mature person to assure that the relationship remains healthy. If the player feels the coach is impersonal and is disinterested in the player’s welfare, they will be much less likely to buy into the lessons and team goals that the coach preaches on a day-to-day basis. This player can become a vice to the team, so it is important that the player-coach relationship remains healthy through discipline to stay in accordance with the GROW approach. Consulting with parents/guardians is also an option, and all though it may not be a coach’s favorite way to handle a situation, in some cases it is necessary. Parents are often the most important influences to players. If there is a lack of communication or understanding, players may be influenced by their parents to believe that “Coach doesn’t know what he/she is talking about” or “Coach is not fair.” This doesn’t mean that the parent must agree with your plan of action for discipline, but it is important to make sure the parent feels and trusts the punishment is justifiable. Always keep the GROW approach in mind, and I believe parents would appreciate if they knew that the GROW approach is something you as a coach believed in to develop their children. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_n9_v65/ai_n18606892/

Nick Conrad
Social Foundations of Coaching
Class of 2014

A Tradition Unlike Any Other

April brings about many exciting things such as the start of spring, my birthday, and one of the greatest golf tournaments in the world, The Masters. The Masters takes place the weekend of the first full week in April at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Augusta National is a masterfully designed course that is as beautiful as it is challenging. The tournament was established in 1934 and maintains the notable tradition of awarding its champions with a green blazer that is now synonymous with the tournament. The Masters tournament has adopted the slogan “A Tradition Unlike Any Other” that is used in advertising the event to the public. This slogan signifies the amount of prestige that accompanies this tournament.

I always look forward to watching the Masters in April as a way to get excited for the upcoming golf season. I have played golf for many years and played briefly for my high school team. It is a sport that I have a lot of love and respect for. It is great to sit back and watch the Masters, and while it may be acceptable to take a nap here and there during the first 63 holes (I won’t tell anyone), the back nine on the final day of the tournament are not to be missed. The back nine holes never cease to amaze me and leave me on the edge of my seat. The back nine can make or break one’s streak, and this years back nine did not disappoint. There were eight separate leaders at different times throughout the back nine this past Sunday. The course is so advanced that it makes for a very unpredictable and fast changing round. Rory McIlroy, a 21 year old from Ireland, looked as though he would be the next to take home a green jacket going into Sunday’s back nine. McIlroy had played flawlessly for the first three days of the tournament, but a set back on hole 10 proved fatal. McIlroy gave up his three-day lead with a triple bogey, or three strokes over par, on hole 10 named Camelia. (All the holes at Augusta National are named.) Historically, Camelia is the toughest hole at Augusta National. As McIlroy hit a rough patch, Charl Schwartzel picked up his game. Schwartzel, a 26 year old from South Africa, ended up making birdie on the last four holes of the tournament. A birdie occurs when one completes a hole one stroke under par. Schwartzel went on to win the tournament and is one of the youngest to do so. Other young Master’s winners include Tiger Woods who was awarded the green jacket at 21 years of age in 1997. Additionally, Steve Ballestros and Jack Nicklaus were both just 23 years old when they won in 1980 and 1963 respectively. As the Masters 2011 came to an end, I was reminded of a phrase that is often quipped during the tournament: “drive for show, putt for dough.” Given the events that occurred on the back nine, I would say this adage proved true, at least for this year’s tournament at Augusta National.

Katherine McGraw
Class of 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching

Play Ball!

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring"
-Rogers Hornsby, MLB Player 1915-1937

Beginning with the final out of the previous season's World Series, baseball fans spend the next five months pining for the return of the game they love. This offseason longing process, however, comes in stages. First, they spend up to a month (pending on the success level of their own favorite team) either basking in the glory of or sulking over the previous season. After that, the fans anxiously await a magic day in the middle of February when pitchers and catchers report to spring training, and the road to baseball season officially begins. A few days later, pitchers and catchers are joined by the rest of their teammates. What follows is the spring training season, a time when young players try to earn their roster spot in the major leagues, grizzled veterans try to prove they still "have it", and baseball fanatics' hunger for the game they love begins to get slightly filled. These fans anxiously pore over their team's box score in the newspaper every morning, seeing what hitters they will be able to count on in the clutch and which pitchers might be called upon to be the team's fifth starter or key middle reliever. These games, however, don't really matter. They simply fill that void we have until Opening Day. Opening Day is not simply the first day of baseball season. It is a chance for hope in the hearts of all players and fans alike. Every team starts with a record of 0-0, every hitter has yet to record an out, and every pitcher has an ERA of 0.00. Hitting slumps, losing streaks, and meltdowns from last year are forgotten. For each and every team, "This is our year". It is a chance for the Yankees to see if all the money they spent in the offseason will pay off, and a chance for the Cubs to foolishly think they have a chance at winning the World Series. Opening Day means that as fans, we get to travel on an emotional roller coaster ride for the next six months (or seven, if we are lucky enough to make the playoffs) as we live and die with the athletic performance of twenty-five men that we feel a personal connection to, despite the fact that they will never meet us. Opening Day allows us to again experience the thrill of going to the ballpark and get that rush of adrenaline when, for the first time this year, we walk through the tunnel from the concourse to our seats until the enormous inside of the ballpark opens up in front of us like a canvas. The catcalls of the beer vendors, the smell of the hot dogs, and the perfectly manicured infields welcome us back. Finally, after this long wait, we are home.
Mike Sobolewski, ND2011
Social Foundations of Coaching

