Old School (1970s): Practice right after school.
New School (2012): Practice at 5:30PM, just 1 1/2 hours after they get home from school.
Old School: Practice lasts 1 1/2 hours, team meeting included. Ends on time.
New School: Practice lasts 2 1/2 hours, followed by a team meeting. Never on time.
Old School: Practice at high school, trip home by school bus.
New School: Practice at numerous variable sites, transportation necessary both to and from.
Old School: Dual Meets twice weekly.
New School: Quad or Quintuple Meets once weekly.
Old School: Tattoos only on a spectating ex-Marine Uncle from out of town.
New School: Neck tattoos on Freshman runners.
Old School: No sunglasses.
New School: Sunglasses on an overcast day as essential running equipment.
Old School: Nike Waffles.
New School: "Barefoot" Shoes.
Old School: Winner at about 16:00 for boys 18:00 for girls.
New School: Winner at about 16:00 for boys 18:00 for girls.
Old School: No idea what friends are up to during practice.
New School: Tweets and Facebook updates during practice to know that friends are "chillin".
Old School: Coach is basketball coach and high school math teacher.
New School: Coach is 6-time All-American and stay-at-home-dad.
Old School: 0 assistant coaches.
New School: 6 assistant coaches.
Old School: 1 Newspaper article a year, with many facts wrong.
New School: Blog with daily updates on minutiae of every runner's life.
Old School: Quarter mile or half mile repeats a staple.
New School: Don't know what a quarter is.
Old School: One runner with a VW van on its last legs takes a few people home.
New School: Each runner over 16 drives their own BMW, Lexus or Mercedes home.
Old School: Cotton
New School: Lycra
Old School: Stretch
New School: Core
Old School: Fartlek
New School: Lactate-Threshold or Tempo
Now with Bonus Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon: If it were written today!
Calvin and Hobbes: New School:
I just returned home from driving an hour to drop off my daughter at her Saturday (is that new school too?)XC practice. Once a week or so they go to other schools to practice on their course. It's almost time to go pick her up. 2 hours in the car before noon!
ReplyDeleteOld school: Time the run and guess how many miles you ran. Return home to record it in a notebook.
ReplyDeleteNew School: GPS tells you exactly the time, distance, and elevation changes, all downloadable into a spreadsheet.
I just got home from taking my daughter to Saturday Practice also. My wife is heading out to pick her up! (And I'm not making that up!) I agree, Saturday Practice is also New School.
ReplyDeleteAnd I used to use a piece of clear tape with mileage marked on it to follow a route on a USGS topographic map to gauge the distance. I'll bet I was more accurate than the GPS is today.
Their practice today is at the scene of the County Race. I never saw a course ahead of time. Of course I never even ran the district race before my Senior year.
ReplyDeleteOld School: Popsicle stick at finish
ReplyDeleteNew School: Computer chip in shoe
Old school - jockstraps
ReplyDeleteNew school - built-in liner
Old school - the woods
ReplyDeleteNew school - port-a-johns
Old school - leaves
New school - toilet paper
Or even:
ReplyDeleteOld School: Out the door- 2 socks, In the door- 1 sock.
New School: Probiotics.