{"id":5804,"date":"2022-08-14T08:15:58","date_gmt":"2022-08-14T12:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=5804"},"modified":"2023-06-11T11:47:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T15:47:05","slug":"cross-country-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/08\/14\/cross-country-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross Country Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is another in the Sunday Story series. No politics here, just some stories of Cross Country running teams from “long ago” through today.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tradition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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1980 CC Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I went out to my old Cross Country team\u2019s summer camp this week.  As my good friend and their current coach John Jarvis pointed out, the Watkins High School Cross Country team has a forty-eight year history. Over that entire time, there were only three Head Coaches.  Coach Jarvis was my assistant for eleven years before he took over in 2009.  I was John McGowan\u2019s assistant for six years before I tried to follow in his footsteps in 1985.  While the current crop of runners only vaguely know who I am, and know my predecessor by name only, they don\u2019t realize that much of what they do in practice and as a team started before they, and even some of their parents, were born.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those traditions is that all three of us treated kids as individuals, as people, not \u201cjust\u201d runners.  We didn\u2019t try to \u201cfit\u201d kids into some pre-conceived mold.  We took them as they were.  They were willing to try, and we did whatever we could to make them better, as runners, but more importantly, as people.  That was and still is the one \u201ctrue North\u201d of Watkins Cross Country, that John McGowan established, and that we all followed.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another principle that has come down through \u201cthe generations\u201d is that we, as coaches, must be willing to learn, and to change.  Over forty-eight years the science and art of training runners has grown.  We know so much more about the physiology of athletics, and the psychology of runners.  At the core, kids haven\u2019t changed in their desire to belong, to try, and to succeed.  But the stresses and demands on kids are qualitatively different today, than they were back in \u201cthe day\u201d.  As coaches, we recognized those changing influences, and adapted.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going to Camp<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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1999 CC Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we first went to camp in 1997, one of the best parts of the experience was that there was almost no cell phone service there.  We had the kids \u201cin the moment\u201d, with no distraction from the \u201coutside\u201d to break their attention.  Now, twenty-five years later, technology has come even to eastern Licking County.  Everything that kids do now, at camp and in life, is part of a \u201cpublic record\u201d.   There is lots of good from that, but it means that being \u201cin the moment\u201d is an experience many kids never have.  \u201cThe moment\u201d is always shared, always interrupted, always includes others not \u201cin the group\u201d.   It\u2019s no good taking kids on a \u201csnipe hunt\u201d today. Someone will \u201cgoogle\u201d snipes.  Every move is subject to \u201cfact checking\u201d and scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one thing not subject to cell phone interference is the running.  Kids (most) don\u2019t run with their cell phones.  It ultimately is more hassle to carry than it\u2019s worth.  And the secret of \u201cbonding\u201d on a cross country team is the shared \u201csuffering\u201d of long runs on hills and dusty roads.  Hours on the road means hours of conversations, some grunted going uphill, some casual while striding along in the sun.  Want to grow close to someone:  run with them, hours at a time, every day.  You may not grow to \u201clove them\u201d, but you will grow to know them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1982 Boys CC Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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1982 Girls Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Camp Memories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Going to camp is nostalgic for me.  When I was the coach, I treasured the early morning walk from the cabin uphill to the lodge.  The sun was just rising, the crows calling out.  And there was often a small herd of deer culling the tender shoots of dew-soaked grass.  It was quiet, before we \u201crousted\u201d the kids for morning run.  Time for a cup (or two, or three) of coffee, and a moment to contemplate the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t stay overnight at camp this time, but I was pleased that a lone deer came out into the field as I walked near the lodge.  It reminded me of how loaded camp was with stories.  Here\u2019s where Doug \u201cboobytrapped\u201d the shelter for the \u201ccapture the flag\u201d game.  There\u2019s where we all lay on the hillside at midnight, watching the Perseid meteor shower.  That\u2019s the path where I started the team on my \u201crun to get lost, run to get found\u201d morning jaunt.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the cabin is the bunk where my dog Paige hid as the raccoon came in looking for snacks in the middle of the night.  And that\u2019s the porch where we had so many conversations; about running, about school, about life.  Camp only lasted four days then (three now in an era when school starts in the middle of summer), but it became the inflection point, the end of last season and the beginning of next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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1984 CC Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John\u2019s building a team through hard work and hard fun.  Sure that\u2019s a good thing for being successful:  kids will run harder for their team than they would for just themselves.  But more importantly, John is building a cross country \u201cfamily\u201d, a \u201cfamily\u201d that\u2019s been going on since 1974.  Three generations share that bond, with the oldest now in their sixties.  Their team experience is forty or more years behind them.  But they would still recognize the \u201caura\u201d of Watkins Cross Country.  It\u2019s still family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1990 CC Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n