Book Review : Spirituality of Sport by Susan Saint Sing

The book Spirituality of Sport: Balancing Body and Soul by Susan Saint Sing was a thought-provoking read. It discussed the idea that sports can be connected to spirituality; however it did not take the stance that sport is religion. To describe this nuance of thought, Saint Sing said that sport should neither constitute its own religion nor replace an existing one. Instead, it should be considered as an avenue to God just as prayer and Mass are. If we are truly Christian, God should be ever-present in our lives, including when we exercise—not just for an hour on Sunday.
Saint Sing speaks with the experience of pushing her body to exhaustion as she ran marathons. She was also a member of the U.S. World Rowing Team. She considers why people push themselves to such extreme limits and proposes an answer: “I believe they do it, we do it, to see what we are made of—meaning to see if there is anything more, anything other than flesh and sweat and blood. We do it to see if there is a soul looking at us in the extreme fumes of exhaustion. As in a near death experience, we go in a controlled fashion into these realms to see, to explore the depths of ourselves, begging of the Other. Like a pilgrimage, a cleansing, a retreat, we emerge more human, more alive, more aware.” I believe this analysis can be true if that’s what we are looking for. From my experiences playing and watching sports, I know that there exists a point at which you think you cannot go on, yet somehow you can find that little extra from deep inside yourself.
The Play Like a Champion Today Educational Series has a mission to develop sports programs in which athletes can grow physically, mentally, socially, morally, and spiritually. It focuses on making youth sports consistent with this mission. Children play sports for fun, but as they become adults, their thinking changes. While fun can still be a goal of sports, there are often new goals that emerge as a priority, such as health, fitness, discipline, and accomplishment. I am not advocating that we push children to exhaustion in hopes of spiritual development as described by Saint Sing in her book. Instead, children should have a positive experience in youth sports, so that as adults, they have lifestyles with physical activity. They should know that they have the option to make sport what they want it to be, even a spiritual experience. Without a foundation for that thinking in early sport experiences, adults will probably not know or realize all the potential sport has throughout life.
Kelsey Murphy, ND 2013
Professors Powers and Sheehan
Social Foundations of Coaching

True Mindset of a Champion

With all of the focus at this time of the year being on March Madness, the NFL lockout, and the opening of the baseball season I figured I’d switch gears a little bit and talk about the football team I have (almost) always loved-Super Bowl XLV Champions, the Green Bay Packers.
Now, being from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I obviously come from your typical Green Bay packer adoring family; heck, it’s in our blood. In Wisconsin, the Packers have god-like status (if you weren’t aware of this already). Over my lifetime I had developed a strong connection to my beloved Packers, and with that, for all of the good and bad he brought with him, a complete loyalty to Brett Favre. Up until his “retirement” he had been the main man of the Pack since the time I was born! Naturally, once the entire Favre vs. Packers controversy ensued, I was conflicted.
Ultimately, I took Favre’s side; that’s difficult to admit as a Packer fan. But, it just seemed like they gave this man, who brought the Packers from the dregs, to glory once again, the complete short end of the stick. It’s not pertinent here to relive the details of the messy Favre saga, but to sum it up, I became estranged from the Packers for a while. Who was this Aaron Rodgers dude? Who does he think he is coming in and thinking he can replace a legend so quickly? It felt like he was the villain trying to replace and imitate the fallen hero he had just slain. YEAH, that’s really how intense it was!
However, as time went by, I couldn’t help but notice how poised and classy Rodgers was. I started thinking more rationally: ‘I mean, it obviously isn’t the guys fault that he’s in this position, maybe I’ll give him a chance.’ My respect increased for Rodgers. I remember him continually saying (not direct quotes by any means) to reporters, ‘I can only do what is in my control’ and ‘my job is to play football.’ The only thing he emphasized was what was in his control, and the way he worked hard and did the best he possibly could to lead the Green Bay Packers to winning and improving as a team.
After his first season leading the Pack, the team ended up with a very sub-par 6-10 record, yet Rodgers still remained classy as ever. With this attitude, he was able to lead the Packers to an 11-5 record the next season. Despite the talk within the media and amongst Packer Nation that Rodgers would never bring the Packers to where they should be, or that he could not handle the big situations and moments, still Rodgers kept on. When it got tough, he got tougher and worked harder.
Fast-forward to today and the Packers, under the leadership of Rodgers, have just won the Super Bowl. Now, if Rodgers wouldn’t have handled the adversity and all that idiotic drama he and the Pack went through the perfect way in which he did, we would not be Super Bowl Champions. I could go on, and on and on, about the details of Rodgers amazing mindset and attitude, but to conclude, I’ll say it like this: Aaron Rodgers truly possesses the mindset of a champion.
Katharine Mack; Social Foundations of Coaching; Notre Dame Class of 2013

