Well, today was Freshmen Orientation. Around 10 in the morning they were all assembled in the cafeteria to hear several speakers. Besides the principal, guidance counselors, and some upperclassmen, the Athletic Director and myself were also going to talk briefly.
The AD went thru his shpiel about all the different sports we offer and the conference we belong to. Then it was my turn. I talked briefly about the benefits of X-C and tried to make it appealing and opportunistic for them. I basically used a recruiting speech that Joe Newton (high school X-C coach extraordinaire) uses. I saw a lot of blank faces and I knew I wasn't going to get the needed number of runners to keep this program alive.
But it only got worse when a phys ed teacher suddenly got up after me and told them about the new basketball intramural program he was starting for the fall. Great! Any kid who is not in a sport is now going to go play intra-mural hoops rather than go out for X-C.
So it's over. I don't expect any freshmen to come see me before Friday.
It's a hard reality but I'm realizing that X-C is not a sport geared towards the inner city kid. Our HS is like any other inner city school--boys basketball is king and every sport is either horrific or doesn't even exist.
So this summer has been a waste of planning, a waste of money, and a waste of hope and expectations.
So I need to forget about this dream and concentrate on softball in the spring (boy are those girls gonna run laps!!!!). >:-)
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