2 Major Changes to the 2014 Clinic

Posted by Latif Thomas



I don’t know any good coaches who run the same system year after year.

And we’d be doing you a disservice if we ran the same clinic each year, regardless of how successful and well received our event.

One of the concerns people have when considering attending/sending athletes to our clinic is the sheer number of athletes.

(Last year over 500 athletes from 8 countries came to the clinic.)

More specifically, people want assurance their athlete/s will get individual attention and not just be a faceless member of the herd.

Rest assured, our staff to athlete ratio is superior to what you’ll find at clinics 1/10 our size.

The first change we’re making is to *reduce* the size of the event groups (the sprints group in particular) and *increase* the size of our staff.

We will now categorize four levels of staff, which will be continuously added and updated as athletes and coaches register:

1. Headliner (I’ll get to that in a second…)

2. Featured Clinicians (Experienced clinicians who take a lead role in planning and organizing event group curriculum, scheduling, decision making, etc.)

3. Associate Clinicians (Hand picked coaches who will run groups and teach all skills of the event group during the clinic.)

4. Ensemble Staff (Vetted coaches who, in essence, are ‘trying out’ for the team and hope to achieve ‘Associate’ and ‘Featured’ status in future clinics)

Not all coaches get invited back to teach at the clinic each year. While this change may not change your experience at the clinic, at the very least you will get to see how we structure our staff (it takes months to organize the curriculum, as well as ensure different event groups are not trying to use the same space and equipment at the same time) and see the growth of our staff size as the clinic draws closer.

I already mentioned a second big change to the clinic…

The Headliner

Listening to some of the feedback from last year, some coaches expressed concern they’d lost interest in coming back for Year 2 or Year 3 or Year 4 because they’d seen all the events and clinicians and didn’t want to hear the same stuff for another year.

So, starting this year, we’ll be bringing in a Headliner.

In short, we’re bringing in a “Brand Name” Instructor to work with athletes, answer questions from attending coaches while the clinic is running *and* speak on a topic at the Saturday Night Seminar.

Not only does this kick ass for athletes because they get taught by a coach who mentors all of our Featured Clinicians, but coaches also get to watch The Best of the Best actually coach real athletes in real time *and* get questions answered.

This truly is a One of a Kind experience that you will not want to miss!

On Friday, I’ll tell you who the Headliner is.

I’ll leave you with a hint:

I think the Long Jump/Triple Jump Group is going to sell out quickly…

—> Remember – Alumni Registration begins at 6am Eastern on Monday February 3, 2013.



Latif Thomas - Latif Thomas owns and operates Complete Track and Field and serves as the Co-Director of the Complete Track and Field Clinic at Harvard University, the largest track and field clinic in the United States. A popular speaker and presenter at some of the largest coaching clinics across the country, Latif has true passion for the sport and it definitely shows. Over the past 19 years, he has coached more combined League, Division, All-State, and New England Champions in sprints, hurdles, and jumps than he can count. Follow @latif_thomas on Twitter.

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