Hi Angie hope all is well. I’m from “X Province in Y Country” and used to train with “ABC athlete who you knew” As a “Health Practitioner and Masters athlete and track coach” I continue to listen to podcasts and go to seminars related to T & F b/c I’m a fan of the sport. However, Stu Mcmillan is on his soapbox (again) opining that Charlie Francis’s reputation as a coach and innovator is actually greater than his “limited success with his athletes on the track.” Talk about bullshit.
Stu and other coaches on the T & F marketing roadshow constantly bash Charlie and his training methods. It’s almost to the point that some of them insinuate that Charlie’s methods have actually set sprint training back a generation.
Stu’s greatest sprinter was Andre Degrasse, who was already fast before he was coached by Stu. Stu never developed him. Andre suffered 2 hamstring tears over 2 years and fired Stu to train with Rana Reider. Heck, one of those hamstring tears happened at a training camp (supervised by Stu) just days before the world championships. How good a coach is that???
I feel your passion and interest and I understand how upset you are from remarks you feel are unfair.
It’s so easy trashing people who are not around any longer.
I don’t need to defend Charlie. I never did. He did not care so much about what others thought or he would have stopped coaching long before he was banned.
Charlie did a great job with his life and his career and his family.
I’ve met many people in the sporting world and those I have enjoyed the most are people who were brave enough to participate at the inquiry, those whom have stood by without much to gain when he was down and then gone. Sports are supposed to build character in people but in reality sport can bring out the worst in some.
I’m wondering if Mr. Stu is mourning the loss of his athlete? Perhaps? I don’t know.
History of a person will be judged over time but history doesn’t always get it right.
Busy enjoying the summer and got this note from an interested person I know from a distance.
Funny how life is. Charlie was a giver. He liked sharing what he knew and what he learned. He did not ask for much in return.
For anyone wishing to be honest with themselves or others he shaped so many people’s careers as athletes, coaches and those in the industry.
Live your life on your own terms and enjoy it as none of us understand when it all might end. Sounds corny but be grateful for what you have and practice appreciation.
Meantime I am doing just that.
I hope anyone reading this enjoys the website. Enjoy the content. There are no tricks here. No incessant marketing. I am not selling your email and I am not laying awake at night trying to figure out how to exploit your content.
I can’t speak for Stu, but this comment brought to mind an experience I had dealing with Altis a couple years back. I applied for that completely volunteer internship (which you have to pay for) with Charlie’s influence spoken about in my cover letter. Long story short, I was interviewed by a doctor in their camp named Jas Randhawa. He seemed perturbed the entire time, and when I spoke of CF and how his books influenced me he was completely silent, then abruptly changed subject, lol. I didn’t get that internship of course, and in hindsight I am thankful. I don’t want to be around people who write others off based on what they think they know about them. It’s really just a shame these people limit their knowledge based on a dogmatic witch-hunting bias of what they think they know about Charlie.
Charlie was an innovator and created opportunities that otherwise might not have existed. Money was second which might not have served him personally very well but he would not compromise the quality of what he wished to pass along.
People are threatened by his accomplishments and can’t differentiate truth from fiction.
It’s interesting how powerful Charlie was also. Wow, he had so much power he set world track and field back a generation all by himself? Incredible.
His track record was quite the contrary. Almost every single sprinter in the country ( knowingly or otherwise) up to a certain point can be connected back to the accomplishment created by the enormous success Charlie created.
I don’t think that was the reason you didn’t get the internship… If I remember correctly Buddy Morris speaks highly of Charlie but seems to connect well with those altis coaches.
Fred Kerley just won the 400m at the USATF National Championships. Here is his training status as per wikipedia:
After Kerley turned professional in 2017 he joined club ALTIS in Phoenix, Arizona, and trained there under the guidance of Kevin Tyler for the 2018 season.[14] However, in 2019 he returned to Texas A&M to train under his former coach Alleyne Francique, stating to Track & Field News “I believe in him so much that I had to come back to train with him.”
Stu would do well to utilize Charlie’s methods as his own program has athletes leaving like DeGrasse and Jobodwana and Webb dropping off. If any coach’s reputation is far in excess of his actual results it’s that guy.
pauldedewo It’s been a rough past five months dealing with injuries and illnesses. The worst part was not being able to compete at #ToyotaUSATFOutdoors to make the #Doha2019 team, but leaning on the Lord, trusting my coach and program, and learning to roll with the highs and lows of being a professional athlete.
There’s a bunch of pseduo-intellectualism taking taking place down there. From Charlie’s Key Concepts Elite:
It looks sexy to have “multiple energy system programming” or “Reactive power dynamics”, but effective training is raw and intense.