What More Can a Coach Ask For?

It was truly a bittersweet day, Saturday was. I was so happy for the girls, proud of the challenges they overcame to not just qualify, but also to run so well as a team in the process. But my heart was saddened for our boys; I so wanted them to have the "reward" of CIF Finals.

I wanted that for them because they have made such a tremendous transformation in the last 12 months. This team of 2008, save a couple of graduated seniors last Spring, is the same group that finished 13th in '07 in their Prelim heat. I've coached long enough to have seen every conceivable reaction to poor results; everything from tears and heartbreak to smirks and nonchalance. Sometimes the kids go home with goals "to improve next year" only to see those goals evaporate by Christmas.

Such was not the case with this team. They got determined. They got motivated. And they got to work.

We've preached for years the value of off-season training and the absolute need to take track (viewed by many as their "second sport") seriously. It's all part of making a great cross country season. Well, for the first time really, a nucleus of guys starting taking such admonitions to heart.

They began in November of 2007 at Orange Terrace Park, running countless circuits in the dark and cold of winter. They ran a half-marathon in January. They came into track IN SHAPE (what a concept!) and had a great track season. I kept telling them back in March, "enjoy this now, but even better things are coming next Fall."

Well the "better things" wasn't a spot on the Finals line, though they came right up to the doorstep of it. Instead, the team will have to settle for the intrinsic reward of knowing they are sooooo much better than they used to be. As I looked at a bunch of disappointed faces in the twilight of last Saturday, I saw a group that walked out of Mt.SAC a year ago not even close to being "there." Understandably, "we almost made it this year" were hollow words. But in contrast to 2007, "we almost made it" is an incredible statement.

It's disappointing for sure to not yet be "there", but I take great comfort in knowing that this group did everything they could do -- for one full calendar year -- to be in a position to get to the Big Dance. Though they came up short, they are so far beyond where they once were.

And ultimately in life, that's all that really counts. We cannot control what our opponents do, we can only control what we do. And as much as it was in their power, this group of guys controlled their efforts, their miles, their races, their workouts, their team chemistry to make the moment possible.

What more can a coach ask for? Nothing. (But he can still wish for another week of racing!)