So What Do We Tell Our Children (Again)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I have been home for about 1 hour from the Quiet Fire Invitational Meet and I was thinking about what I wanted to  talk about. Lot’s of things crowd my mind but what stood out the most were the recent accusations regarding Maurice Greene and illegal steroid use. I know, I know this isn’t  a youth track topic or is it?

Well from where I sit it definitely is. Why? You may  ask .Well, because our children work very hard week in  and week out,some for the fun of it exclusively.(It appears that many midget and up youth athletes love to socialize at the track. Many for the combination of fun and competitive excellence ….possibly a future college experience running.For an elite youth athlete perhaps the hope of Olympic Gold and a  professional sport  career in track and field.

Where every your child’s dreams take him, I am sure we would all agree that the road  seems to be getting more and more tainted (as if it couldn’t get any worse ) with accusations and admissions of drug use for performance enhancement….. I feel the best I can hope for my Lauren right now is that all this stuff gets cleaned out,times slow down a bit with out drugs on board, the powers that be crack serious down on offenders and 8-10 years from now my child can chose, possibly if it is her desire and she can still compete competitively as she does right now , move forward with out having to feel the pressure of steroid use to excel to an elite track athlete level.

I often times have very mixed feeling about our sport of track and field.  I do all that I can for Lauren to excel but in the end will it be for not,will our sport survive the waves of accusations and cold hard facts?? 

In a recent article in the New York Times Duff Wilson writes..

Recent interviews with The New York Times, Mr. Heredia  (an identifies source in the indictment) described how and with whom he worked, sharing copies of records that appear to link him to many of the best sprinters of the last decade. Those records include e-mail exchanges of doping regimens, canceled checks, telephone recordings, shipping records, laboratory readings of blood and urine samples, and Justice Department documents.

Among his clients, Mr. Heredia identified 12 athletes who had won a combined 26 Olympic medals and 21 world championships. Four of the 12 athletes, including Ms. Jones, had been named and barred from competition for illicit drug use. Eight of the 12 — notably, the sprinter Maurice Greene — have never been previously linked to performance-enhancing drugs. “ Many report that Maurice will be “outed next month .

I guess there is never a good time to air out dirty laundry.I hope these stories aren’t true but it isn’t looking good…  Note that Greene’s coach, John Smith, has previously been associated with doping,. Lastly  Michael Johnson Weighs In On Greene. He has a lot to say,as you can imagine.

After a hard day of volunteering in the hot 97 degree day,  my child’s performance good ,not great but good.Stating as we walk through the door MOM!! I am hungry. I love track and field, so I guess I’ll take all of it ,the good and the Aweful, and get ready to watch Lauren run again next week. What else can I do ? I am a TrackMom

Related posts:

1. Track Star Maurice Greene Retires
2. Is The World Catching Up With American Sprinters
3. Strength Training For Prepubesecent Children…. Should It Be Done
4. Sprinting and the Nervous System
5. TrackMom’s Hall Of Fame Quotes