Talk to him, or let him be?

So every morning except for sundays, i run to and back from XC conditioning at my school. since i first started coming before my 8th grade year, it's grown a lot, we have a solid 20 runners there everyday.

but anyway, there's this small kid i've known for awhile, and he ran last year in 7th grade. he's going into 8th grade year. he was decent for a 7th grader, he ran a 13:57 2 mile in XC. so this summer, his dad has him doing a lot of speedwork. keep in mind, for Ohio, the summer off season isn't even half over. this is the schedule his dad has him doing:

Mon- 4 miles, 5 hill attcks (about 120 meters)
tuesday- 1K repeats(maybe 6?), in addition to 3 hill attacks
wed- 4 miles, 8 hill attacks
thursday- 3 mile race
friday- 3 miles, 3 hill attacks
saturday- 400 meter repeats on the track
sun- idk

i talked to his dad once, and i told him that all that speedwork could make him peak early. he laughed and said, "I'll worry about that later".

i'm concerned if he keeps this up, the kid will burn out before he even gets to HS. should i seriously talk to his dad and tell him that he's wrong? or should i let them do their thing because it might actually help the kid and be the thing he needs to do to get better?

talk to the kid and his coach
leave the dad out.if the coach knows he could put a stop to it.

Let him be. If he peaks to early, then he will have learned. But he if rules all of the other 8th graders, then that training plan works for him.

yesterday this kid and his dad came into the pool when i was lifeguarding and the dad kept yelling at his kid for using the wrong form and he was video taping him and making him watch it back and talk about the mistakes he was making and all the kid wanted to do was go home...i felt really sorry for the kid but it was no place for me to get involved so i just left them alone and continued watching the pool

Through_the_Pain wrote:talk to the kid and his coach
leave the dad out.if the coach knows he could put a stop to it.

the JH coach isn't around until the season starts, and she doesn't know a whole lot. and talking to the kid won't help. he'll still do what his dad tells him.

mae2937 wrote:yesterday this kid and his dad came into the pool when i was lifeguarding and the dad kept yelling at his kid for using the wrong form and he was video taping him and making him watch it back and talk about the mistakes he was making and all the kid wanted to do was go home...i felt really sorry for the kid but it was no place for me to get involved so i just left them alone and continued watching the pool

that doesn't help.

I would leave him be, then.

As others have said, if he peaks early, he'll know and will likely bring it to his dad's attention. Otherwise, it's going to seem like you're meddling and if something really goes wrong during the season, you won't have any kind of leverage with the father. But definitely bring it to the coach's attention--email him or whatever. Even if he's not involved he should know!

AudienceOfOne wrote:

mae2937 wrote:yesterday this kid and his dad came into the pool when i was lifeguarding and the dad kept yelling at his kid for using the wrong form and he was video taping him and making him watch it back and talk about the mistakes he was making and all the kid wanted to do was go home...i felt really sorry for the kid but it was no place for me to get involved so i just left them alone and continued watching the pool

that doesn't help.

just telling you and ya i sorat said that you should just leave him alone because its not your place to get involved...i implied it

mae2937 wrote:

AudienceOfOne wrote:

mae2937 wrote:yesterday this kid and his dad came into the pool when i was lifeguarding and the dad kept yelling at his kid for using the wrong form and he was video taping him and making him watch it back and talk about the mistakes he was making and all the kid wanted to do was go home...i felt really sorry for the kid but it was no place for me to get involved so i just left them alone and continued watching the pool

that doesn't help.

just telling you and ya i sorat said that you should just leave him alone because its not your place to get involved...i implied it

but if the kid is gonna end up sucking come XC season, shouldn't i just talk to them? plus, you idn't know the people at the pool. i've known these people for 2 years.

The only bad thing he's doing is the race and 400m repeats every week, just focus on that, not his whole training schedule.

that’s a lot for an 8^th grader to run…..but I don’t think you should get involved.
The dad will see what will happen to his son in a few years, and the boy will pay, but at least they will learn a lesson.
How does the boy feel about his dads training methods?

