Coaches’ Blog

Over the years, I’ve gotten a lot of great gifts from athletes and parents.  This year, one of my graduating seniors gifted me one of the best things a tired coach could ask for…the use of a secluded lake house for a week. I couldn’t think of a better way to recharge my batteries for the upcoming season. Echo, Luka, my wife, and I just returned from a great time of being unplugged…from everything.

Sitting on the dock...just the boys.

I definitely have the personality to be unplugged a lot more than I am. I really wish I had the opportunity to leave the cell phone and computer at home for a month or more in the summer, but I understand that that isn’t in the cards for a coach. Even still, the world didn’t end this past week when we headed out of town and locked up the office.

Can't wait for those blueberry pancakes.

We got in some solid hiking, blueberry picking, and a slew of backgammon games. However, without a doubt, the best moments came during the quiet solitude of the mornings. Sitting on the dock with my wife, sipping a cup of coffee, and reading a mindless book for hours. Don’t get me wrong, I love having access to great sushi, free Shakespeare in the park, and sports talk-radio; things only the city of Boston can give me. But every now and then I just need some complete silence and seclusion.

Being an XC/Track coach can be a difficult task at times.  We get 5-6 weekends off from September to June.  That can be tough.  You need to be truly committed to the task at hand.  Going in with half effort will never yield the results that you (and your team) are expecting.  Needless to say, after a few days at the lake, I’m chomping at the bit to get the team back to campus for some workouts.

Playing the blues.

Easily a personal worst.  Yes, it’s been about 4 months since I last ventured onto this blog to post something.  I think I should be upset with myself, but I honestly have no regrets about that fact.  Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy posting, but it’s simply a matter of priorities at the moment.  I’ve been working to rebalance my life after the addition of Echo.  I’ve been busy making sure that that all my duties as a father, husband, and coach are in line.  And then, I’ve definitely been choosing to get my own workout in, instead of putting together a blog post.

I can’t believe that there are any heart-broken blog readers out there who have been anxiously awaiting my next post.  I don’t think anyone has been wandering around without direction because my golden nuggets of truth have been gone for the last 4 months.  But just in case, here we go again.

“Here we go again…” Interesting choice of words.  In a lot of ways, it fits perfectly.  In others, it couldn’t be farther from the truth.  XC is right around the corner and, yes, here we go again.  It’s time to circle the wagons, dig in deep, and mount another charge.  We have a deep, talented squad this year so it should be exciting to see what kind of charge we can mount.  Like other years, I feel that this fall’s season will depend highly on how tight we can become as a group.  When you’re 4 miles deep at the National Qualifier, it’s critical that you have a cause bigger than yourself to fuel your final push.  I can’t express that enough.

Carbo-loading...big run tomorrow.

On the other hand, Echo is unlike anything I’ve ever done.  It’s undeniable that he will have an indelible effect on the day-to-day of the team.  I’m looking forward to seeing how the team responds to his presence.  In some ways, Luka got “adopted” as the team dog.  I’m intrigued to see what role Echo will grow into.

I believe that one of Aesop’s morals is that “a man is known by the company he keeps.”  If that is truly the case, then I’m truly impressed by those around me.  I’ve always felt that we I’ve been blessed with some amazing assistant coaches, but that fact hit me in the face like a bucket of water recently.  Without a shadow of doubt in my mind, I can say that this program would not be where it is right now without our current assistants.

With Echo’s addition to our family, I have had a more limited presence at practice, meets, and in the office recently.  However, the team hasn’t lost a beat and that has everything to do with the rest of our coaching staff.  They all stepped up huge to cover both the ECAC and National Championships with expert precision.  From there, they handled all of our team’s Spring Break training and progressions.

Dan Murner has been invaluable to the distance events.  Chris Combs and Jeremy Arak have handled the sprints and jumps while Ed Arcaro hasn’t missed a moment with our throwers.  It goes even beyond the everyday technique work.  Dan Kopsco’s presence in the weight room as our strength and conditioning coach has been truly invaluable.  As I head home a bit earlier these days, it has been integral that we’ve still had a coaching presence in the weight room keeping the quality of the lifts high.

