yeah, i don’t know about that… Not these days anyway.
2yrs ago, i watched a primary school x-country. Each age group, male and female was always WON by some kid who Looked liked they knew what they were doing, just like u said. However, 2nd and onwards - haha, completely diff story. They look horrendous. For some reason, each age group, male or female always had just ONE kid who could run.
Age groups were Prep, grade 1 and 2 and 3.
I’ll have a look next yr at the grades 4 - 7 and see if there are more at the front looking well.
Hence, this yr, i have had my boy (grade 4) doing a lot more running around, even body weight squats, lunges, burpee’s etc just to get some fitness and strength so he isnt so weak - i do it in a way he loves doing so! Except burpee’s, they are used as punishment… He quickly learned…
Its taken nearly all this yr, and he is now starting to run with form, not flopping around like a rag dole. By yrs end he should be fine.
The girl in yr 2 on the other hand - she came out running! 18mnth difference, and she is as fast as the boy. She looks Right and loves doing it.
I come across more people who cant run for the life of it than those who can. However, with good coaching, esp those over 16yrs age, they can adapt very fast to new running mechanics and learn to run fast pretty quickly. Even the “slow kid who everybody beat” can become substantially faster once they learn mechanically how to run. So many just don’t have a clue on how to run. For one of the most simplest movements around, so many get it wrong.