{"id":7163,"date":"2024-06-23T09:17:42","date_gmt":"2024-06-23T13:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=7163"},"modified":"2024-06-23T09:20:28","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T13:20:28","slug":"seasons-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2024\/06\/23\/seasons-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Season\u2019s Over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a sort-of Sunday story.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the story of why there\u2019s been fewer essays recently here on Our America, and what I\u2019ve been doing instead.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officiating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrack season\u201d ended this week.  After over five months of officiating track, and then another month of coaching at pole vault camps, the season finally came to an end.  I put my equipment up in the rafters for a well-earned rest.  The tapes, cones, \u201cmeasure stick\u201d and level will come back out come next December.  But for now \u2013 it\u2019s time for a break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May and June got pretty crazy.  I officiated twenty-one pole vault competitions in thirty-one days, and served as an official in two other meets as well.  I know it was a lot; Jenn started talking about how it felt like I was coaching again.  Even I started feeling that way \u2013 especially when the heat set in.  The first week of May I remember shaking from cold, soaking wet in Lancaster (a total failure of old Gore-Tex rain gear).  But after that, the goal became how much Gatorade I could consume in a competition.  It\u2019s no good if the \u201cofficial\u201d starts getting dizzy from the heat.  Especially in that last stretch at the State Meet, re-hydration became my serious focus in the hot summer sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Meet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By the way, the state meet was an absolute honor to be part of.  I had the best pole vault officiating crew; everyone highly experienced, willing and able to assume every role in the operation.  They were \u201cassigned\u201d to boys and girls competitions, but they all helped with all six vaults, boys and girls.  We were doing all we could to make the \u201cSTATE\u201d the best experience for the athletes and even the coaches.  They earned the right to be there; it\u2019s something I worked hard to achieve in my forty years on the \u201cother side of the line\u201d as a coach.  I wanted to make it special, for the kids, and for those coaches as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Being a part of that ultimate high school track experience, the state finals, is amazing.  Athletes and coaches are primed and focused, dealing with all of the \u201cissues\u201d of competition like crosswinds and delays.  To steal an old Jim McKay line, there\u2019s the \u201cThrill of victory, and the agony of defeat\u201d, six times over.  Perhaps the best part for me:  escorting the state medalists to the podium for medals and recognition.  The joy, the relief, the recognition that they are literally at the top of the state in their event; it\u2019s always exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camp Coaching<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And two days later, I was working with younger kids; remembering how much I love the profession that I followed for forty years.  Coaching pole vaulting sounds like an \u201carcane\u201d exercise, a true \u201cniche\u201d in the coaching world.  And it is.  But, like almost all teaching and coaching, the efforts and rewards are the same.  Through a series of words, examples, exercises, drills; trying to advance every vaulter from where they are to where they want to be.  It is the whole task.  You can feel their frustration when they don\u2019t \u201cget it\u201d.  And you can see the \u201clight bulb\u201d come on in their eyes when they figure it out.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a coach, I say the same thing in twenty different ways, hoping some way or another to connect with a pattern in the athlete\u2019s brain.\u00a0\u00a0I tell them to \u201cpress off the ground, jump longer, drag the takeoff leg, push the back leg back farther, toe-off, get a \u2018split\u2019\u201d. It all means the same thing.\u00a0\u00a0Hopefully one of those fits the image in their head of what I want them to do, press the takeoff leg back as they jump from the ground.\u00a0\u00a0And when they do it, the whole vault changes \u2013 the light bulb comes on.\u00a0\u00a0And away we go to the next problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archbold<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There was a camp at Newark High School, then an \u201celite\u201d camp at Circleville, and finally the camp at Archbold High School in Northwestern Ohio, just a few miles from the Indiana and Michigan borders.\u00a0\u00a0Archbold is always interesting: on the runway are complete rookies, not sure how to hold the \u201cstick\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And along with them was one of the kids I escorted to the state podium only two weeks before.\u00a0\u00a0For him a new visualization:\u00a0\u00a0get completely upside down, inverted on the pole, while the pole is still bent.\u00a0\u00a0That way when it unbent it would \u201cshoot\u201d him vertically, higher in the air.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cPress long, swing fast, invert tight\u201d was my cue.\u00a0\u00a0And he started to get it.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe he can move up those podium steps next year, from seventh to \u2013 maybe \u2013 the top?\u00a0\u00a0I hope I can escort him there again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Track\u2019s over.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s lots to do at the house, and, of course, there\u2019s dogs to take care of.\u00a0\u00a0Atticus needs another surgery, to take the metal plates that he no longer needs out of his leg.\u00a0\u00a0Hopefully it\u2019ll go smoother than the operation to put them in.\u00a0\u00a0And there\u2019s more time to spend with Jenn \u2013 to take a walk, to go for a beer by the lake, to laugh and have some fun.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s summer \u2013 the Fourth is literally right around the corner.\u00a0\u00a0Pataskala is getting ready for fireworks; and so are we!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h4>\n\n\n\n