FK wrote:The only bad thing he's doing is the race and 400m repeats every week, just focus on that, not his whole training schedule.

so the 1K's are cool?

the only reason i felt i had to mention the hills is because those alone are enough speedwork.

eternally_running wrote:that’s a lot for an 8^th grader to run…..but I don’t think you should get involved.
The dad will see what will happen to his son in a few years, and the boy will pay, but at least they will learn a lesson.
How does the boy feel about his dads training methods?

hmm. idk, but he's been racing bad in those 3 milers. his legs are dead.

Kugar wrote:I would leave him be, then.

As others have said, if he peaks early, he'll know and will likely bring it to his dad's attention. Otherwise, it's going to seem like you're meddling and if something really goes wrong during the season, you won't have any kind of leverage with the father. But definitely bring it to the coach's attention--email him or whatever. Even if he's not involved he should know!

Parents like this would probably take him peaking to early as a sign that he has to train harder. I hate parents like this with a passion, it happens a lot in Hockey around here. Get the HS coach to talk to the dad or something.

runner_dude wrote:

Kugar wrote:I would leave him be, then.

As others have said, if he peaks early, he'll know and will likely bring it to his dad's attention. Otherwise, it's going to seem like you're meddling and if something really goes wrong during the season, you won't have any kind of leverage with the father. But definitely bring it to the coach's attention--email him or whatever. Even if he's not involved he should know!

Parents like this would probably take him peaking to early as a sign that he has to train harder. I hate parents like this with a passion, it happens a lot in Hockey around here. Get the HS coach to talk to the dad or something.

why is it so bad to you people if i talk to him myself?

AudienceOfOne wrote:

FK wrote:The only bad thing he's doing is the race and 400m repeats every week, just focus on that, not his whole training schedule.

so the 1K's are cool?

the only reason i felt i had to mention the hills is because those alone are enough speedwork.

If he does them as tempo pace they would be very beneficial.

AudienceOfOne wrote:

runner_dude wrote:

Kugar wrote:I would leave him be, then.

As others have said, if he peaks early, he'll know and will likely bring it to his dad's attention. Otherwise, it's going to seem like you're meddling and if something really goes wrong during the season, you won't have any kind of leverage with the father. But definitely bring it to the coach's attention--email him or whatever. Even if he's not involved he should know!

Parents like this would probably take him peaking to early as a sign that he has to train harder. I hate parents like this with a passion, it happens a lot in Hockey around here. Get the HS coach to talk to the dad or something.

why is it so bad to you people if i talk to him myself?

Because Adults don't have much respect for teenagers.

AudienceOfOne wrote:

runner_dude wrote:

Kugar wrote:I would leave him be, then.

As others have said, if he peaks early, he'll know and will likely bring it to his dad's attention. Otherwise, it's going to seem like you're meddling and if something really goes wrong during the season, you won't have any kind of leverage with the father. But definitely bring it to the coach's attention--email him or whatever. Even if he's not involved he should know!

Parents like this would probably take him peaking to early as a sign that he has to train harder. I hate parents like this with a passion, it happens a lot in Hockey around here. Get the HS coach to talk to the dad or something.

why is it so bad to you people if i talk to him myself?

RD; Probably, but the kid will know something's wrong. He's old enough to let his dad know or to seek out advice from the other runners if he's dying.

And to the OP; You asked for our advice. I'm pretty sure no one would have a problem with you talking to the parents. Our first impressions are just that talking might not be the best course of action. If you think that's the right thing, then go for it.

let him train this way because I want to see what the outcomes is (burnout or insane improvement)

ok i'll see how it turns out but i'm going to talk to my HS coach about it.

I can't believe you guys are actually saying this.

Miler: Drop an e-mail to your coach and his coach telling the situation and what they believe the kid should do. Once you have gotten solid responses from the coaches, talk to the dad and tell him what he should be doing. Make him aware of what he is doing to his son and how that will affect him. I have been through a similar situation but with another sport and looking back, I wished someone had stepped in.

Just Because wrote:I can't believe you guys are actually saying this.

Miler: Drop an e-mail to your coach and his coach telling the situation and what they believe the kid should do. Once you have gotten solid responses from the coaches, talk to the dad and tell him what he should be doing. Make him aware of what he is doing to his son and how that will affect him. I have been through a similar situation but with another sport and looking back, I wished someone had stepped in.

ok, i am planning on talking to my coach about it.

Good luck with the situation.

could you tell the high school coach?
if not then stay out of it...

yea the HS coach is always around.