I am with you. I have way too many things to worry about other than other peoples athletes. Putting records out there for kids is a little irresponsible. It sets bars too early in the development path. I agree with many of you that you shouldn’t sacrifice long term development for short term gains. I guess I just feel bad that everytime Rich posts something regarding Hannah, the responses seem to be overly negative. I applaud her ability, I have nothing invested in her development so other than saying I don’t agree with some things, it isn’t my responsibility to fix them.
I agree with speedcoach…irresponsible to have a record book for 9 yo!
I posted Hannah races and bio on an Italian track web site…cheering for here on the other side of the ocean!
This is not my statement, just a “cut -n- paste” from the Seattle Speed website :)… some of the wording, which, I’m sure, is designed as a personal “sports card” and a “feel good” for the athlete involved.
Rick
The official US record from USATF for Hannah’s age group is 11.35 by Angela Williams (born 1/30/1980, set on 7/28/1995).
Angela Williams won FOUR NCAA Championships in the 100m at USC and went on to win international medals. That’s what Hannah should be looking at. Hannah is larger, which likely hurts her is the start, but if she works on her start some (especially staying down longer in her drive phase) she may be able to get close. I think she will surpass Jodie Williams’ time at the same age (which I think is 11.56), but 11.35 for a female is a different world.
From my life experiences.
A lot of the time a talented young athlete is coached by a person (coach1) who does not really know what they are doing but get results, sometimes that person is receiving advice from someone who does not want to take the reins so to speak.
Along comes coach2, who can talk the talk and simply ups the intensity which leads to improvements. After the peak is reached little happens other than the athlete believing they are not genetically gifted enough.
A lot of media coverage turns into very little, it doesn’t take long before people start asking what is happening and there will be more than one who will go out of their way to humiliate the athlete.
As a parent the driving force is to do the best for the offspring and bullshit is often the driving force behind a lot of successful trainers who seem to have the motto “if i can’t brand them then i would rather see then leave”.
Mate I wish you luck and the only advice I have is to continue to do what you think is the best for your offspring.
I use to train with Angela. Like Hannah, Angela was coached by her father (he’s a track coach for the youth) then when she got to high school and Collage she bounced around from USC coaches and Coach Ernie Gregoire who is the coach of SoCal Cheetahs track club.
At USC they have a big 12 ft pic of her in the hallway before you enter the coaches office.
The one thing I will say about Angela is that she is a all around developed athlete. Her father did a great job in insuring she did not burn out. Angela was sort of a clown and she always had a smile on her face, she seem to really enjoy what she was doing.
Seattle Speed club compete in the National AAU track games, not the USATF (they do participate in the Regional USATF meet though, which is local)…the way it is scheduled, it is not realistic to do both, as either AAU or USATF will have their National meet, then the following day one ends the other will start…not making it reasonable to go from one to the other. I’m not even sure how feasible it would be with when registration has to be done I’m sure while the other meet in in progress.
Hannahs record is an AAU record.
Rick
11.35 is an unbelievable feat at that age…what an athlete!
Rick
The first woman to run under 11.0 IN HIGH SCHOOL.
She had a ridiculously quick start, which was her big advantage when she was younger, but perhaps it turned into a disadvantage as she matured, as she didn’t have the SE to go along with the start and world class competition tended to run her down from behind.
Physically, Angela looked like Shelly-Ann Fraser, and it would have been interesting to see the results with the same training.
I agree. She’s amazing (WOW). Hopefully, she keeps a strong head and stays health.
Yup, exactly.
Edit: I never seen Angela run more than 120 meters during practice (although she can run a good 400). Angela did block starts along with 30/40/60/80 meter sprints. The intensity looked to me to be around 80% in effort at times.
I was in the weight room with her as well. NOTHING spectacular at all, just general body building stuff.
Sure, it’s a good time, but if you think about it, she was already running for a long time before her fantastic years running at Chino high school.
Rich
How quickly someone improves is not an indicator of long term proper development.
The easiest results will be gathered when the least experienced group trains. I am not trying to take anything away from this coach. I would like the discussion to continue and the questions asked by you as well.
Do you want to be faster now or continue to develop for the duration of your competitive years? ( yes some would say both )
Your logged results can not be disputed.
The method of short term gain versus long term development can be.
Just because you can ? Does this mean you should?
Yes Angela, those are words of wisdom.
Hannah was only age 14 last year (birthdate in January). She was in the Youth class, not Intermediate, which you quoted the record for.
The record, which Hannahs time is faster than, for USATF Youth, from the USATF site:
“100m 11.73 seconds
Kendall Baisden
Motor City TC Greensboro, NC 2009-Jul-31”
Hannahs AAU record is 11.71 seconds
I saw Kendall run a few weeks ago. She ran a 60 in 7.63 FAT I believe, second fastest in Michigan right now. She is a tall, thin girl with a very relaxed stride. I was hand timing 30m and she came through in under 4.20 in her 7.63.
deleated as already posted…
From what it sounds like training with a high school team (remember, she’s home schooled) didn’t work out, Cunliffe quit to focus on summer track, training with her high school team was “interfering” with that.
100 Meters
11.99a 1.2 I F Apr 9 Arcadia Invitational D…
12.25a V P Apr 16 Eason Invitational
12.16a V F Apr 16 Eason Invitational
200 Meters
24.71a .6 I F Apr 9 Arcadia Invitational D…
25.13a V P Apr 16 Eason Invitational
25.30a V F Apr 16 Eason Invitational
She started early this year, as she quit Fall swim team to run/train for Winter indoor track. Hope that early specializing and extreme training haven’t effected her running?
My daughter has been wondering what is up, as she exchanges facebook messages with her and follows her HS performance (what couple meets Hannah did do) I guess her account on Facebook has been offline or deleted for a couple weeks now.
I assume the weather at Arcadia was nice and warm. At the Eason, it was very cold and rainy, not a good day for sprinters.