Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #131: Gill1918 Presents Coach/Author Derrhyl Duncan “Inspiring Athletes to Greatness” Powered by Coach O

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#131: Gill1918 Presents Coach/Author Derrhyl Duncan “Inspiring Athletes to Greatness” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
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  Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
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  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
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  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
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  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
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  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
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  With that in mind, let's grow. My name is Darrell Duncan.
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  I'm the director of track and field and cross country at the
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  Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
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  I've been working there for about four years, and since I've
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  been there, we've seen tremendous growth that I think
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  no one was truly prepared for. For me, before taking the job,
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  the thing that I wanted to be able to do was have a program
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  that I could fully get my fingerprints on, impart my
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  different values as far as what I think A-Team should be and
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  could be, and just inspired dreamers to reach for what they
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  can be. And you know, of course, like
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  any transition, it started off rough at the beginning.
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  You know, you're trying to convince people to believe in
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  you, but they haven't seen, haven't been given any reason to
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  believe in you yet. So it takes time to build trust.
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  And I think that's the first thing you gotta do.
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  You gotta say, yes, I want them to learn this.
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  Yes, I want them to do that. But first I have to prove to
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  them that my way of doing things actually works.
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  So that was a little bit of a test for me, took a lot of
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  patience. Some people jump ship.
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  You know, that's something you have to be OK with when you're
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  trying to build something great. And but the majority people of
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  people, I would say the right people stayed on board.
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  So in that first year, you know, we were not ranked pretty much
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  anywhere, not in the County Down the state level and certainly
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  not on the regional or national level.
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  But by the end of that first year, by the end of the indoor
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  season, that first year, we were #8 in the country, in the 4 by
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  400 meters, we had started off at 4:10 in December and we were
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  at 356 by February, heading internationals.
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  And you know, for me, that was huge, 'cause I was telling them
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  it's coming, it's coming. And even when they were a 410
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  team, you know, I let them know that you guys are gonna be 1 of
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  the top teams in the country. And it's hard for them to see
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  that at the time, but I saw the qualities in that 410 run that I
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  knew would lead to them being great.
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  All they had to do was keep working, keep buying in, and
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  then find that belief system and that confidence.
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  And I truly believe when you do that, anything's possible.
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  So that continued to snowball. You know, we went to nationals,
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  didn't do great, ran in the championship section when we
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  probably could have won or made the podium in the Rising Star
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  section. But for them, one of the things
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  that was important was that they wanted to, they made it to
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  championship, which is something that wasn't even a possibility
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  in their minds at the at the beginning of the year.
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  So they want to experience that. So I was all for it.
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  You know, I didn't think I knew that it would be a big stage, a
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  much bigger stage than what they were used to or prepared for,
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  honestly. But sometimes I feel like you
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  have to get on that stage, see what it's about, get your butt
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  kicked to truly understand, OK, that's this is what it takes to
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  get on that level. You know, we figured out how to
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  get to the level. But this is how we stay there.
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  That's how we be competitive there.
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  So I let them do it. They got their butts kicked and
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  we grew from it. So we move on, move on.
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  Fast forward, you know, the next year, one of those members of
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  the team ended up breaking the 200 meter records.
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  Indoor broke Sidney Mclaughlin's New Jersey State record with the
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  time of 2397. First girl ever in New Jersey
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  State history to run under 24 seconds in the indoor 200.
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  We just continue to build and build and build.
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  I think we were all high school, all Americans at New Balance
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  Nationals probably four or five times over the next two years.
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  Constantly on the podium and really made a name for ourselves
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  as a track and field program. And that was very important
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  'cause we wanted to, We kept seeing those teams that are
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  highlighted and and performed well on the national stage and
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  we wanted to be mentioned with those teams and we wanted to
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  compete against those teams. But like many things, it takes
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  time. So we took our time to grind and
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  get to where we need to get. And, you know, as each class
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  came in and saw what the ones ahead of them were doing and
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  what they were shooting for and the way they worked every day
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  and what their work ethic was like, it inspired a new, I won't
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  say generation, but a new group. And then that next group would
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  aspire to do even more than the group before them.
