It's Time to Bring Back Weekday Meets

Bigger is better! More runners! More schools! More everything! Including spending (i.e. parking, shirts, apparel, etc.). However, that couldn't be farther from the truth. If we are looking to grow as a sport, we don't need bigger meets, we need more meaningful meets.

It is hard to grow rosters when no matter what you do, your team will never finish in the top-three at an invite or win a trophy. Most teams are perpetually in a state of being middle-of-the-pack. Nearly every runner will finish in a non-awarded position, with their score having a difficult-to-make-sense-of impact on the outcome of the meet. 

Now compare that to a small meet where a runner can actively see who they are directly competing against (one or two specific runners from a rival school, generally), as opposed to stampeding mass of teenagers from all over. Plus, a small meet actually gives runners a chance to finish at the front of a meet! Every person really does matter when there are less of them.

Smaller meets also don't split sections into "open" or "varsity." This allows everyone a chance to compete together and have an opportunity to score. Smaller meets are also easier to set up. This allows schools that would otherwise not host a cross country meet to do so. More community members will come watch and more kids can see what cross country is all about (especially if you include an elementary fun run at the end!). 

"Times will be slower because there are less people to run against!" I can definitively say that is not true. A tri-meet between Bellevue, Norwalk, and Shelby around ten years ago produced times fast enough to place at the state meet. Motivation is the key to fast times. I have had multiple runners over the years run personal bests on a weekday meet. Athletes also run harder when they know they have a chance to spur their team to victory and they cannot fade into a large crowd. 

As coaches, we should be giving our athletes more opportunities to compete, not fewer. Especially since very few of us have athletes that will be in the hunt for a state title. 

You can also change how the meet is organized as well, which does impact the way the race is contested. A lot of schools compete over two miles instead of a 5k, like Fremont Ross and Old Fort are doing later this month. It's also great for rivalries, Bellevue, Clyde and Fremont Ross face off in the Battle of Route 20 every year (trophy included!).

"Weekday meets will mess up my training cycle!" Well... not really. If you have a once in a generation athlete that is on an exact training cycle, then don't run them or have them treat the race as a controlled tempo workout. But the overwhelming majority of athletes will benefit from weekday meets. First, it breaks up the monotony of weekly training and instead trains athletes through racing. Second, if you know teenagers, they get more out of competing than they do most workouts. If you ask a group of kids to go hard for mile repeats vs. go hard in an actual race, nine times out of 10 you will get more effort out of the race.

Middle schoolers benefit A LOT from weekday meets. The motto for middle school coaches should be "Compete. Compete. Compete." Middle schoolers are growing and changing. There is a lot going on psychologically and socially at this point in time for them. They are not focused on exact training and mileage and everything us coaches are worried about. They want to put on a uniform, be a part of a team and compete. That's it. 

Effort is the key word for coaches. We put a lot of effort into our programs and our athletes. Most of it goes unheralded and unnoticed. However, we know what we signed up for. We all share the love of this great sport. So, at least once a year, go the extra mile and put on a weekday meet. I promise, it will provide way more positives than you can even image.