Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #156: Gill1918 presents Track Tribe LIVE: (Part 3) "Teaching Across Generations" with David Mitchell hosted by Kyle Jones

Transcript

#156: Gill1918 presents Track Tribe LIVE: (Part 3) "Teaching Across Generations" with David Mitchell hosted by Kyle Jones · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
• 0:03
  coaches, for coaches powered by Gill Athletics.
• 0:06
  Think of this as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
• 0:09
  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
• 0:12
  you grow as a coach. We'll bring in the once a year
• 0:15
  track clinic straight to your ears daily.
• 0:17
  Interested in creating your own episode?
• 0:19
  Everyone's welcome to participate.
• 0:21
  Check out the show notes below For more information.
• 0:23
  Now let's get into today's topic.
• 0:27
  Yeah. All right.
• 0:28
  So guys, we kind of wrap up here because we got a few minutes
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  left here. What's your and you've?
• 0:34
  Been around the world? Right.
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  And you've been travelling and and doing.
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  All kind of cool. Things announcing and seeing.
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  Records broken live, right? And the announcers move what's I
• 0:43
  think is really fun. You have to bring me in there
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  one day. We'll do a code find a way.
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  Let's go. What's your favorite track?
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  Moment or. Track story that you remember.
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  Well, they're they're a lot, but I think 11 event that I got to
• 1:05
  announce. And I think it's partially
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  because the story I told earlier about my first success as a
• 1:09
  coach was in the 4 by 800. But when Long Beach Poly broke
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  the national record at at nationals running 7/28, that
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  moment of announcing really stuck in my mind.
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  There was a Port Charlotte high school in Florida that also
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  broke the old record and pushed them to that.
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  And, and, and Polly ended up with the record and that one,
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  that one really stood out. It was something that I knew was
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  possible. And so there was a lot of
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  pressure on the kids were involved because again, the
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  Internet and everybody's talking about who are we going to see a
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  national record? Can they do it?
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  You know, coast to coast, we got Florida and California and, you
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  know, all kinds of interesting stuff.
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  So that's interesting. Definitely.
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  Another one was Casey Combast, who still has the high school
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  national record for 60 meters at 6:57.
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  That was the first national record I ever saw and that was
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  in at the Nike Indoor Nationals, the very first one by that name
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  in Columbus, OH in 1999. And that happened to be the
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  first meet that I ever announced.
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  And how I got there is an interesting story too.
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  So since we're wrapping up, I'll try to keep it fairly short, but
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  I was coaching, I was trying to get my athletes and I had, I had
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  a handful of, of athletes that could qualify.
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  And I was on the phone with Mike Burns, who was one of the
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  founders of the meet, trying to figure out because they ran 800,
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  but state of Michigan at that time was only running 600.
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  And you know, little things like that.
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  How's that going to get the athlete placed?
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  And we're talking and, and just a week before that, my, my good
• 3:00
  friend who ran the indoor circuit at, at the University of
• 3:03
  Michigan for, for the state of Michigan, he was in Oregon
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  procurement and got called away because whenever there might be
• 3:09
  an organ donation, that was part of his job to work with the
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  family. So he's like, Hey, I got these,
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  I got these announcements to make.
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  Can you take this microphone and just make a few announcements
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  for me and make sure, you know, people are doing the right thing
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  with their spikes and getting registered and all that stuff.
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  I'm like, sure, no problem. You know, go see if you can save
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  a life. That's a lot more important than
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  staying here at this track meet, right?
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  And when he got back, he got stopped by two or three people
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  because I was starting to have a little fun and I was calling
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  some races. They've never really done that
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  before. I was doing more than just
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  making the check your spikes announcement.
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  So anyway, he came back and, and he, he was, he was a good
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  friend. Anyway, they said, you know, we
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  don't have anybody announcing anything for field events.
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  Maybe we should start doing that at the indoor state meet coming
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  up. So Fast forward to the
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  conversation again with, with Mike Burns on the phone and, and
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  he said, well, we might come up to Michigan because we're going
• 4:01
  to be in Columbus early. We might come up and watch the
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  Michigan Indoor State meet. I was just trying to be
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  friendly. I said, well, if you do, I'm
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  going to be announcing field events.
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  So just just find me. It'll be pretty obvious who I am
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  in the infield and I'll show you around, introduce you to some
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  people in Michigan, and he's like, you're going to be
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  announcing field events. We need a field event announcer
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  for our event. We've been talking about this
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  for years. We've been wanting to devote
• 4:27
  somebody to do that. So give me a, give me an e-mail
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  with a couple of references and I'll get back with you.
