With a legendary female runner in College and a new coach in place, the New Oxford Cross Country team began preparation for another winning season on August 17, 2009.
Colby Frantz, a former wrestling coach who recently moved from Delaware, has been given the head coaching job for the Cross Country team. Although he has never coached Cross Country before, Frantz has experience as a runner.
When asked about the challenge of transitioning from coaching the sport of wrestling to Cross Country, Frantz says that “the transition was and is a tough one. For one, in wrestling you are coaching boys, mostly, and they react differently to a certain type of motivation; that is, yelling. But in Cross Country, you are coaching boys and girls and yelling won't work the same, as a matter of fact it may work the opposite. However, coaching is coaching and there are many things that apply the same in both sports, such as pushing athletes to achieve things that they didn't believe they could achieve. The same amount of coaching preparation goes into both sports.”
Pushing his athletes to their highest possible achievements is just what he plans to do, hoping to set them on the track to improving their times. His plan for summer training was to “get the hard part out of the way” so that the rest of the season can be maintaining speed.
Frantz says that his goals for the season are “to build at first, increasing the speed and distance, and then maintain with speed and rest for the duration of the competition season.”
Although the legendary Jordan Jenkins is gone, Frantz still thinks highly of his team. When asked for his opinion, he says, “I think my new team is awesome! They are the best group of individuals with whom I have worked. And that is saying a lot because I have worked with many groups and teams in my life. These athletes and young adults are maturing everyday and they are working very hard. They have a goal and dream to improve at what they do. Their strength lies in their ability to work as a team and be there for each other. Their weakness lies in the lack of belief in themselves sometimes. The personalities run the spectrum and I enjoy talking to each one of them for different reasons.”
When speaking to his runners, Frantz tells them that it isn’t where they place that matters, it’s how hard they try. He also tells them that he believes in every single runner, and that he never thought the runners couldn’t be good. He wants them all to have the “hearts of champions”.
As meets are underway for the school season, the Cross Country team is still working to improve times. Through two meets, runners did not do as well as was expected of them individually or as well as Coach Frantz hoped they would do. Frantz says that the runners are too hard on themselves. “The last two meets were tough ones but there were a lot of positives that came out of those meets. Almost all runners had their personal best at the first race, and many improved at the second race as well. I think the most important thing is to let them know that they all did their best and that we will get back to work with new goals to meet.”
That is exactly what the team plans to do. With two meets behind them, the runners set goals to look to improve their times, since every competitive runner knows – every second counts.
Allison Mack
Colby Frantz, a former wrestling coach who recently moved from Delaware, has been given the head coaching job for the Cross Country team. Although he has never coached Cross Country before, Frantz has experience as a runner.
When asked about the challenge of transitioning from coaching the sport of wrestling to Cross Country, Frantz says that “the transition was and is a tough one. For one, in wrestling you are coaching boys, mostly, and they react differently to a certain type of motivation; that is, yelling. But in Cross Country, you are coaching boys and girls and yelling won't work the same, as a matter of fact it may work the opposite. However, coaching is coaching and there are many things that apply the same in both sports, such as pushing athletes to achieve things that they didn't believe they could achieve. The same amount of coaching preparation goes into both sports.”
Pushing his athletes to their highest possible achievements is just what he plans to do, hoping to set them on the track to improving their times. His plan for summer training was to “get the hard part out of the way” so that the rest of the season can be maintaining speed.
Frantz says that his goals for the season are “to build at first, increasing the speed and distance, and then maintain with speed and rest for the duration of the competition season.”
Although the legendary Jordan Jenkins is gone, Frantz still thinks highly of his team. When asked for his opinion, he says, “I think my new team is awesome! They are the best group of individuals with whom I have worked. And that is saying a lot because I have worked with many groups and teams in my life. These athletes and young adults are maturing everyday and they are working very hard. They have a goal and dream to improve at what they do. Their strength lies in their ability to work as a team and be there for each other. Their weakness lies in the lack of belief in themselves sometimes. The personalities run the spectrum and I enjoy talking to each one of them for different reasons.”
When speaking to his runners, Frantz tells them that it isn’t where they place that matters, it’s how hard they try. He also tells them that he believes in every single runner, and that he never thought the runners couldn’t be good. He wants them all to have the “hearts of champions”.
As meets are underway for the school season, the Cross Country team is still working to improve times. Through two meets, runners did not do as well as was expected of them individually or as well as Coach Frantz hoped they would do. Frantz says that the runners are too hard on themselves. “The last two meets were tough ones but there were a lot of positives that came out of those meets. Almost all runners had their personal best at the first race, and many improved at the second race as well. I think the most important thing is to let them know that they all did their best and that we will get back to work with new goals to meet.”
That is exactly what the team plans to do. With two meets behind them, the runners set goals to look to improve their times, since every competitive runner knows – every second counts.
Allison Mack
