Way off track

Yes, COVERING track isn't that hard.

We're mainly talking about taking PHONE RESULTS, with coaches who don't always have their shit together.

 

Track is big here (Oregon), so all our coaches are great about uploading results to www.athletic.net...if you haven't searched that out yet, it's worth a look...all the states are listed...not sure how active they all are though.

Track is my favorite beat in the spring...a ton of variety and you get to see many of the school's best athletes. I leave baseball and softball to our stringers for the most part. That's the boring duo of this season for me.

On a side note, we too deemed running full agate a poor use of hours in such a budget crunch, so we did away with it, except for running full placers on the season-end district meet. Some coaches have mentioned the change (also for swimming), but it's been a huge time-saver to just get the top kids (multi-event winners) into a recap, etc.

 

The only thing that makes track any different from all the other sports where coaches don't have their shit together is that they have a lot more results.

 

The thing that sucks about track is that the many meet organizers don't give a damn about the media, they just want to make sure all the winners get their trophies/certificates. Thus, they don't have any reason to make an extra copy of the final results for you.

And also, unlike football, baseball, basketball, etc., it's not a sport where you can keep your own stats, grab a few quotes and get the hell out of Dodge. Since you've got multiple events happening simultaneously and up to eight participants in each event, you're at the mercy of the final results being posted, in a timely fashion or at all.

But yeah, taking track results over the phone is a special kind of hell, with only team tennis coming close. My advice would be to limit the results you publish to only winners or maybe top 3, or in the case of district and sub-state meets, whichever ones qualify to advance to the next round.

 

I am halfway through the track season, and one of the coaches still doesn't know any of the team results after four meets.

Also, in Georgia gatx.com is a good track resource.

 

The only thing worse than track is field (when it comes to taking agate over the phone).

It's a neat sport to cover. Our paper's all-area meet has about 20 teams, is well-run and always has great storylines. It really is a celebration of sports in our coverage area.

 

There's really no way to do it with uncooperative coaches. With our space limitations, agate is out of the question anyway. I usually just hit a few top events and get those times.

 

You young-uns really don't know how lucky you have it.

I would say probably half our track coaches do their meets on computer these days and either e-mail or fax them in, or else read them off a printed sheet.

In the olden days (IN MYY DAYYYY....) when I started some 25 years ago, everything was hand-written. Everything. Usually in pencil. Or crayon. Or sloppy magic-marker. In the rain.

And everything was added up on the spot by coaches, or assistant coaches, or parents, or kids, or little brothers. In pencil. Or crayon. In the rain. Hell, it was a big deal when some guys brought pocket calculators.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt. : : :

Ironically (not really) it's some of the most bungling and sloppy coaches who were the first and most ardent converts to doing stuff on computer. Saves them having to write in the names again and again.

 

No doubt...out this way...all our local schools have purchased software and automatic timing systems, so all I need to do is hit the press box before a meet and let them know I'm there and wanting a copy of results afterward.

Then I can go down on the field, look for the good stories of the day and know I have the nuts and bolts waiting for me on my way to the car. Sounds like this isn't the case in other parts of the country, and yes, that would stink.

 

Not a big fan of spring sports, period.

 

"Coach, if you don't have the times, then we can't take the results. It's our policy."
And Jeff, spring sports coaches are the worst. Period.