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  So I gave him an e-mail with my friend that ran that circuit and
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  Jeff Hollaba from Track and Field News that I'd known for,
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  for quite a while. And he did check with Jeff
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  Hollaba, but I never heard from him.
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  So I'm like, OK, cool. That's whatever.
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  You know, I, I didn't have expectations.
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  I was just getting started as an announcer.
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  It wasn't it wasn't that big of a deal to not have heard from
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  him. But I'm there with my wife and
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  and our two youngest daughters and my group of athletes that
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  I've got and we're sitting in the stands on the second day of
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  the meet is a Friday, Saturday meet, Friday past.
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  Never heard from him. Stop thinking about it.
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  Saturday, though, sitting in the stands watching one of our
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  athletes compete. And all of a sudden it's like
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  with David Mitchell, the announcer from Michigan.
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  Please come to the announcer stand.
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  And I walked over there and they said, OK, here's a shirt, here's
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  a clipboard. You're going to share a
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  microphone with that British guy over there.
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  It's Ian Brooks from the Armory in New York.
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  Who's been a good? Friend now for 25 years now
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  you're going to you're going to share a microphone with that
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  British guy over there and get to work here.
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  I feel to have been announcer go get changed.
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  So I went and put the make your shirt on, handed me the
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  clipboard, started announcing and like no kidding, about 15
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  minutes later, Jim Spear, the other meat founder, came over to
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  me and said, we've already talked it over.
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  We like what you're doing. We want to invite you to our
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  meet in Raleigh, NC for the outdoor nationals.
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  At that time, that was the Adidas outdoor.
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  And I'm like, I was coaching high school and I was coaching
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  on the Midwest media Champions team for the state of Michigan.
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  I was I was coaching the 400 meter runners in the 4 by 400
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  and recruiting the kids from around the state to go compete
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  against other states. And it was that same weekend,
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  but I went and talked to the head coach of Team Michigan and
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  I said, you know what, Nobody's ever offered to fly me anywhere
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  at their expense. I don't know if I'll ever get
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  this chance again. I think I really want to take
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  it. And I worked out a way where one
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  of my former athletes who who ended up being a Division Three
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  national champion in the decathlon and was a a very
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  knowledgeable 400 runner. He, he was coaching at my
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  school, coach on the girls team when I was coaching the boys.
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  And he took over for me at that meet so that I could go on to
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  the nationals in, in Raleigh and announce the field events.
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  And honest to goodness, you know, God just flew doors open
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  for me all the way through. I've really never in these past
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  26, almost 27 years I, I don't, I haven't really sought out
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  announcing positions. They have come to me things like
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  I just said, you know, that also led to getting a chance to go to
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  the Simplot Games in in Idaho and to announce at the Simplot
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  Games. They wanted a field event
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  announcer. But Doug Speck from California,
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  who was like one of the very first ones to do background on
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  kids and do that style of announcing that it's more
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  popular now, he had a conflict and he wasn't going to be able
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  to be there. So they put me into history as
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  first time I ever announced running events at the Simplot
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  Games that that year in 2000, in February of 2000.
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  And what happened though was that was also a year that they
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  had what was called the Golden Spike Tour there.
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  So there were professional and Olympic athletes coming in for
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  about a hour and a half, two hour window of a meet in the
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  middle of this meet for high schoolers with about 2500 kids,
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  you know, and their announcer didn't make it there.
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  It's Pocatello is not always an easy place to get to.
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  I got some thought games behind me here.
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  Not always an easy place to get to.
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  Then they had some travel issues in the winter, so USA Track and
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  Field called me that night in my room.
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  Now mind you, I've only been announcing for less than a year
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  because I started announcing in March of 99.
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  This is February of 2000 and James Thornton of USA Track and
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  Field calls me in my room at the hotel that night and says our
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  guy didn't make it in. Can we ask you to do the the
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  announcing for us for the Golden Spike tour?
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  And I'm like, yeah, are you kidding?
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  Yeah, but I was scared too, you know?
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  And so I've got Larry Rossen and Dwight Stones and Walt Murphy,
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  who is the king of all stats for TV, sitting next to me, you
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  know, these people that I've seen on TV for years.
