I am constantly surprised how soccer "pulling away talent" theory is mentioned much more often than, say, soaring obesity levels among teenagers. Actually, in view of how inactive US kids are nowadays, I would view popularity of soccer as a huge positive factor - not a negative one. It's about the only sport popular at high school level that develops aerobic capacity - unlike basketball, baseball or football - which are more "sprint for 4 seconds, walk or stand around for the next 10 minutes" kind of sports.
What is the common link between Aouita, Khannouchi, Vigueras, Larson, Kagwe, Thugwane, Paul Evans, ElGuerrouj - and throw in any top portuguese, spanish, italian, mexican or brazilian runners? They all started out as soccer players - developed speed and aerobic base an young age, then switched to running. Didn't seem to hurt them. If basketball didn't "steal" Paul Tergat, swimming didn't "steal" Alan Webb and triathlons didn't "steal" Lance Armstrong, do we really believe that soccer is "stealing" the next Bill Rodgers or Frank Shorter? Oleg. > Two other contributing factors that have been mentioned before: > > 1. Other sports (soccer, triathlon) pulling away more potential distance runners >they did twenty years ago; and > > 2. The USA birth rate bottomed out in the mid-1970's meaning there are fewer adults >in their mid to late twenties these days. Fortunately, the birth rate has improved >since then which may be a contributing factor to recent improvements in high school >performances in our sport. > > Ed Koch > > > Original Message: > ----------------- > From: alan tobin [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 23:20:53 +0000 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: t-and-f: marathon qualifiers > > > The problem is really quite simple, and it is 3-fold: > > 1. The US "elite" runners are not running nearly as hard/long as they were > 20-30 years ago. This is due in part to high school and college coaches > adopting the high quality/low quantity approach. Three runners, three vast > improvements in mileage, three of the best US marathoners we have had > recently: Joe Lemay drops a 2:13 after upping to 140-150, David Morris drops > a 2:09 after going to Japan and uppping to 150ish, Josh Cox qualifies for > 2000 Trials after upping to 100+ then drops to 2:13 after upping even > further to the 130-150 range. 120 a week not working? Try 140. That not > working? Try 160. Fact is there were more US "elite" runners 20-30 years ago > running upwards of 150 or more a week. > > 2. US "elites" wait too long to try the marathon. Todd Williams best > marathon days were back in '95-'96. We have three runners capable of sub > 2:10-2:11, but they are busy running 10ks on the track. The best US runners > are too busy running 5ks and 10ks to worry about the marathons. 20-30 years > ago a lot of the best US marathoners could hold their own on the track and > the not-so-speedy made up the 2nd tier running 2:15s. Today, for the most > part, the not-so-speedy runners make up the 1st tier. > > 3. Too much other stuff to worry about. Forget about the few examples of > runners running 2:10 while working 50 hours a week. If you want to give > yourself the best chance to excel in running then you can't be worn out from > working 50 hours a week. Working 20-30 hours a week gives you a little cash > plus more than enough time to put in the twice daily 10 mile runs that you > need. A lot of the best college runners quit running seriously after college > so they can pursue a job related to their degree. > > > All of these problems can be solved. The developmental groups (Hansons, > Brownstone, Fila, ect) have started the ball rolling. Now a young runner has > somewhere to go. Some, like Brownstone, have performance levels with varying > perks. It's all a matter of finding young people willing to do whatever it > takes, run farther and faster, and do the things necessary to succeed. Once > that happens then US distance running will be fine. > > Alan > http://www.geocities.com/runningart2004 > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > mail2web - Check your email from the web at > http://mail2web.com/ . >