Yes, having a very motivated and mature team is one thing, but college athletes are still college athletes.  Without these assistants that kept the ship on course over the last month plus, I wouldn’t be nearly as excited about this coming outdoor season.  I would feel like we were playing catch up the whole time.  However, now I feel like we’re hitting the ground running and it showed with this weekend’s Snowflake Classic.

The latest addition to the family.

Nothing like a middle of the night, sleep-deprived blog post to keep it interesting.  Honestly though, I’m not too sleep-deprived…yet.  Echo’s a great kid.  He keeps us on our toes, but in the grand scheme of what he “could” be doing, he’s a dream.  I say this as he sleeps placidly in my lap.  If he was screaming, 1. I wouldn’t be typing this, 2. I might have something different to say.

These three weeks with my new-look family has been amazing.  Not only has it been an unequalled experience, something that I wouldn’t give up for anything, but it’s recharged my batteries for the outdoor season.  It gave me the opportunity to step back and process our indoor season with a broader perspective.  And I couldn’t be happier.  Allow me to clarify.

Those of you who know me know that I absolutely hate complacency.  Complacency is a brutal enemy – one that you have to constantly battle to keep at bay.  One of my primary goals for this program is to always take a step forward, no matter how small.  Good isn’t good enough when better is achievable.

Going into this winter season we knew that we had an unprecedentedly young team.  We have some great leadership at the top, but the big chuck of our team rests in our youth.  It just worked out that way this year.  Some expected a small “rebuilding” year after we said goodbye to last year’s seniors.  Needless to say, the team had other things in mind.

We arguably got better in 90% of the events.  We took a small step back in the HH, pentathlon, and 5k.  With the graduation of school record holders Jared Engelking and Jesse Faller, that is understandable.  Although the team still qualified three penthathletes and five 5k runners for New Englands.  As a coach, and a team, it’s a good feeling to get younger and a bit faster.

Now the key is to see where we can take it.  The foundation is in place.  What we choose to do with it will be the real story.  Right now, we’re just a program with a lot of potential for the outdoor season.  Hopefully in 2.5 months we’ll be looking back as a program that met that potential.  One that backed up our words with actions.  Only time will tell.

p.s. – Thanks to Tony P for clearing the virus out of my blog.  Now I can actually upload pics again.  Here’s a couple that I meant to attach to the last post.

GO JUMBOS!!!!!!!

Okay, let’s see how fast I can type this. If this blog entry cuts off at the ½ way point, just assume that Echo woke up and needed his diaper changed. I don’t even know how to process my new status as father. As a coach, I’ve spent the last 10 years being a troubleshooter, cleaning up metaphorical messes. Now I’m cleaning up plenty of real life messes…get it…messy diapers…wink, wink.

Little Jerecho Namu Barron was born on Saturday March 5^th at 4:42AM. Little Echo wasn’t actually so little. 7lbs, 12oz and 19.5” long. He’s already changed my way of thinking and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I haven’t really had the chance to process it yet with any other fathers so I’m honestly struggling to find the right words in this situation.

Basically, fatherhood is amazing. The birth was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s interested. Granted Marion did do all the work, but I still recommend it. And afterwards, it’s only gotten better.

Sleep is overrated anyway. I’ve enjoyed every minute and I can’t wait to start to see his personality come out. Whoa!! That’s all I can write right now…you guessed it. See you on the other side.

Okay, here’s the deal. This may be my last blog for a couple months. I hear what you’re saying. “Coach, you haven’t blogged since January anyway.” Agreed. Indoor track has been a little too exciting to sit down and throw together a blog. It’s been going great though and the guys are really PRing. I incredibly pleased with where the team is at right now.

Arguably, we graduated the most talented class in Tufts history. I fully expected to take a hit and have a bit of a rebuilding year. Even still, as I looked at our preseason roster, I realized that we could be as good, if not better, in every event except a few. (We weren’t going to try to match the performances by Jared Engelking in the pent/HH or Jesse Faller in the 5k this winter) With two weekends to go in the indoor season, we’ve already done exactly that.