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  And, and I'm announcing and I got to announce 2 world records
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  that year. Gerald Miles Clark ran the 500
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  yards, which is one of the few world record events that we
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  don't run a whole lot anymore, and broke the world record in
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  that. And then Stacy Dragula twice
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  broke the pole vault world record in that meet.
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  And here I am announcing not even for a year.
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  And I've already got world records under my belt.
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  You know, that kind of experience and you know that
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  that sort of thing has just led me other places and, and to to
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  get back to other those those were extremely cool moments.
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  I've gotten to announce other world records since, but those
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  really stand out and, and Stacy did it again the next year.
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  So I got to they actually hired me ahead of time to do the
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  golden speck tour the next year And and then so I I got to do
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  that. But one of the cool things that
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  that came of announcing I got, I've done Nike Cross Nationals
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  for 13 years and being in the Tiger Woods Center and doing the
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  award ceremony and all that stuff was was awesome.
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  I had to stop because of my counselor job was conflicting
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  and I, they put me in charge of a test that I couldn't be gone
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  at that time. So I hadn't been back after
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  doing the first thirteen years. But that sort of led to another
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  invite to me, which is to the Rock'n'roll Marathon series.
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  So I did Rock'n'roll marathons and Rock'n'roll half marathons
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  and and got some cool experiences when I got to do the
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  Rock'n'roll USA in Washington DC.
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  Jim Ryan's daughter worked at that time for the Rock'n'roll
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  series. And Jim Ryan, first high
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  schooler ever under 4 minutes in the mile, but also a United
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  States Congressman from the state of Kansas.
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  He took us well, he invited us to come over to his house and
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  meet him there. He didn't want to leave until
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  after Kansas was done playing in March Madness.
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  So I got to stand in Jim Ryan's townhouse, Congressman Jim
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  Ryan's townhouse behind him, watching Kansas win in their in
• 11:23
  their March Madness game. And then we all went over into
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  the halls of Congress and he let us sit down and he gave us a
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  tour and taught us all about it. And I'm, I'm just sitting there
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  thinking, you know, how in the world has all of this happened?
• 11:40
  You know, it's just so wonderful.
• 11:42
  Then later on I got to I had the idea come to me and was able to
• 11:47
  organize through through various connections.
• 11:50
  We got Jim Ryan and Alan Webb and Drew Hunter and then Hobbes
• 11:54
  Kessler together to do a panel discussion on Zoom kind of like
• 11:59
  this and talk about being the mile record holders for high
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  school over the generations. I'd actually coached Hobbs
• 12:07
  Kessler's dad for for one season across country when I filled in
• 12:10
  on my own alma mater. So I had the in for that one and
• 12:15
  other people had connections with the other guys that we got
• 12:18
  on that panel. And, and that was incredible for
• 12:21
  me too, to be able to have that discussion with them and, and
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  see the links in the connections between them that, that was some
• 12:31
  something I, I definitely won't forget.
• 12:35
  Man, OK you you definitely might be one of the coolest.
• 12:39
  People I've ever met, by far. Well, I tell you what I tell you
• 12:45
  what. I, I know I've, I've gotten
• 12:47
  blessed to meet a lot of people and do a lot of things, but I
• 12:49
  get nervous still sometimes too when I'm at these events.
• 12:52
  And, and like that Rock'n'roll, Washington DC, Rock'n'roll USA
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  and Washington DC, they have 41,000 runners.
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  So there's 41,000 runners. Plus the course was lined
• 13:04
  everywhere. They had to be at least 100,000
• 13:06
  people. That's by far the biggest
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  audience I've ever announced to. I did end up getting to do TV
• 13:14
  with ACC network for, for two years as well.
• 13:17
  So I'm sitting with Dan O'Brien, world record holder, gold
• 13:20
  medalist, and and Shawn Kennedy of ESPN, who's just a great guy
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  and, and doing those. But anytime I'm nervous and
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  maybe this will be my closing comment to you and then I'll let
• 13:31
  you wrap up. But I'm thinking about things
• 13:33
  and I tell myself, it's like David, it's just attract me.
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  You've been going to attract me at your whole life since you
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  were 12. It's just attract me.
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  And then I kind of smile to myself and have fun and, and
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  move on from there. And that's, that's how it goes.
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  So it's just attract me. Absolutely.
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  That's so cool. Listen, you have blessed my
• 13:54
  heart in so many ways. You know 'cause.
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  With the names and the moments and I.
• 13:59
  Remember them myself. Having seen them or been the
• 14:04
  vicinity or proximity of those places.
