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Unplugged with "Coach Hill" of LSI Sprint
PA: LSI! What does those letters stand for? Coach Hill: LSI Stand for "Learning Speed Intelligently" PA: How did you come up with that name for your Team? Coach Hill: That�s a question I often get (smile). and my answer is, as a coach I vision a program that not only facilitates athletic development but one that also focuses on the academics of athletics as well. It�s important to manufacture athletes who are as intelligent about the sport as they are fast and so Learning Speed Intelligently is what I came up with. PA: That�s interesting, you don't often hear about the union of academics and athletics on the track. You often think of them as separate institutions working towards the same goal. Coach Hill: Well, yes and the goal is still the same. The thing to understand is what a kid learns from you is in direct proportion of what you teach them. Kids, They thrive in a learning environment and learning what they do and why they do it ... developmentally connects them to the process. PA: You've been around for quite some time. How did you get into the sport of track and field. Coach Hill: I'm 44 years old that�s a long way to think back (laugh). I ran Track myself and for a team called 1980 Track Club. Of course things were a lot different then but the goal and much of the principles remain the same. PA: What was one of your earlier highlights that you remember as an athlete? Coach Hill: (laugh) you pulling all the stops huh! Wow ... let me think. I think one of my most memorable moment as an athlete came at the 1st Annual "Track City Classic" in Eugene, Oregon. held at what is now the famous Hayward Field. I was in the Finals of the 70 Yard Low hurdles (long before they converted it to meters). I was favorite to win, having ran the fastest qualifying time and maybe .03 hundredths of a second off the record. Where in the finals I was out front for more than half the race when I made a hurdlers mistake and didn't negotiate the last hurdle right. It cost me the race and the record. Not my best race but definitely my most memorable moment as an athlete.
PA: What led you into coaching Coach Hill: Ken Yamada! He's the one that inspired me into coaching. He also happens to be my coach when i was growing up. He was just a fantastic coach, a caring person and remarkable human being to say the least. He did enough to make me Love the sport and want to do for others what he did for me. Not to mention many of us grew up in the home without a father. Thats where he stepped in the gap and provided that balance. So if I had to give only one answer that would be it. PA: Who are or have been your coaching mentors that have helped you most in becoming the coach you are today? Coach Hill: Unfortunately track is a sport that is high maintenance and highly competitive. So it�s hard to develop coaching partners. Very few people want to share knowledge because they want to hold on to what they feel will give them the advantage. So I do a lot of reading and research. I've been successful with being introduced to some really good educators. Vince Anderson from Texas A&M is one of my biggest influences and guys like Tom Tellez, Gary Wrinkler, Tony Wells ... those guys. But Vince Anderson has influenced my coaching education with his share of knowledge and taught me there are no secrets, there are no advantages. PA: You've have shown a huge talent for developing athletes. Where does it start and where does end?. Coach Hill: Well believe it or not its starts off the track with Character development. Kids are complicated and they all have their own unique perception of how things should be and doesn't always align with what�s best for them. Now-a-days most are introverted and rather stay home and do nothing. So it�s important as parents to help build interest and motivation in their kids. We should never under estimate how important these two things are. The motivation is needed to take on new challenges and because talent develops in the context of interest, keeping them open minded is important to their success. (laugh) I realize that was an incredibly complex answer. Over simplified; its starts at home, bleeds onto the track with me and ends with them being good citizens and human beings. PA: What�s the key to effective development in young athletes
Coach Hill: Patience! You have to have a lot of patience. Reason being is that development is "work in progress". So its important to understand that quality by definition takes time to install and in a competitive environment most aren't willing to buy themselves that time. We're easily encourage to believe that there is no benefit to delayed gratification therefore it must be instantaneous. From there most fall into this false sense of urgency that NOW is more important than WHEN. One of my saying that the kids remember most is that "It doesn't matter what you do NOW, what matters is what you do WHEN in counts. PA: What�s the key to an effective program and what does it take to be a part of yours? Coach Hill: The key to an effective program? ... create an atmosphere where everyone�s feel comfortable. When you can do that then behavior happens, small moments happen. Sometimes that�s all it takes for a child to come alive and then special moments happen. As for LSI it doesn't take much. I mean I propose nothing but for them to give the highest quality to the moments as they pass and they get it. PA: You've Coached and Developed Athletes such as Katie Nelms 3 time CCS champion, California State Silver Medalist, USA World Youth Team member and Stanford Scholarship Student-Athlete. As well as Alexandra Diaz who was able to follow in her teammates footsteps with a recent double in the 100 and 200 at the CCS Championships. Now most recently Sydnie Bunel, now All American and Youth National Bronze Medalist and US#9 in the 80m Hurdles. Tell us a little about that group of girls and their accomplishments.
Coach Hill: How can I say they're just remarkable athletes, without having said it all. Really talented, really intelligent, really easy to coach and really driven individuals. Those are actually the qualities that�s led to the success they've seen so far and the fact that they've been able to stay rooted in a place where their training and development is comfortable and stable. If I had to describe them, I'd say they are type AB personalities. Ambitious and Highly competitive yet patient and easy going. But extremely determined to meet the A standard and College bound .... did I say College bound (Laugh) PA: Anything else you would like to add. Coach Hill: I'm an Oprah fan although I never got to watch her show until her very last one and she said something addressing her audience that spoke volumes to any and everybody. She said "If there's one thing I know for sure, is that everybody has a calling and our purpose in life is to find out what that calling is and then get about the business of doing it" For me this isn't just Track and Field, it�s a calling and I am simply about the business of doing it.
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