Notes from the recruiting trail

I remember when she was born. MAAC Outdoors, 1998. As mentioned previously, track coaches tend to mark time with the meets we attend. I’m not sure if she was born during the meet, at the endless “awards banquet” that we must attend after the meet or while we were on the bus ride home from Rider. I think it may have been while we were on the bus, although back then I’m not even sure we had cell phones to communicate with our family members. In any case, the baby was my good friend and coaching partner Phil Kelly’s first grandchild. Like many other moments in our lives, he missed that event because he was with our “other” family, the teams we coach. There would be eight more grandchildren to follow in the next 10 years he remained coach and then into his retirement. But the first grandchild was born on the Sunday of the 1998 MAAC Outdoor Championship. Of that I am certain. It’s odd, but you remember these things.

Phil’s been retired from coaching at Marist since 2008. I miss working with him every day, but we stay in touch – lunches when we can, some slow jogging (although we haven’t done that together in a while), random texts, calls and emails, and now we bump into each other at – of all places – cross country meets. I cannot mention her name here, because I am sure that would be some sort of “recruiting violation,’’ but that baby that was born on the weekend of 1998 MAACs is now a high school senior and a pretty darn good cross country runner. She doesn’t have a bigger fan than her Gampy, who darts around the course cheering on his oldest and for now fastest grandchild. When I go to these high school meets to recruit, the object is to “observe” and “evaluate” prospective student-athletes. I am not there to cheer them on (unless it is an FDR runner, in which case I unabashedly cheer for the Presidents as an “FDR parent”). And so at Saturday’s Section 1 state qualifier at Bowdoin Park, as I watched Phil’s granddaughter racing, although I did not openly cheer her on, I wanted to see her succeed -- for her proud Gampy and her equally proud parents. She ran great, securing the final individual spot to the state meet, a pleasant surprise for all involved. Good for her. Good for me, because now maybe I get to see Phil at another XC meet -- next Saturday on the “recruiting trail” at the state meet.