Who Am I?

I am an avid runner and have been running since I was 15 years old. I began running low to medium distances while on my high school track team, running the 800 meter and 1600 meter races (I was a sub 5 miler and a 2 minute 800 runner). In addition to the track team, I also joined the cross country team. After high school I still wanted to run and decided to start doing road races. I have probably ran a couple hundred 5k races (16.29 PR)along with many 10k's as well. In 2009 I decided to step up my game and try to tackle my first marathon. I will be honest; the only reason I did this was because my father ran a few and I wanted to show him that I could do what he did. I trained poorly for my first one and regret it. If you are going to run a race, train like you want to win. I still continue to run marathons and other distances as well, and every race is a chance for me to better myself.
I started this blog to hopefully communicate with other runners and to shed any knowledge I may have about the sport that can help other runners. I believe running is the best sport and can be a great stress reliever. I encourage all runners to spread the word of our sport and show people why running is so good and why the community of runners has such great people. You can follow me on twitter @byrne1324 or find me on facebook- Shaun Byrne

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Build them up, don't tear them down!!!!


In the past I have bought up how parents or coaches can sometimes push a kid too hard too young. Well I bring this up again because while at the track on Monday I saw something that was kind of disturbing to me. As I was running my laps I noticed there was a boy, if I had to guess an age I would say 11 or 12. The boy was a bit overweight. I was doing speed workouts so I would run a few laps then walk a lap. When I walk my resting lap I like to watch the other people and see what they are doing, call me a creep or call me just curious. Anyway this boy was with a young man and lady, they could have been his parents or a coaching pair, I am not really sure. First they had the young man running laps. I have no problem with this, he was going at a nice, comfortable pace and made it around twice. Next they took him over to run the stairs. Okay, the track I go to has a fairly long set of bleachers and if you are going to run them the normal way you would go up run about 15 yards then go down, run another 15 yards go up run another 15 yards and come down, run another 15 yards go up run another 15 yards and come down, this would be 1 set. I happened to be standing right below the steps stretching so I was able to hear the young man tell the kid to do 3 sets. 3 sets for an adult would be rough, 3 sets for an overweight kid would be brutal. The kid was struggling and at times looked like he was going to pass out. The lady stepped in and tried to help him keep moving, but the more I watched it seemed all she cared about was doing the steps herself. The boy made it only for 1 set before the young man called him down to the track to tell him how he was not trying hard enough. The young man decided to show the kid how he can run a lap and go straight into the steps and do a set. Kudo’s to you dickhead for showing up an 11 year old. At this point I am done running and I am just sitting on the bleachers watching this all go down. As the young man made his way around the second lap, the lady was pointing out to the kid that he needs to work harder so he can be like the young man. Once the young man was finished with his showing off he called the boy over to the field in the middle of track and had him do some planks. I consider myself to be pretty in shape, my body may tell another story but I can hold my own when it comes to workouts, planks are even hard for me. The boy was having problems from the start, and both adults were once again telling him he wasn’t trying hard enough. Once again both adults felt the need to get in a plank position and show how good they can do them. The boy started to cry and got up and walked away. You would think at this point one of the adults would of went after him, but nope instead they both finished their planks and walked over to the boy and told him to quit crying, and he is being a baby. As they were leaving the track they made the kid sprint up the stairs, all while still crying.

I am not a parent and I do not know what the line is where an outsider should step in. I really wanted to jump in tell the adults to chill out and show them how to help the kid without belittling him. Then part of me wanted to challenge the young man to a race and beat him and start making fun of him as if he was the child. Like I said I don’t even know if they were his parents or not. I pray to god they aren’t because I feel bad for that kid if he has to deal with that shit on a daily basis. I just wasn’t sure if I would be overstepping my bounds if I said something. If they are the parents I don’t think they would want an outsider telling them how to do something with their son. If they were the coaches they were probably set in their ways and thought what they were doing was right. It took a lot for me to hold back and say something, and I am not the type to get involved in matters like that.

My main question is at the end of the day what did that kid gain from that workout? There is no way he left that track feeling better about himself, if anything he was bullied by adults. There is a right way and a wrong way to help younger people out with workouts. You need to have patience and you need to understand it may take them a bit longer than you would like to get the hang of things. Build them up don’t knock them down. I don’t think people understand that when you break a child down like that you are turning them off from doing anything like that again. You want to know why I started running when I was young and still continue too, because my coaches made it fun for me. There was times they had to reprimand me, but they never made me feel less of a person. I understand sometimes a person needs pushed a little to start things, obviously this boy was overweight and needed some help but once again there is a right way and a wrong way.

If you were in my situation what would you have done?



8 comments:

  1. Wow. They sound awful! You're so right that a negative experience like that has no benefit. If anything, it will just make the kid not want to do it again. I think the cruelest part was when he was crying & they told him to stop being a baby. That situation is really tough. I bet they wouldn't have taken your feedback well. I probably would have wanted to say something but probably wouldn't have. You never know who's just going to go crazy on you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly jenn what if I say something and then I find myself in a fist fight with these people. It just sucks because you want to jump in and tell the kid it ain't his fault and try to help him.

      Delete
  2. Oh my goodness. Like you said - all that kid got out of that "workout" (and yes that's in quotes because he didn't even get a decent REAL workout) was humiliation. It would be really hard for me to keep my mouth in check watching that go down. This stuff drives me nuts - when parents or coaches or whoever it is thinks that by tearing kids up they're making them better players or more fit or whatever the goal is. I was walking past a little league game (at least that's what I'm guessing it was) the other day and I couldn't believe some of the crap I heard coming out of the adults mouths toward those kids. For goodness sakes I don't think they were more than 12 years old. It was like they were trying to coach the Pirates or something and it was the last inning of the World Series. Ridiculous. They're just kids... keep it fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am all for letting a kid know when they do something wrong or when you know they aren't trying, but that was not the case here, this kid was trying and it wasn't good enough. Like you said sometimes the parents or coaches get way to involved and forget the big picture

      Delete
  3. Good post Shaun!

    Like you I am not a parent so that is tough situation because you don't know if those are the parents or some sort of coaches. When I think back on the various coaches I have had through the years the best ones were those that understand every person is different. Some people respond to yelling and others require a soft touch to bring out their best. When you are working with kids it is up to the coach or parent to realize how hard they can push a kid before they are going to turn them off to their particular sport because of their methods.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Couldn't of said it any better than what you just said, each kid is different and responds to different methods. When you see a kid crying you would think that would be the indicator that what you are doing isn't working.

      Delete
  4. Ugh, this story breaks my heart for that kid. I probably would have approached the kid (while his "supervisors" were preoccupied with their planks) and given him a big high-five and told him "looking good out there, buddy!" or something of the sort. That kid -- all kids! -- need encouragement, not belittlement. That sort of treatment will have an impact on his views of fitness and health for the rest of his life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn now that I look back I should of went over to the kid and said something. I agree all kids especially when they are just starting need encouragement. Later on once they have been doing it for a while then you can push a bit harder but you won't have that chance if you scare the kid away from the activity.

      Delete