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  So we've kind of created an amazing system of come in, have
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  big, big dreams, pursue those big dreams, see others, you
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  know, make dreams come true. Believe that you 2 can do that.
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  And then, you know, take the lid off of it, take the ceiling off
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  and say, how, how can I get there?
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  And how can I get beyond that? And that's kind of what we've
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  seen. You know, at one point in time
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  being, being in the championship section at nationals was like
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  the ultimate goal. That turned into making making
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  the podium. That turned into breaking a
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  state record, that turned into signing a deal with Nike.
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  That turned into competing, you know, at World Championships,
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  winning international medals. So we've like really raised the
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  bar as far as what what our standard is, you know, what
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  we're looking to do, but also as far as what's possible.
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  And, you know, I always tell my athletes, if you believe it and
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  you're willing to work for it and you're willing to sacrifice
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  for it and you're willing to take that path, that's, you
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  know, that whether, as they say, the road less traveled where,
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  you know, it's an unknown, you don't know if you're gonna make
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  it. You don't know what's gonna
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  happen. But if you're willing to take
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  that route, knowing that you don't have all the answers, but
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  you still wanna shoot for it, anything's possible.
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  And I think we've been able to see that.
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  And so when I think about my book, that's one of the things I
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  think about. You know, I think my book really
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  speaks to for coaches, but also for parents and also for the
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  athletes themselves to really take a step back, you know, get
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  away from the pressures of I wanna win, I wanna, I wanna be
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  featured. I want the fame.
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  I want my athletes to have the fame because there's a lot of
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  that going on in the world right now.
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  Step away from that for a second and instead just think about why
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  you're doing what you're doing. What made you get into coaching?
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  What made you wanna work with the youth?
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  Whatever. And it doesn't matter which age
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  group you're in or you work with.
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  It doesn't matter how long you've been doing it.
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  What is you need to find that reason because that's what
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  should fuel you. Not the Instagram posts and not
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  the not the potential NIO deals and all this other stuff, but
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  that singular purpose for why you got into it.
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  For me, my thing was my career and I did a lot of things in my
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  career. I broke records here and there.
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  I ran on a Division One level, I ran professionally and I did a
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  lot of things that were that I can be proud of.
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  But I've also made plenty, plenty of mistakes along the
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  way. So my thing was I wanna get into
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  this because if I knew then what I know now, how much further
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  could I have taken this dream? So since I have the knowledge
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  from the experiences, even if they're all from, you know,
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  missteps, if I can pass it on to them to help them not to misstep
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  on certain things and give them the perspective that they need
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  to tackle these different obstacles, then they truly can
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  breakthrough and get to wherever they want to go in this sport
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  and in life. You know, some of my toughest
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  life lessons came through the sport of track and field.
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  And I'd like to say that they shaped me to be the man that I
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  am today. So if you look through my book,
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  you know, you see things like positive affirmations.
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  So there's this chapter called can't Say, can't you know?
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  So that chapter is all about how what you say and what you get
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  and your results go hand in hand.
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  If you're constantly saying, oh, I can't do that, Oh, I can't do
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  this, and you're placing limitations on yourself, you
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  would not be able to do those things.
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  You know, if you're constantly setting the bar low for yourself
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  because you know, it's a low hanging fruit, it's easy to
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  reach. You're going to get that fruit,
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  but you're going to miss out on what you could have gotten had
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  you stress yourself a little bit more.
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  So there's chapters about that. There's chapters about just the
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  mental side of of training. There's chapters about how to
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  best handle athletes who are injured or dealing with injuries
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  and how to keep them engaged and keep them feeling like a part of
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  the team because it's so easy to get down on yourself and get
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  depressed because you're not doing what you love.
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  So constantly engaging them, keeping them, keeping them
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  engaged and helping them to see that, hey, even though this is
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  not fun, this sucks, it's temporary and there will be a
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  point in time where you're back out here doing what you love.
