Coaching youth team was running with greats

I have been coaching a youth running team for 14 years now. 27 seasons. 570 practices. Hundreds of Personal Records set, and just as many smashed. Thousands of miles. My first team had seven runners and the roster grew over the years to a steady 60-ish. I have had the pleasure of coaching hundreds of kids and working with dozens of other coaches.

On Thursday, I ran my last 5k with the team: an epic, hilly, twisty, creek-splashing trail run in West Chester called the Trail Blazer. I can’t imagine a better place to wrap up.

Here are some of the things I learned while coaching these runners.

— Running is a forever sport. As you get older, there are fewer opportunities to play football, hockey, or soccer. First, because you’re old. Second, because your schedule fills up, so finding a league that fits your busy life is hard. All you need to keep running, though, is a decent pair of shoes and a place to wear them out. Running is also a global sport, so pretty much anywhere you go, you will be able to find a community of runners.

If you find yourself halfway across the country and want to make some friends fast, try the local running store.

— Just because kids are young, doesn’t mean they can’t lead. Every season I have watched runners stop to help someone who was struggling, heard teammates pay compliments to someone who worked through something hard, and had runners tell me that someone else had a tough day at school and could use a boost. At our 5ks, when there are out-and-back sections, the runners on their way back are cheering on their teammates as loudly as the runners on their way out, even though yelling makes running harder. This team has always carried itself.

If you give a third, fourth, or fifth grader the opportunity to inspire others, they will probably end up inspiring you.

— Running is both the easiest and hardest sport there is. It is so easy, most people learn to run before they can even say, “mama.” But it is so hard that coaches of other sports use it as a punishment for their athletes.

In this way, running is like character: You build it one challenging moment at a time.

— I have had some really fast runners over the years, but the chances of me coaching a future Olympian were always basically zero. The chances that I might coach someone who would someday coach youth sports were 100%. I have already had several of my runners return to coach the team with me as high schoolers (and they’re always the runners’ favorite coaches).

It is impossible to describe how it feels to see the runners I knew as third graders mature into the kind of men and women who want to inspire younger runners.

— If you really want to create a winning team, start by being positive all the time. At the end of our practices, we gave out dog tags to a few runners who had done something special at practice. One season, at the first practice, I asked for people to join me for optional sprints. Only five runners joined me. I gave them all dog tags. A week later when I offered optional sprints at the end of practice, every runner put their toe on the line.

That team ended up being the fastest one I had coached up till then.

— I have learned from 26 previous seasons that the first day we don’t have practice is the hardest for coaches. So it was that on Friday at 3:25, when my alarm didn’t tell me to put on my sneakers and leave the office, I felt bereft of the opportunity to see an incredible group of kids do something extraordinary on an otherwise unremarkable weekday afternoon.

I am extremely thankful to all of the coaches I have worked with over the years, and to the parents who thought, “Yeah, I bet my kid would like spending 90 minutes running after school,” for sending your kids our way. But most of all, I am thankful to the runners for pouring their hearts into this team. I’ve known for years that I was getting as much out of this program as they were. In truth, probably more.

Originally Published: June 4, 2025 at 11:01 AM EDT