>Good athletes can now make good money in t&f, albeit not at the level of
an
>NFL wide receiver.
I'd dispute this. I think that GREAT athletes can make good money in T&F -
merely good athletes (and I mean good in world class sense, and not in a
"relative to the general population" sense) are picking among the scraps
for travel money, some pocket change appearance fees, and maybe even shoes.
OTOH, merely "good" professional football players can expect to have a shot
at a 200 - 300K salary for a few years in the NFL. Merely "good" MLB
baseball players routinely sign multi-year deals in the 3-4 million a year
range. Merely "good" basketball players from the US who end up not making
the NBA can make far more money playing in second-tier leagues in Europe
than all but a few track stars will.
A friend/coworker who I used to train with at lunch, who had been
All-American in the 3K in college, used to lament "being the 10th best
3K/5K runner in the US might get you some shoes. Being the 10th best
shortstop in the US will get you a 3 year - 15 million dollar deal."
Of course, Pete and I talked baseball a lot because we were (and still are)
in a rotisserie league together.
I seriously doubt that there are too many serious baseball players out
there who are in Track and Field rotisserie leagues, and the sad fact is,
that for 1/2 to 3/4 of the US Olympic 4x100 Relay Team, the ONLY time most
people in the US have ever read or heard their names was because of their
celebration antics.
Let's face it - more people in the US could tell you this morning who Benny
Agbayani is than Angelo Taylor. That kind of media saturation is very hard
to market against to kids. I'm still convinced that there was a kid at the
HS I help coach at who has the natural talent to be one of America's next
great milers - but he grew up idolizing basketball players, and was
determined to be a great basketball player, and after striking out with
most Division I recruiting took an appointment to the USAF Academy to play
hoops (after spending this year in their Prep School). The kid has good
basketball skills, mainly honed through dedicating his life to his jump
shot since he was 8, but he's got an amazing combination of natural
endurance and excellent speed. But he, his relatively affluent family, and
his friends spend all their time watching basketball, and track barely
registers.
>HSI have shown that assembling a group for both training
>and management purposes can pay enormous dividends (as indeed the SMTC
>showed in the 80s and 90s). What can be done to encourage more such
centres
>of excellence?
If you look at the centers of excellence, they always seem to have one
factor - a great coach, someone with the knowledge and ability to inspire.
But you know, outside of the collegiate ranks, there's not a lot of money
for coaches, either...
Phil