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  So that is outstanding. I'm excited for the.
• 14:11
  Future of what you're. Planning to do as well.
• 14:13
  And I'll be listening out and looking for those other things
• 14:16
  that are happening. I, I, I'm amazed that I'm, I'm
• 14:20
  kind of just really blown away and you'd.
• 14:22
  Really. Drop some names.
• 14:23
  One of my favorite runners of all time is Alan Webb.
• 14:27
  One of my favorite. Definitely can stop.
• 14:28
  Oh man, I've watched them. I've watched them for years.
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  And of course now. You know, I watch all the the
• 14:36
  athletes that are up and coming. I might be one of the very few
• 14:39
  people. Who watches cross country?
• 14:40
  Meets on YouTube. I think it's about very.
• 14:44
  Low quality? Probably, but yeah.
• 14:46
  Yeah, my wife will tell you. She's like, I don't know
• 14:48
  anybody. Who watches full cross country
• 14:50
  meets except for you? I like literally on YouTube I'll
• 14:53
  just watch them because I love to watch the strategy anyway.
• 14:56
  When you love the. Sport.
• 14:57
  You know what? And you said I.
• 14:58
  Made a comment quickly, there was, I don't know, you know how
• 15:02
  these why these doors open up or how these doors opened up or
• 15:04
  it's amazing how these doors opened up.
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  It's it's. Really, because of, in my
• 15:09
  opinion, when you love something and you have a gift, gift for
• 15:14
  something, it makes room for you and your life, right?
• 15:17
  And I think that those things made room for you and your
• 15:21
  passion. It it overflows in, in the areas
• 15:25
  of where you are. And I think it impacts people in
• 15:27
  various ways, right. And just.
• 15:29
  Like this we're. Having a conversation.
• 15:30
  And I feel like it just impacted me it it swelled.
• 15:33
  My heart because I have such a love for track and field, myself
• 15:36
  and and the people and the sport in the event.
• 15:41
  And the outcomes that happened, but it's also what happens with
• 15:44
  the the athletes after they finish, right?
• 15:46
  Do they become productive citizens?
• 15:48
  Do they think through what it is that they need to?
• 15:51
  Try to get to with their goals or.
• 15:53
  How do they treat their family and things like?
• 15:55
  That right so it's it's really amazing to me in my opinion the.
• 15:59
  Impact that you've had on not only track.
• 16:01
  And field, but just the citizens of.
• 16:03
  The world and whether you know it or not, right?
• 16:06
  And I'm telling you, I think what you've done is really cool,
• 16:09
  what you're continuing. To do is really cool.
• 16:11
  I am completely blown away. I love it.
• 16:14
  I'm amazed by it again and. I know I'm, I feel, I feel like
• 16:17
  a. I groupie right now I'm.
• 16:20
  Like, because I'm like really, I'm really excited, man.
• 16:22
  I, I love hearing stuff like that.
• 16:23
  And it's just. Awesome, have me back on.
• 16:26
  We'll do some more. You know, I got years of things
• 16:29
  to to be able to lean on. So if you ever want I, I would
• 16:33
  love to do something like this with maybe a a young coach or
• 16:36
  two in the conversation so that they could lead that
• 16:41
  conversation with this is what I'm facing.
• 16:44
  This is how I'm struggling. You know what, what would we do?
• 16:47
  But then, you know, there's other stuff.
• 16:48
  We just, we just should stay in touch.
• 16:50
  I had a ball. I love, I love doing this with
• 16:52
  you. So thank you very much.
• 16:53
  For absolutely we can do a coaches round table and have
• 16:58
  some real intense discussions. About some of these things and
• 17:01
  that I know the new. Coaches are really looking.
• 17:03
  For that. So I think that will be
• 17:06
  incredible. And that, but the wisdom you
• 17:07
  shared today, it's, it's priceless.
• 17:12
  And so again, guys, if you're listening out here and you've
• 17:15
  got questions, what's the best way to get in contact with you,
• 17:18
  David? Clientrelations@coacho.com is
• 17:23
  the easiest one. I've also you could send it to
• 17:25
  the other one too. I created a word tracademics
• 17:28
  cause tracking academics when I was a high school counselor and
• 17:30
  a track coach. So tracademics@gmail.com is the
• 17:34
  other one. But either of those I would
• 17:37
  welcome to hear from anybody that's heard this or has
• 17:40
  questions. And, and I take great joy in
• 17:44
  being able to help people navigate the challenges that
• 17:48
  that I've already had a chance to navigate some of them or to,
• 17:52
  to do something similar. So somebody's got something
• 17:55
  going on. I'm, I'm, I'm up for it.