However, the reason I won’t be posting anything for the next couple weeks is that my wife is due to go into labor…tomorrow. It’s pretty cool to say that. I no longer have to say some date that is far off in the future or even 2-3 days away. There is actually a word for when my kid is due…tomorrow. Tomorrow that will become ‘today’ and maybe it will even become ‘yesterday.’ That will be fun to say.

Well, that’s where I’m at right now. Excited about the team and the hard work they’re putting in. Excited about where my family is at…and the hard work that we’ll be putting in soon. I’ve been stocking up on as much sleep as I can, but I don’t know how much that’s going to help.

Stay tuned. Something tells me that my blogs are going to get a lot more exciting and controversial when the sleep deprivation settles in.

Classes started last Thursday and I haven’t yet decided if that makes my life less hectic or more. I no longer have to coach three practices a day because the athletes are in class, but now I’m also in class too. I feel like a hat salesman with how many times a day I’m changing mine. Student, coach, dad, husband – It seems like all my chores fit into these nice little categories depending on which hat I’m wearing. Maybe I’ll start to organize my day planner by which hat I’m wearing.

Regardless of how busy the classes make me, it actually refreshes my mind and gets me thinking about coaching from different angles. Five minutes into class on Thursday I already had a re-epiphany about my coaching philosophy. I call it a re-epiphany because it’s one that I have every couple seasons.

We weren’t even finished going through the syllabus and we had already had the conversation about the difference between Instructionalism and Constructionism. It’s a pretty standard debate around child development and teaching. Not as well known as nature vs nurture, but still a good conversation. It’s the difference between whether students learn from “instruction” or from “doing.” Is knowledge gained by being instructed or is it gained from constructing it yourself?

I tend to be a fan of the latter. I feel that my role isn’t to simply “tell” someone how to be a good hurdler, long jumper, or person. It’s to put them in a situation where they can figure out how to be a good hurdler, long jumper, or person on their own. Constructionists like to say that “children learn by doing.” I agree with that, but I also like to take it one step further. I feel that children learn by “choosing” to learn. This is especially true in athletics.

Choice is everything. Choosing to train. Choosing to learn. Choosing to think. Choosing when to be conscious about your training and choosing when to trust your body to do its job. Without choice, we’re just going through the motions without any real substance. Choice is what separates athletes with potential from athletes who succeed.

With that in mind, my job becomes twofold. First, I need to be a motivator who can convince athletes what a concerted choice can do for them. Then I need to get them in situations to put that choice to work. I’m blessed to work with inherently motivated and intelligent athletes. But most of the time, there is a gap between being “wanting” something and being willing to “choose” to commit yourself to making it a reality. I’ll do what I can to bridge that gap.  

The class of 2010 was a great class for Tufts hurdling. And I don’t mean that simply from a PR standpoint. Tufts and I were blessed with a trio of great hurdlers and great individuals. Ikenna Acholonu, Jared Engelking, and Trevor Donadt all started out as solid regional caliber hurdlers and grew into national caliber sportsmen together. Jared and Trevor did a fantastic job representing Tufts at Nationals, but sadly, Ikenna’s career was cut short by a ruptured Achilles tendon in his junior year. As I reflect back, it was a great experience being able to work with these three over their four years at Tufts.

Their similarity as tenacious competitors was only overshadowed by their incredible differences in personality. They exploded onto the collegiate scene finishing 2^nd, 3^rd, and 5^th at the indoor New England Championships as freshmen. Later that year, they were joined by senior, captain David McCleary to finish 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th at the NESCAC Championships.

They each became a student of their events – Ikenna in the 110H, Jared in the decathlon and 110H, and Trevor in both the 110H and 400H – which was amazing for me as a coach. Early in my career, I realized that I worked best with cerebral runners. I struggled with the “grip it and rip it” hurdlers because I hadn’t developed the means to communicate with them yet. As a cerebral runner myself, I’ve found ways to work around this weakness, but I have to admit that I really enjoy those conversations about the intricacies and technique of the hurdling events that you can only have with the cerebral runners. Those conversations actually hurt the “just run, don’t think” hurdlers.

