Podcast 008 – Adam Kedge Interview

Thanks Matt – Definitely agree that the kids at Academy are lucky to have Adam.

So glad you’re enjoying them.  You’ve done so much for the sport that it’s quite a complement coming from you.  Take care.

How do you dispense your time during practice?
This is certainly something I struggle with. I wat to make it a point to assure that every child in our program gets the attention and positive reinformcement that they need. It is a tough balance with 83 kids that have a broad spectrum of ability and level of dedication. The philosophy of our program is that we (my assistants and I) are here to serve each of them. Our program, although elite in many ways is not only for the elite.
The best way to answer your first question is 2 part; 1) I work like mad in the other 22 hours of the day to plan, prep, and shore up details. I take up too much of my school time on XC. Then 2) at practice I make it a point to give the needy a minute or two or for the non-needy at least a few seconds to give others a “good job – you were rolling today” comment.
Generally, I resereve as much time as possible at the begining of practice to address the daily individual issues… i.e. my knee, test make up, missed the bus, lost my shoes, can’t come tomorrow, feeling sick, etc… That alone is a good 10 minutes prior to practice and much of the 1st 10 minutes of practice. My quality assistants help a lot with this and have full athority to grant permission to the kids on if they should run, how much to do, or if thay are allowed to miss, come late, etc… The fact is the 20 minute block right before practice and into the early practice is a whirl-wind of a time that I have no real recolection of later that evening.
From there we make sure we are up to speed as a group with-
1) daily announcements – quick and to the point.
2) captain lead warm ups.
3) and then bam off on our workout. If it is a distance run I, along with my 3 assistants, are active by running w/ (usually behind) the kids or trailing on a bike.
4) Looking after kids that need to turn early, cross at cross walks, takes time and I find that most all 4 of us are spending a large amount of time with the younger / slower kids. I’ll just say it, most of the early season my upper level kids do not get the attention I’d like to spend with them. Thankfully, the upperclassmen are veterans and have been tutored well when they were young. Later in the year we’ll trim down to maybe 10 – 12 boys and girls for the championship part of the season I actually get to talk to them more.
How many assistants do you have?
3, one of which is an on-campus faculty member.
How do you assign them?
My assistants are all equal partners in coaching the team, no girls/boys assistant, no C/ JV/ varisty assistants. I will say when out on the trail there is not much anyone of us can do to keep up with the varsity boys. The bike is our only saving grace.
Do you break up the team into distinct groupings in the same way a football or soccer team would?
We have. We’ll get there this year with a little more data on meet results, but our grouping is very fluid. I find that some kids have a way of improving quickly while others have been stuck in the mud for quite a while. I like to be open with what is the best way for each athlete to progress, factoring in school work, illness, injury, to only name a few makes it hard to tell a kid, “you’re group 2 this year”.
Are there standards/expectations of yearly improvement for runners to be part of the team again?
Yes and no. We tell our kids 3 months before they come out (May) that we are looking for good studnets/citizens with good attitudes that want to get better. To go along with that everyone is required to run over the summer, we say that, but don’t alway get a full commitment from 1/2 or more of the kids we work with. Some kids have full commitment to our 3 day per week (July – Aug) summer program. Others do run some on their own. There is still a portion, a good portion, who run sparingly at best. Also an area that I have yet to completely figure out and am contineously struggleing with as a coach.
Then to add, I’m finidng that even though I am getting more and more organized it seems like there amount of work to do as a coach, in so many areas, is ever increasing. Parents, dicipline, health issues, managing other extracurriculars, dinners, uniforms, t-shirts, parents again (good people at my school), snacks, really is the bulk of my job. I am the manager most of the time and how much or what I know about running really does not even come into play in most of what I do. Still, I do not long for 7 good kids, all motivated and on board, I am not complaining. This is what I’ve signed up for and I like it, but the bottom-line answer to every question is; I run like hell to keep up and plan on resting for a couple of weeks come December.
my e-mail to any that may want to ask more kedge@aa.edu