Katharine Mack
Social Foundations of Coaching
Notre Dame Class of 2013

The Power of Community

As everyone is I’m sure aware, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament started over spring break this year. My parents were lucky enough to get tickets to Notre Dame’s first two games in Chicago, so my entire family enjoyed the NCAA atmosphere. I, however, was in Punta Cana, which I’m definitely not complaining about. Although I didn’t get to experience what it was like to watch the two games in person with my family, I was able to watch both games with 75 other Notre Dame seniors in the Dominican Republic. I knew I would be “blogging” after the beginning of the NCAA tournament, so I was hoping to be able to write about Notre Dame’s success and great wins. Now, of course, due to the loss to Florida State, but more importantly due to the experience I had watching the game with my closest friends, I want to write about how sports can affect a community.
I’m not going to lie, just like I’m sure everyone else in this class, I was pretty disappointed when Notre Dame lost to Florida State. I had them going far in my bracket, as many other loyal Notre Dame fans. Even after the loss in the Big East Tournament, all I heard were things like, “its good that they lost, they have more time to prepare for the NCAA tournament.” When I watched the first game with my friends in Punta Cana, I was sitting in a hotel room, and even though we didn’t look as sharp as we had in the past, everyone was confident it was just first round jitters. My point is that everyone was so confident in the ability of the Notre Dame team because it seems that our community of students endlessly hopes for success. I will never forget my freshman year football season when we would cheer and go crazy for a touchdown because we didn’t experience many wins. So now that we had such a successful team, everyone refused to accept anything less than a deep tournament run.
This is where I want to talk about why I will never forget the Florida State game. It obviously isn’t because of the great win, but because of the game watch experience I had. There were 76 of us in Punta Cana together and on Sunday night, which was our last night, we all took over the “Overtime Sports Bar” and watched the game together. People from the resort kept coming in asking where we were all from and why we were all together. We had pulled out chairs and tables and gotten the game put up on the big pull down screen; each of us loyally watched the game from start to finish. We cheered loudly as if we were at the game, and everyone had a great time, not because we were winning (we were losing by a lot most of the time) but because there were so many of us centered around one hope. The hope that our team, made of mostly seniors, would pull out a win and somehow come back from the deficit. Not until two minutes left did people finally start to give up hope. Even in losing, though, everyone cheered. At the end of the game, I was definitely disappointed, but I realized how great it was that one game could bring 76 people, in a place as beautiful as the Dominican Republic, together to cheer and watch a hopeful Notre Dame win. For me, that game watching experience embodied why I love sports, especially why I love college sports and tournaments, like March Madness.

Mary Ellen Mazza, ND 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching

March Madness

As the March Madness “Big Dance” tournament is rounding the end, it looks as though the underdogs have taken over this season. Though, there were many big wins for teams that were expected to win, there were also a number of huge upsets. I was lucky enough to be able to watch some of these upsets live. I was at the United Center in Chicago, IL when a #11 seeded, Virginia Commonwealth team thoroughly upset the #3 seeded Purdue Boilermakers. The game was intense to watch because the VCU team was only lucky enough to get into the tournament by the extra places added to the tournament just this year in the play-in games. Purdue should have been in control the whole game, and had a quote on quote “easy win” when looking at the game on paper, but VCU was able to get the win out of the game and move on to the sweet 16 games. Not only was VCU a big upset, but as hard as it was for me to watch our Notre Dame basketball team play, they also were on the down side of a big upset as well. The FSU #10 seed really hit hard on our #2 seeded team just moments after VCU beat Purdue. Again, most people went into that game thinking that this would be an “easy win” just because of the rankings and how we had previously played. On paper everything seemed to work perfectly in our favor; even an elite 8 or at the very least a sweet 16 chance was heavily in our favor.
Watching these two games in person as well as watching many of the other upsets that have thus far happened in the tournament got me thinking about the difference between what a team should play like versus what they do play like. It’s hard to imagine on paper a #10 seed beating a #2 seed by over ten points, but when watching it, you clearly saw who the better team was on that specific day. Maybe we could have played better on a different day, and maybe nine games out of ten that we played against that same team we would win, but that one opportunity the team who played best (regardless of their seed on paper) advanced to the next round. I just think it’s incredibly interesting how no matter how hard or long we study the way in which a team plays, it is nearly impossible to pick the perfect winners for each and every round.
Amy Prestinario, ND 2012
Social Foundations of Coaching Blog