Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #152: Gill1918 Presents Greg Sholars-AP Ranch (Rekortan Penn Relays Speaker Series)

Transcript

#152: Gill1918 Presents Greg Sholars-AP Ranch (Rekortan Penn Relays Speaker Series) · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Hey Yang, welcome back here to the Guild 1918 project special
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  series here. Got a few kind of short clips
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  coming up over the next few days, few weeks.
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  The great team over at record Tan surfacing, shout out to Tim
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  Jordan and Mary Beth Price. They put on a speakers series, a
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  coaches speaker series at the Penn Relays this year 2026.
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  And you know me, if there's any value to bring to coaches, I
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  want to bring to all of you here listening on the Gill
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  Connections podcast. So we've got all of the speakers
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  and we've chopped them up to where their individuals will
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  have the individual episodes. Again, grateful for record Tan.
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  Go check them out. You know how to Google.
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  So go check out Record Tan servicing and hope you enjoy the
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  Gill 1918 Project. Welcome to the Gill 1918
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  Project, a podcast series by coaches for coaches powered by
• 0:47
  Gill Athletics. Think of this as the Ted Talks
• 0:49
  of track and field coaching. Short, insightful and packed
• 0:52
  with valuable strategies to help you grow as a coach.
• 0:55
  We're bringing the once a year track clinic straight to your
• 0:57
  ears daily. Interested in creating your own
• 1:00
  episode? Everyone's welcome to
• 1:02
  participate. Check out the show notes below
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  For more information. Now let's get into today's
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  topic. 1st annual speaker series that we're putting on.
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  So we'll have several speakers coming up over the next several
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  minutes hours to talk a little bit about track and certain
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  different aspects of it. The first person that I'd like
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  to introduce is Greg Shores. Greg is a here relative to the
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  pen relays. Back in 1986, Greg was a member
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  of the four by 100 relay that actually ran a world record time
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  here back in 19/19/86. He currently trains many, many
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  athletic Olympic athletes down at the Performance Center in
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  Fort Worth and we're grateful to have him.
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  I value him as a dear friend and chipper.
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  Grateful to have Greg come on board.
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  Show Greg come. On thank you.
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  Thank you very much, Tim. Tim's kind of like family to me,
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  so I appreciate him having me up here.
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  A little background on me, I am a a Fort Worth, TX guy.
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  I was a sprinter. I think I was probably the, you
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  know, they talked all about all these kids running 99.
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  I think it was the first guy in Texas to run under 10 seconds
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  way back in 1984. Continued on the TCU where we
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  did, you know, they talk about the four by one.
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  We did come here and set the stadium record back then.
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  It was 39 one and we also set the world record here in the
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  four by two. So we're on the wall of fame out
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  there. TCU was a eight time all
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  American every year was one of the top 8 sprinters in the NCAA.
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  But since then, I've had the pleasure of coaching at the
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  University of Florida, University of Texas, Texas Tech,
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  as well as George Mason. And every place I've been, I've
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  coached everything from a national champion in the 10K
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  shot put as well as in the sprints.
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  But here today, I'm really here to talk to you guys a little bit
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  about what we've been able to do with sprinters down in Texas,
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  coach kids from 7:00 to Olympic level sprinters down there at
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  the University at AP Ranch and our youth program.
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  We are four years in a row winning the USATF 4 by 1
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  national championship. We set the national record.
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  That's the third time we're in 39, two this past summer.
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  And we did something really unique.
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  We finished first and second in the four by one of the national
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  championships while coming back to win the four by one.
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  We had Brayden Williams who ran 9.82, Jonathan Sims who ran
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  20.48, Justice Stewart 20.46452 and the 400 for Sims.
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  We had the the pink bandana I heard where was also a part of
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  that crew last year. I tell you all that those things
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  because we have been very blessed to have some amazing
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  sprinters. Now I'm here also because I'm a
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  A a big fan of record tan and the reason I'm a big fan of
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  record tan is because all those athletes that I'm telling you
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  about have been training on a record tan track.
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  Now, just so happened we started winning.
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  We won our first national championship in the four by one.
