publisher’s note Welcome to the first digital issue of Coaching Athletics. We ask you to (1) read it, and (2) pass it around. Encourage anyone who would like a free subscription to sign up at www.coachingathleticsq.com. I recently returned from the Millrose Games in New York. The Millrose Games were hosted at the NYC Armory this year, and there were many naysayers. I was among them. I loved Madison Square Garden, with all its history and I wanted to see a meet at that historic site host the Millrose Games again. Well, there was. It was called the U.S. Open at the Armory, and it had its high points and its low points. The Millrose Games/U.S. Open was a showcase of all that’s good about track & field: competition, strong crowd, crisp announcing, and lots of enthusiasm. Ending with Matt Centrowitz’s debut as a professional miler, the meet gave the fans what they wanted—great racing. That night, there were three American records set: two in Fayetteville, Arkansas, (at what games??) with Jillian Camarena-Williams in the shot put and Galen Rupp at 2 miles. Then, in Millrose, Bernard Lagat showed his stuff and set a new AR for 5000m. In Arkansas Rupp broke Lagat’s record and then in New York Lagat broke Rupp’s just-set record. The Armory announced later that Ray Flynn would be meet director of the Armory-based Millrose Games next year. The Millrose Games offered to move a week later on the calendar in 2013, which would mean four strong meets over four weeks in 2013. Track & field, to reach its proper place in the sports pantheon, has to realize it’s both entertainment and sport. The U.S. Open meet has to embrace its 145-meter track, perhaps with a short, sweet schedule and some wellpublicized handicapped races. Consider LaShawn Merritt taking on a field of six, one running 350 meters, one at 270 meters, one at 240 meters and one at 200 meters? Consider Reese Hoffa and Christian Cantwell taking on a relay of high school shot putters? Consider yard distances, such as 600 yards and 880 yards. Our sport thrives at the high school level, and does okay at the college level. It has so many moving parts at the elite level that we have to look at either finding a solution or starting over, scrapping all. The Armory and the Reggie Lewis Center near Boston are two of our positive sanctuaries for 14–18-year-olds. For kids in NYC, The Armory is their only track & field experience. In 2011, New Balance sent me to the Armory and I met a team of 4x400m runners, all 15–16-year-olds, who expressed how they love our sport. And the Armory was the center of their lives for that 3-hour meet each weekend that they got to run there. How do we make our sport better? Send me emails at runblogrun@gmail.com, and I’ll send them on to Stephanie Hightower, president of USA Track & Field. They need to hear your thoughts and comments.
Larry Eder, Publisher
4 Coaching Athletics Quarterly - Spring 2012
Photo: Victah, PhotoRun.NET