The Annandale Girls: Live To Run

Annandale Team:
From left to right(standing) Elizabeth Schlafke, Courtney Alama, Shanna
Grambart, Hannah Groth, Bailey Loch, Emily Kasper, Briana Canesi, Jessica
Scheer, Marina Chapman, (Kneeling) Coach Fee, Mark Boon, Coach Massman,
Coach Partridge

Annandale coach Scott Massman is bemused when others ask him about the "secret" to his team's success. During his 15 year tenure at Annandale, Massman says, he's pretty much followed the same program. The only major change being that instead of 30 kids coming out for cross country in grades seven through twelve, now there are 70.

There has been no revolutionary new training program or ephiphany in coaching knowledge that enabled Annandale to rise from consecutive runner-up finishes at the State meet to the top of the podium this year.  It is the first State Championship by any of the sports teams at Annandale, so it's not tradition. Besides, he says, even getting to the State Meet is not a designated goal every year.  Yes, they are competitive.  Yes, they want success, but they define it differently, Massman says.

The ultimate goal of the program is not to produce the champions of the future, he says, but to teach his runners life fitness skills.  Not to make workouts a chore, but make them fun.  Instead of the popular Run to Win slogan used in many programs, the Annandale girls had their motto on the tie dyed T-shirts they wore on the stage for the awards ceremony at the State Meet: Live To Run. Only running isn't all they do.

They play games, some traditional, some invented by the coaches to develop fitness and specific skills, such as sprint work, but instead of endless repeats of short distance runs, the sprinting is incoporated into a game they play.  The Annadale girls do five-lane football.  Play ultimate frisbee, soccer.  Practice is generally less than an hour.  "We're probably one of the most undertrained teams," says Massman.  No mega mileage.  No emphasis on early season success or being successful in the giant invitational meets during the season.

In fact, Annandale runs few of them.  When they do run in the large meets, says Massman, it's not for outcome, but as a stepping stone, a test to see what their training thus far has produced and what might be needed to allow the team to peak at the two to three meets a season that they set as their achievment goals.   The conference meet and the sections are targeted as the showcase of their athletic talents.

Training is based on gradually bringing up their fitness level so that by the time those meets come, the girls are as well prepared as they can be to run well.  If the team has enough talent and executes well on the day, then the State meet becomes the bonus, the showcase at the end of the season for demonstrating what hard work, dedication, and intelligent training can produce results.

Instead of merely exercising the feet and legs, the games the Annandale team "plays" provide more total body fitness, aerobic capacity, as well as anaerobic.  Over the summer the kids are encouraged to work on their fitness, but it doesn't have to be all running.  They can bike. They can swim. Physical fitness, not necessarily sport specific training.

There is a popular triathlon in Annandale every summer, which is a great way not only for his athletes, but others in the community to stay fit.  It attracts people of all age groups and abilities.  The the ultimate goal of the Annandale program, says Massman, is not nesissarly participating in that triathlon, but that in "ten to fifteen years" after they've graduated from Annandale High School, the team members are still engaged in physical acitivity.  Not just using the occupational skills they receive in the classroom, but the "old fashioned" notion of the dual role of a healthy mind and a healthy body being the ultimate goal of an education program.

"It really isn't our job to create a college athlete," says Massman.  Teaching lifetime healthy exercise habits is.  The school is fortunate to be in Class A, he says, because the expectations are not as focused on competitive outcome, college scholarships, championships.  Being a successful athlete is a goal, but "success" has a different definition.  Everything is not centered around the place the Annandale athletes attain in meets, but rather in the journey to achieve what they are capable of doing in any given season.

Yes, the team members record their workouts and do the analysis of what works and what doesn't.  Massman invidiualizes the workouts to suit the abilities of each athlete, it's not a "one size fits all" training regimen. This is not a new or revolutionary concept, as many other programs have adopted it, but it fits into the training philosophy at Annandale.  Teaches organizational and analytical skills, allowing each individual to discover what works best for them.  Imparts life skills as well as training. Creates self coached athletes, not athletes tied to a system or coaching philosophy.

The "secret" of Annandale's success is that there is no secret.  Just kids and their coaches having fun, doing what they do best.  Succeeding and failing.  Trial and error.  "I've learned more from my failures than from success," Massman notes.  Turning a negative into a positive, putting life and the sport into perspective.  He recalls a story about South Dakota State coach Rod DeHaven, an Olympian who reached the heights of athletic success.

Someone asked DeHaven, how he handled the pressure of high level competition.  "Pressure.  A wife, two kids, no job.  That's pressure. This(running) is fun."  And Massman attempts to make it just that for his team.  At the beginning of the season, with temperatures nearing triple digits, the team took a run that ended at the local Dairy Queen.  Massman decided that a good way to celebrate this championship season was to repeat that journey this week.  "Only this time we'll probably have hot chocolate instead of ice cream," he said with a smile.