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  The year after that put they put that track down and I don't know
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  whether it's just correlation or what have you, but you know, if
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  when they say you dance with the one who brung you or you walk
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  home alone, that record tan track has got us here.
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  So we're we're standing by it. We've got a really amazing group
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  coming back this year. We had girl finished in the top
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  2, girls finished in the top ten indoor in the 60 meters,
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  sophomore ran 732. We've got a couple girls who run
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  23, two this year already outdoor and I don't know, I
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  think at least five guys that have run 10, four better in the
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  100 meters. And they all train at AP Ranch.
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  And along with the amazing track we have, we also have kind of
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  our own philosophy about what's important when it comes to
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  developing lead sprinters. And that's kind of a little bit
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  what I wanted to talk to you guys about today.
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  And one of our, one of my main things that I've learned all the
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  years of working with brother Thornton, who was the Olympic
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  coach in 2008, Steve Spurrier at the University of Florida, Andy
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  Brand, I mean, across different sports, I've had the pleasure of
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  working with some amazing coaches.
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  They have Kearney, who's a national champion coach, Flo,
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  who's a coach down in Texas, was just a, a young man when I
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  started coaching coach training at the University of Florida.
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  And what I've learned most, and I would share with all you
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  coaches, is a couple of principles #1 if they don't know
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  that you care, they don't care what you know.
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  So that would probably be one of the most important things if I
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  was going to start off talking to you today.
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  You have got to take the time to get to know your athletes and
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  understand who they are and what's important to them.
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  Coaching the young kids keeps you very honest.
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  They keep you very, very honest. I have parents come up to me all
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  the time and they introduce their 10 year old to me or their
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  15 year old and they say this is Greg Shoulders and he did this
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  at TCU, he's a Hall of Famer. And they do all that and the kid
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  is looking over at all the other kids, kids looking all the way
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  and they're not going to remember nothing I did.
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  They really don't care what I did.
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  The only thing they care is how I treat them.
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  And I see a lot of collegiate coaches, a lot of I get to talk
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  to coaches all over the country. And one of the things I get so
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  upset when I hear them say is they talk about their program
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  and my system. Well, your system is nothing
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  without, you know, it's kind of like saying I got a great car.
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  Well, your car is no good if they don't have no tires on the
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  road. So your system's only good as
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  the people you're using your system with.
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  So I, I would, those are, you know, from a personal
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  standpoint, I say those are the two of the things that I hear so
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  many coaches miss. They spend a lot of time
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  gathering a tremendous amount of information and they spend a lot
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  of time talking about what they've done and that etcetera.
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  And they don't spend a lot of time really getting to know the
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  kid and, and, and tailoring what they're doing to that athlete.
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  Now you can have 10 athletes doing the exact same program,
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  they can be doing the exact same workout, but each and every one
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  of those athletes needs to feel like they're getting something
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  unique and special for them. I've had kids that ran Great
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  Forest at the high school level go to the collegiate program and
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  they get to the collegiate program and the coach has his
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  system or her system and then the kid is not successful
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  because they the kid doesn't feel like that.
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  The system is designed around them.
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  They feel like the kid is supposed to fit into the system.
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  So those are two big things. You got to make sure that you
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  understand who the kid is and what's important to them,
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  because then they know that you really care about them and
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  they'll do anything you ask. And secondly, you need to
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  understand that your program is only as good as the athletes
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  you're working with. I told Tim, me and Tim were
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  walking out in the field and I was reminiscent about when I ran
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  here at the Penn Relays. And I said, you know, I can ask
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  when I go to a meet today, I can always tell whether I got a
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  winning team or a losing team. And it's usually about who's
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  leading. If I'm leading my athletes out
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  on the field, then there's a good chance that we're not going
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  to do very much because I'm not running.
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  But when they feel like they're in control and they're leading
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  me on the field and I'm just there to turn them loose, then I
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  got something really important, something really great to work
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  with. And that's, again, Ego.
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  And the other one I can't say because they got me on the.
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  Well, he told me I could say whatever I want, but I had an
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  old coach. He used to tell me all the time.
