Encouraging a naturally gifted teenage runner

[22]

My lad has never been the most sporty and, beyond sports day at primary school, had never run.

Last year he ran his first school cross country (year 7, first year at secondary school). "How'd you get on lad?" I asked and got told he'd won it, as if that was perfectly normal. He actually won his 'half' of the school, in the other half (separate race) there were two kids faster.

Next cross country same, so he gets entered into a regional thing and REALLY didn't want to go. Mostly walked it, came 63rd or something daft (was during beast from the east). Spoke about running clubs etc but zero enthusiasm for it.

Fast forward to this year (year 8) and coming up to cross country season (all of two runs). Said I would buy him some trail running shoes and he could run the fields around us and perhaps see what he can do. He ran one afternoon for all of about 10 minutes, but then entered a local 5k (as raises money for his old school) and came 11th overall, ahead of the vast majority of the club runners (granted there was also a 10k, some running both and the 5k was more relaxed but still). When he came running back into the school field so early among the runners I was in floods! Proper proud dad!

Today was cross country. The other half of the school ran first, then my lad this afternoon. WON IT, new school record! School is 70 years young this year and they even added 200 metres to the course for good measure!

To me (a non runner) he has a natural ability. Trouble is he's 13. I've said I will run with him, buy a running watch, take him to clubs and all sorts but there's not any enthusiasm for it whatsoever. I said he was like Ronnie O'Sullivan where others have to train night and day to get close to the natural talent he has. He's run 6 times, 3 cross country wins, a school record, 11th in a 5k, a 10 minute jog over the field and a 63rd!

Any ideas how I can make it a social, fun, enjoyable thing for a teenager?

Edited by 22 on Tuesday 16th October 17:32

[22]

Turns out the course record got broken this morning (by a second) and then my lad took a further 7 seconds off that this afternoon. He said the other lad won't have known his record got beaten and there was a glint of smugness in my lad's eye - progress!

He also pointed out that the other half of the school get another 2 cross countries this year, but the dates fall differently so only one more for my lad (the other lad having 2 more chances to get even). Something about an average time so maybe these things are starting to matter.

My lad is a nerd. Computer club not football club, coding not training so this is a world away from his small social circle. I said a running club would make new friendships etc, but he seems happy being good at something without having to put in the hard yards.

[22]

Steve Campbell said:

PS being “really good” in your school doesn’t always equate to being good at an athletics club, so be prepared for him potentially getting a bit of a shock when he goes to train ..... unless he is truly gifted. If you are interested, all uk athletics data for affiliated athletes can be seen on Powerof10 website.....it will show you roughly how good is good for his age group if you know what times he’s running distances & wanted to look....good luck !

Edited by Steve Campbell on Wednesday 17th October 02:05

Thanks all and, to answer a previous point, he isn't overly competitive (at the moment).

Under no illusions he's a world beater right now but to win races and break records without ever having trained or cared seems to be a good launch pad for something (grammar school with semi-serious cross-country teams/clubs). I can't even get him to join one of the cross country clubs at school (as that wouldn't be 'cool' apparently). He's already beating runners who train hard and often, and did pretty well in his first 5k with a lifetime preparation of 10 minutes. He likes his pushbike but had never ran* before winning the first cross country he entered. Of course I'm biased, of course there are faster runners, the majority of whom I presume have worked hard to be fast, I'd love to have something I'm naturally good at as a starting block.

I've seen the result of him being overly encouraged to do something (that time by the school), a walked regional cross country in protest.

Spoke last night about running clubs again and said I would take him to all and any. A throwaway comment of "we could even set up our own" got picked up on. We're pretty rural and all local farmers are friendly, so we have access to fields, woods, streams that are completely untouched and private. Escalated quickly from not wanting to join a club to wanting to set up his own. To get an understanding of his mindset, he said something along the lines of "a running club for those who don't want to be in a running club!" Go figure!

*excludes egg and spoon races.

[22]

Thank you all again.

I'm hopefully not pushy, it got mentioned a few times last year after he did so well in cross country out of the blue and then didn't come up again until the same time of year this time around. The cross countries he doesn't get a say in, but there must be a vague desire in there somewhere as he voluntarily ran a 5k (fundraiser for his old primary school).

If he runs great, if he doesn't fine. The fact he's doing well doesn't seem especially significant to him (not on the outside anyway). Although it appears to have earned him some respect and conversations at school with different groups that he wouldn't normally be party to, so maybe will open his eyes to other benefits. If he's happy, I'm happy.