I learned a lot about myself as a coach, an educator, and a person working with these three. I thank them for that. And now, as we reset the clock and bring in another great crop of young competitive hurdlers, I hope I can give these guys the same success (on and off the track) that the class of 2010 enjoyed.

A lot has changed since then. Ethan Barron, circa 2006, was a young, single, headstrong coach with no dog, no wife, and living in Lewis Hall. Now Ethan Barron, circa 2010, is a slightly older, married, slightly less headstrong, coach with a dog, pregnant wife and a real-life apartment. I guess not too much has changed.

Either way, it feels like an eternity since those three giants (Ikenna was the shortest of the three at 6-3) walked in the door for their first day of track. An absolute eternity.

Overall I owe the entire class of 2010 a big thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you all. Thanks guys. You are a tough loss for Tufts XC/Track & Field community, myself included. You all were the first athletes to choose Tufts knowing that I would be your coach. That means something. Hopefully you all got as much out of the last four years as I did. We will do everything in our power to shatter the 10 school records and countless All Time Top 10 performances you put up there.

This is an odd profession that I’ve chosen. (One of these days I’m going to look and see how many of these posts start with that exact sentiment.) Regardless, as a coach, there are days that come home from work feeling like you got kicked straight in the teeth. And then as you’re on the ground, someone came along and kicked you in the gut. Sounds great doesn’t it.

We’re currently accepting applications.

I always wonder how many times an accountant or engineer experience that feeling. My mother is a teacher and I know that there are definitely times that she experiences the same lows. But, in the end, that’s the job. Huge highs, huge lows; the good with the bad; get knocked down seven times, stand up eight. All that stuff.

It’s tough. It’s draining. But I’m addicted. Because, at the same time, it’s invigorating and inspiring.

In my mind it’s the occupational version of the question “Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?” Is it better to put your heart into something so much that it physically hurts when life doesn’t play out the way you hoped? Or is it better to work a safer, even-keeled job that does have the same highs and lows? Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s definitely a personal choice. There’s no right or wrong answer. I do know that my job is the farthest thing from safe though.

More than anything, it makes me unbelievably thankful for my wife, Marion. When I occupationally get my heart broken, it’s amazing to have her to go home to. I don’t know what I’d do without that side of my life to anchor to. My job may be an emotional rollercoaster at times, but it’s nice to be able to get off the ride and catch your breath every now and then.

Yes, I hail from Vermont, the only land-locked state in New England. And, honestly, I’m not a big ocean guy. I’ve never been drawn to the beach and I don’t ever get anything out of sunbathing. However, when November comes around, I feel like one of the world’s greatest surfers.

As a XC/Track coach, November is an insane time. Indoor track starts up, half the XC team is done with XC and looking to restart workouts, and it’s the first round of ED applications with Admissions. Oh, did I forget to mention that the XC team is still gearing up for the National Qualifier and this year also has an added twist as my pregnant wife studies for her PhD qualifying exams. Game on. Luckily, I have the laziest dog on the planet.

Earlier in my career, I tried to control this craziness. I tried to be everywhere at once micromanaging way too many projects. It didn’t take me too long to realize that it would be easier to turn back the tide itself. Now, I find myself in a much better place when I don’t try to control the waves. I just respond to them and try not to get swallowed up. Eventually, they will drive me all the way to the shore and I’ll be back on solid ground once again.

Coming from a guy who’s never been on a surfboard in his entire life, I probably brutally destroyed this metaphor. You have my apologies, Tobie.

As the first day of indoor track rears its head today at 4:30, I can’t help but feel like Patrick Swayze at the end of Point Break. Paddling out to ride a wave in the perfect storm understanding that in all likelihood, I’m about to get swallowed up. Although I wouldn’t have it any other way, admittedly, there are times that I wish I were Johnny Utah sitting safely on the beach. But then I realize that I’d be Keanu Reeves, and nobody wants that.

I’d like to take a quick moment and point out that I was able to get a Point Break reference into a post. This may in fact be the high point of this blog. I may have to retire now. It might only be downhill from here.