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  He says, Greg Ego. Well, yeah, every time I'll let
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  y'all fill in the adjutant. And that's what happens a lot of
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  times we have a little success and our ego gets involved and
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  next thing you know, we're not thinking about what's really
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  good for the kids, we're thinking about what's best for
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  us. Now in doing so, from my
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  philosophy, when they came, we we were very fortunate at AP
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  Ranch back in 19, I believe it was 1819, we started looking at
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  building the track and we started looking at building the
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  track. You know, I had everybody I got
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  on there and I talked to everybody out there from from
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  Bynum to Mondo. I talked to all these different
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  people and I had them come out and talk to me about building my
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  track. And everybody had a story to
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  tell. But I can tell you when the
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  people that I spoke to from Record Tan came, they came with
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  a story that was asking me about what I needed, what was
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  important to me. And one of the things that was
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  important to me is I didn't want my athletes injured.
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  I wanted them healthy. I wanted their legs to be fresh
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  and stable. And that's when they introduced
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  me to the the jail system and they talked a lot about that
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  jail system. And I said, well, I got guys,
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  NFL players training on my track.
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  I got NBA guys training on my track.
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  I need something that's going to be able to handle the absorption
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  of these big guys. And they kept insisting that I
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  look at this jail system and what it would do in regards to
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  protecting my athletes. And I can say that we, you know,
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  Tim and his team had such an amazing, by the time we got to
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  the end of the process, they had such an amazing relationship
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  with us. And it's really seemed kind of
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  like I told you they, they didn't, they didn't tell me
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  about what they had until they knew what I needed.
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  They didn't really just talk about their product.
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  They talked about what my needs were and they they delivered.
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  We've had a lot of kids on our track.
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  We have over 300 kids on our track club.
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  And I can assure you that injury was one of the biggest concerns,
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  especially when dealing with young kids, kids who are
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  overweight, kids who are different levels of
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  conditioning. And I can speak categorically
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  that those have been less and less of a concern.
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  Now, a lot of times when you think about the thicker tracks,
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  you're always concerned as to whether you will have speed.
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  Well, Shikari Richardson ran 10801087 No 1078 on that track.
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  Allison Felix ran 50 point O1 on that track.
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  I think Cherry ran 44 eight. Michael Norman ran 983 on that
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  track. Not to mention all those kids
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  that I talked to you before. So it does perform.
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  But again, just as I started talking to you about what's
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  important with coaching, when you start to look at your
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  facility and we start talking to be about people about your
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  facility, I'd kind of go with the same thing.
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  See if they care. And if they care, then you're
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  going to get a little bit more sincerity.
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  And I don't know only on the product that they provide, but
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  on the service they provide. And I again, I, I cannot say how
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  much we've appreciated the relationship that we've had with
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  record Tan. And again, I've had athletes
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  come from all over the world. The, the young lady who set the
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  world record in the 100 hurdles, She was on that Toby, she was on
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  that track that year. And every I could probably, they
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  probably should get all these videos I've got of people who've
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  come there and have attested about how much they enjoy
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  training on our surface out there.
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  Now it's a combination. I think I try to hug them all
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  and love them all, but I also have to have the product to back
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  it up. So that's why we've kind of
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  partnered with Record Tab. But I appreciate, appreciate you
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  guys. Thank you.
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  OK. Thanks, Greg.
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  Appreciate it very much. Greg is an advocate, obviously,
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  but he's got the. The.
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  Backing of the statistics too, which is important, right?
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  You can talk about it all the time, but until you get those
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  numbers up, feedback, that's really about.
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  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this
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  episode of the Guild 1918 Project series.
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  It's really my mission, my passion to bring you massive
• 12:17
  amounts of value and I hope this one hit the mark.
• 12:20
  The Gilt 1918 Project is really dependent on you if for you to
• 12:25
  build your own episode, to hear your voice, to have your voice
• 12:28
  heard you have something to say and teach other coaches out
• 12:32
  there. So please get a hold of me,
• 12:34
  E-mail, text message, Twitter, smoke signals, get a hold of me
• 12:39
  and let's help create your episode of the Guild 1918
• 12:42
  Project. Hope you enjoyed a day, they
• 12:44
  will see you tomorrow.