• 17:57
  Let me know. Awesome.
• 17:59
  You heard it here folks. Dave, it's your man.
• 18:02
  Make sure you reach out to him. Client relations at coacho.com.
• 18:07
  Yes, Sir. Rightandtracademics@gmail.com
• 18:11
  and of course, you can find them on x.com where you call it
• 18:14
  Twitter if you're our age or older, right?
• 18:18
  And of course, if you really want to connect with other
• 18:20
  coaches, other people who love the sport and you're passionate
• 18:23
  about it doesn't matter whether you're a fan, a coach, an
• 18:27
  athlete, a parent. You can always reach us on this
• 18:30
  school app or platform S kool.com and find the trap tribe
• 18:36
  and you can find us on YouTube as well, right.
• 18:38
  We've got all kinds of stuff to track tribe is on YouTube.
• 18:41
  Look for a track coach Joan or coach Kyle Mark Jones and.
• 18:45
  You know, feel free. To chime in, ask questions,
• 18:48
  answer the chat whenever, whatever you need, we're there
• 18:51
  for you. We want to make sure that we're
• 18:52
  supporting you and the passion that you have and where you're
• 18:56
  trying to go, the goals that you're.
• 18:57
  Attempting to meet. And again, this the track tribe
• 18:59
  is completely free. There's a ton of resources in
• 19:02
  the classroom ranging from white papers to drills to ideologies
• 19:07
  to theories and all kind of technical aspects as well.
• 19:10
  And then you got a really a lot of ton of coaches from high
• 19:13
  school to middle school to college and even.
• 19:15
  Some pro level coaches. In there too, so there isn't a
• 19:19
  shortage of information, I can tell you that much.
• 19:21
  But we want to cut through the noise and get to the real root
• 19:25
  of what works, get back to principles within the sport so
• 19:28
  we can just cut out all the noise and help our athletes help
• 19:33
  our. Parents help our.
• 19:34
  Coaches to get results. That they're looking for.
• 19:38
  Mr. David Mitchell, I cannot say enough of how gracious and
• 19:44
  grateful I am to have want to met you, but also thank you for
• 19:49
  joining us. On this particular live session
• 19:52
  you have done. So much for the.
• 19:54
  Sport and I'm looking forward to the next conversation, any
• 19:57
  final. Words before we depart, Sir.
• 20:00
  No sounds good. Keep loving track.
• 20:01
  Remind yourself it's just a track meet.
• 20:03
  You can do this your happiness. This is a good quote to end
• 20:09
  with. Happiness is not the absence of
• 20:11
  problems, but the ability to deal with them.
• 20:13
  So coaches, you're never going to have an absence of problems,
• 20:17
  so don't count on that to make you happy.
• 20:19
  Just develop the skills to be able to deal with them and
• 20:23
  you're good. Here we go.
• 20:25
  I love it. And don't forget guys, make sure
• 20:27
  you reach out to us if you have a question.
• 20:29
  Happiness, y'all? Happiness.
• 20:31
  You got to. Choose it.
• 20:32
  It doesn't. Come easy, but you still have to
• 20:34
  choose you no matter. The circumstances thank y'all,
• 20:36
  it's been a wonderful time. Track Tribe, we are out of here.
• 20:39
  Another live session done and Mr. David Mitchell, we want to
• 20:43
  thank you so much for. Everything you've done for the
• 20:44
  sport continuously and continue to do.
• 20:47
  We'll see you later, Sir. Thank you Coach, have a good
• 20:50
  night. You too.
• 20:51
  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this
• 20:55
  episode of the Guild 1918 Project series.
• 20:58
  It's really my mission, my passion to bring you massive
• 21:02
  amounts of value and I hope this one hit the mark.
• 21:05
  The Gill 1918 Project is really dependent on you if for you to
• 21:10
  build your own episode, to hear your voice, to have your voice
• 21:13
  heard you have something to say and teach other coaches out
• 21:17
  there. So please get a hold of me,
• 21:19
  e-mail, text message, Twitter, smoke signals, get a hold of me
• 21:24
  and let's help create your episode of the Guild 1918
• 21:27
  Project. Hope you enjoy today, they will
• 21:29
  see you tomorrow.