Junior cross country team member Doug Ainscow has really gone above and beyond the call of duty lately. Because of a relatively minor but very annoying health issue, Doug has not been able to run for the past 10 days or so; he still has about a week left in his exile from running before he can resume. And yet, Doug remains an extremely valued member of our team as my de facto assistant coach. Doug is one of our student van drivers, and still agrees to fill that role while he is temporarily on the shelf in terms of his running.
Today, he willingly agreed to drive one of the three vans that went over to New Paltz for the mile repeats workout on the rail trail. The logistics of this workout are a bit complicated, with this old coach having to park on the side of a trailhead and wheel out a point-to-point mile for interval purposes. Doug helped out by staying back with the van and giving the men their groups and respective paces.
This was a nearly 3-hour practice and he was there every step of the way for us. He did not have to do this, but he did, and we are forever grateful for the loyalty to his team and to our program.
Upon returning to campus, senior team captain Matt Panebianco extended his day a few minutes by helping me refill the water/Gatorade coolers for the women's practice. Again, he did not have to do this, but he did and we appreciate it.
No comments:
Post a Comment