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  But the most important thing is that in the meantime, you do all
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  the things you can to make sure you're prepared for that moment.
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  Whether that's the positive reinforcement, mental, mentally,
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  or that's, you know, doing push ups or that's doing core work,
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  different things like that, that you are able to do while you're
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  injured that don't further, you know, push the injury, but that
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  allow you to feel more prepared when you come back so that you
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  don't have as long of a of a rest period when you return.
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  So lots of things of that nature, Just trying to tackle
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  all the different angles of what coaching is today, what's
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  important in our in our profession and how we can make
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  our athletes to be the absolute best people that they can be.
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  You know, if you help somebody overcome a fear, that translates
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  to other areas of their life. If you help somebody build
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  confidence, they'll be more confident in other areas of
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  their life. And you know, the good thing
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  about our sport is that it, it'll put them things on
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  display. You know, it'll put out there
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  what situations make you fearful.
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  You know, you'll see it in, in training or you'll see it in a
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  meet or you'll see it in this particular situation where
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  there's pressure. And then you as a coach have the
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  ability to then use those situations to work those through
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  those fears and face those fears and conquer those fears and
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  those doubts. So, and then I mean, I've, I've
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  been in in this sport since I was five years old.
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  And you know, my mother was a track star, ran with Carol Lewis
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  and Carl Lewis back in the day and ran for the USA Air Force
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  team. So I've been around the track
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  forever. And I think that, you know, this
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  is just unlike any other sport. You know, this sport can really
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  change your life and it changed mine.
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  I never thought I'd be coaching. My, my dream plan was to run
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  track sign like $1,000,000 endorsement deal and walk away
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  from it. And now it consumes my life more
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  than it did when I was competing, but in the most
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  positive ways. You know, it doesn't feel like I
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  like I work. It feels like I'm just doing
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  what I love every single day. You know, the bonds I've been
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  able to build with my athletes have like, are priceless.
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  You know, they're, they're extensions of my family at this
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  point. You know, those are my nieces
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  and nephews. The bonds I've been able to
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  build with their parents have been priceless.
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  You know, those are lifelong friends from here on out because
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  on their end, they trusted me with their kids, which means the
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  world to me 'cause I have three sons of my own.
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  And trusting other people with your kids is huge.
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  So, you know, I'm grateful to them for that.
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  But then on the other side, you know, the fact that I was able
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  to deliver on some of the promises I made to those parents
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  in terms of the kids, their careers, you know, like it's
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  lifeline long bonds going forward.
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  So my biggest piece of advice to all the coaches, all the
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  athletes, all the parents out there, it is never stop
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  dreaming. You know, you never know where
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  you're gonna end up. Stay open minded because a
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  closed door could be the very door that leads you to your
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  future. So always be open minded to that
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  and just always, always bet on yourself, you know, give it your
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  all. Don't skip any steps and know
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  that it's gonna work out, maybe not in the time that you think
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  it will. You know, in this sport, you're
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  not gonna run APR every single race.
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  The better you get it, the more the PR's are harder to come come
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  by. So it's important to be patient.
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  It's important to find the little wins in what you're doing
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  every day. It's important to try to get a
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  little bit better at something every single day.
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  And eventually those little puzzle pieces of training and
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  competing and mental prep and positive thinking come together
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  and you get the masterpiece you're looking for.
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  Thank you so much. And again, I'm Coach Dunk and my
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  book is Coaches Playbook, a guide to inspiring better
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  athletes and better people. And it's in store.
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  It's on Amazon.com, but it's also on barnesandnoble.com.
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  Thank you very much. And I just want to thank God for
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  this gift to be able to inspire others.
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  And I want to thank my family for being so patient with me.
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  This is not an easy career. It takes a lot of time away from
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  them and they're super supportive, super encouraging
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  and always just show me love. So definitely want to shout them
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  out because I'm very blessed to have them in my life.
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  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Thanks for joining us for this
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  episode in the Youth and beginner series Powered by Coach
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