From the Editor – RUSS EBBETS
THE POWER OF TRADITION
When I was a sophomore in college I was asked to run at a meet in South Jersey. It was early November and it was an “indoor meet” to be held on an outdoor track. Not many colleges were there. It was a cold, windy 40-degree day and the kind of excitement I’d feel at the Millrose Games was not present.
They called the 600-yard competitors to the line and we reported to a tape mark on the track. Notice I said “we.” Actually, it was me and one other guy. When I took off my sweat top and he saw the Villanova singlet he did a double take. He stopped all movement and then asked the obvious question.
I could see his visage change when he got his answer. He actually toed the line in his sweatpants. The starter asked him if he was going to race in his sweats? He looked at his legs embarrassed that he’d somehow forgotten this detail. His hands were shaking so bad he had trouble getting the sweats off.
With the gun shot he was off like a bullet. I followed and followed and never got to the front. Now, I’m embarrassed to say he beat me by a step. I guess there is something to the adrenaline of terror.
Six weeks later I ran into this guy at a December all-comers meet at the old, flat floor Armory in New York City. Confident and cocky he was ready for great things that night. He never made it out of the heats. I did and got fourth overall. Glory days.
With my distance runners I always wanted them to finish with a strong kick. I’m sure that is every coach’s dream, but we practiced this with sprint work technique, timing and avoided “training to failure” in practice. The runners were also taught to “ease in” if there was no need to kick, and to “save it” for when it was needed.
That speaks to a coach’s expectations. Set the bar high and you get what you get. If mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, I always championed the exceptional.
When the team bought in something special happened. The team’s level of expectations rose as did their expectations of each other. In this positive Gestalt it became an uplifting, unstoppable force within the team. No one wanted to let anyone down. Together we became, “together we will.”
This level of expectations can affect one’s opponents too. If one’s reputation precedes in terms of ability (or ability to kick, for example) some competitors may decide to “call it in” and rationalize the loss. One can use history, hearsay or personal experience to develop a defeatist mindset that can rationalize anything.
Chip Button’s interview is in this issue. On November 12, 2022 his team won another NYS Class B Championship in cross country. Eleven and counting.
His top returning runner from last year struggled as a sickly #5 man all season. His #2 sprained an ankle with a week to go before the championship. Fear, doubt, or a loss of resolve could have had his team “call it in” and rationalize the season as one of “bad breaks” and not meant to be or that this team “just didn’t have it.”
But if there is the level of expectation driven by tradition, a long line of success from coach to team to individual athletes this belief can dictate, even mandate that the glass is half full. Personal struggles pale in comparison to the forge-ahead resolve of the team. It is a terrible feeling to let someone down.
And then there is the competition. They know the tradition, they see the resolve in their competitors’ eyes and they remember what they have been told. What they expect to happen, they let happen. You don’t want to let those people down either.
