This has been a break out year for The Girl. Though years training and watching us compete, she is now coming into her own and finding her athletic niche. In addition to her time training in the gym with us, this past spring she started throwing shot and discus. She quickly learned that she is pretty good at them, enjoys doing it and has found her competitive spirit.
This summer she has decided to step up her game a bit and compete in USA Track & Field (USATF) meets, start learning HOW to throw and is working with a weightlifting coach as well. She has hopes of also competing in a USA Weightlifting meet this fall, however a decision for that will be made as the meet draws near.
At this stage of the game, it is obvious that her strength is carrying her to success and she reports wanting to transition from good to great. This transition is proving to consume an extensive amount of time and commitment that in some ways I believe is too much for her. However, as long as she wants to ride this ride, we will be there supporting her and mitigating the compromises and sacrifices. If tomorrow she wants off this ride, that is a decision she has full control over.
Previous Installments:
Plan For Athletic Domination: https://www.elitefts.com/training-logs/passing-the-baton-plan-for-athletic-domination/
Simply Say, "Thank You": https://www.elitefts.com/training-logs/passing-the-baton-simply-say-thank-you/
My last installment happened right before Regionals for track in late June. Let's just say, The Girl did good. She PR in shot, coming in at 28 ft, 5.5 inches. That was a BIG PR for her and was enough motivation to help her WANT to keep throwing. She was able to SEE the results of her work.
The following month was consumed with acting every night, weightlifting 2 x's per week and now working 2 x's per week with a throws coach. It's a lot but she is motivated. As for me, I am burnt out from all of the driving and sitting endless hours per week as she is going these things. I also know this is a very special time for her and it will go by quickly. I continue to make these positive experiences and work very hard to be flexible and juggle her schedule so she is not forced to choose between age appropriate activities with her friends or her athletic goals. There is a middle ground, it just takes work and commitment to find and maintain it.
The weightlifting is proving to be difficult for her to stick with. With track she had the incentives/rewards of traveling out of state to compete, hitting a big PR and seeing the difference in her technique every times she goes throwing.
With weightlifting, it is basically the same thing day in and day out as she gains proficiency. She isn't hitting heavy weights or PRs that tends to be the motivation the rest of us find pleasure in that comes with lifting. The best I can give her is to trust me, she will get there and own it like a boss. For an 11 year old that isn't enough, it is far too abstract and too far off in the distance.
This week I felt resistance to even go to weightlifting. The parent card trumped the excuses but this is a concerning sign. When someone don't WANT to be there, the battle is lost. With The Boy we went through similar phases with lifting and we eliminated training until he was ready and committed again. We found the best approach was to just shut it down, let it go and when he was ready he communicated that to us. This was a process over several years, now he is my mini bro who hates missing training and would be there every day if we would let him.
My concern with doing that just yet with The Girl is she has not developed proficiency yet and is still caught in The Hawthorne Effect. If she takes a break now, she will have to redo this entire process. So I am reaching to find something tangible for her to see her progress. From an emotional standpoint, I think we have to let her compete this fall. It's a risk if she bombs. But if she doesn't, she should qualify for nationals on her opening attempts. THAT would be her motivation to continue. This will be discussions I have with her coach as the time approaches.
So, this weekend I plan on bringing her to the gym so she can test her push press. That will be the "tangible" she needs to see how her work is paying off. I swear to God, if she hits a 100 lb push press at 11 years old, I will cry tears of joy for her. That would be monumental. Her last check in was 90-ish lbs, so we are not far off.