What It's Like To...

"What It's Like To..." lets you vicariously experience intriguing things you may never get the chance to do. You can learn what it's like to summit Mt. Everest, attend the Academy Awards, and be a professional baseball player. Each week on our podcast, an insightful, accomplished guest shares personal stories and witty anecdotes with host Elizabeth Pearson Garr.

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What It's Like To...

What It's Like to Coach the Olympic Track and Field Team--Reprise

August 07, 2024 • Sue Humphrey • Season 6 • Episode 18

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In celebration of the Summer Olympics, we're reprising some past episodes featuring guests who have been there!

Sue Humphrey says she was a "not very good" athlete growing up--but she loved sports, and she found her niche early: as a teenager she started helping other athletes. She excelled at coaching track and field, and worked her way up to college coaching (experiencing the beginning of Title IX), and eventually the international stage--although the field wasn't always welcoming to a young woman. At the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, Sue was a member of the coaching staff for USA's Track and Field team--and in 2004, she became head coach, dealing with everything from overseeing schedules to taking media calls in the middle of the night asking about athletes' drug tests. Sue shares what it's like to coach at the Olympics (the glamour of napping under a table on the field, for example), the importance of developing rapport with athletes, and what to do when an athlete is disappointed in a performance.

In this episode:

What's required of a Head Coach of an Olympic track and field team (03:00)
The value of developing rapport with your elite athletes (08:45)
Coalescing competitors into teammates (12:45)
Olympic coaches vs. personal coaches (15:52)
Experiencing the Opening Ceremonies (and what Sue did during Closing Ceremonies)(18:44)
A typical day at the Olympics for Sue (24:16)
Sue's complaints with the current NCAA and elite coaching systems (27:15)
Her thoughts on being an Olympic coach vs. college coach vs. age-group coach (30:52)
What makes her so successful? Coaching philosophy (31:56)
How to help athletes who are disappointed with their performances (34:47)
Sue's path to coaching (37:43)

Want to know more about Sue?

Connect with her on Instagram: sue.humphrey.32
Find her on Facebook: Sue Humphrey
Tweet at her on Twitter: humphreyhj
Send her an email :sue@goldmedalcoaches.com or humphreyhj@gmail.com

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Hi, this is Elizabeth Pearson Garr, the host of What It's Like To. This is the third and final week of our Summer Olympics series. With track and field events in full swing, I thought I'd bring back my interview with Sue Humphrey, who was part of the coaching staff for Team USA's track and field team at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics and became the head coach in 2004. I just love the Olympics and Sue has all sorts of great behind the scenes stories. So I hope you enjoy them. If the athlete is needing help, then you help, but mainly help is timing, carrying starting blocks, making sure they need what they need. Do they have access to the medical? Do they know where the weight room is? So a good coach, an Olympic or World Championship level is a facilitator. If they think differently, they don't go. Or they don't go again, let's put it that way. Hello, and welcome to what it's like to the podcast that lets you walk in someone else's shoes and live vicariously through their unique experiences. I'm your host, Elizabeth Pearson Garr, and each episode, I'll be asking a new interviewee all the what, why, when, and where's of how they do what they do. The Olympic Games is regarded as the most prestigious international sporting event in the world. We can imagine what it takes to be an Olympic competitor, long hours of hard work, so much dedication and sacrifice, but what is it like to coach those Olympians? My guest, Sue Humphrey, has a lot of experience in this field. She was the head coach of the USA Olympic Track and Field team in 2004, and also coached on the 1992 and 1996 Olympic track and field teams. Three of the seven American women that have cleared six feet, six inches or higher in the high jump. Were coached by Sue, and she's the only female to ever win the Nike Coach of the Year Award. She's also the author of a book called I Want to Run. Sue Humphrey, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. Appreciate you having me. I'm so happy to have you here. I'm a huge fan of the Olympics, so I'm really eager to dive in and get some behind the scenes info from you. I know you've coached on different levels, college, on the international level. What does it feel like to be at the Olympic Games? Is the level of pressure, expectation, excitement, that much different than at other events? You know, it's a different type of pressure because there's so much more at stake. The world is watching now. And if things go right, they're watching the athletes. And when things go wrong, they look to the coaches. And so I think being in the Olympic games, whether it be as a competitor or staff member, that's the highest ultimate honor in athletics. We have world championships, you have national championships and so on, but the world. the Olympics. And so the amount of hours that the athletes put in the coaches are pretty much there too. And the planning and preparation. So it's a mutual partnership for sure. So you were on the Olympic coaching teams a couple of times and then in 2004 you were the head honcho. How did that differ? In 2004, were you also coaching or were you more just overseeing your team of coaches? In 04, it was a little of both. I had the vertical jumpers, meaning high jumpers and pole vaulters. And then I was the spokesman for the team. And so that was a lot different because when things would happen, the newspaper reporters or media had the microphone in your face and they would find out where you were staying. If it was a hotel, I got calls at all hours. And I didn't want to take the phone off the hook because what if one of the kids needed me? So a few newspaper reporters would try to call me because in 04, of course, it was part of the whole drug situation with the performance enhancing drugs. So we were losing some of our athletes to positive tests. And of course the media wanted to have firsthand knowledge of that. So it definitely was more stressful in 04, just because I knew the buck stopped with me. And again, when things went well, it was great to sit in the warmup area and watch the meat on a little, uh, 20 inch TV, which is what they provided us and things didn't go so well, then it was all back to the coach and to me and to what happened and why. So that was part of it. I knew that was part of it. I was in 92 and then 96. And so I had an opportunity to see the dynamics and to see how other head coaches had operated. I've been at world championships, so I've been at enough different top notch meets that I saw the good and the bad, if you will. And I was ready for it. I mean, I never knew what was going to hit, but I just knew I had to be there and be tactful about it and, and protect the athlete as much as possible. How long is that job? How many months or years ahead of retirement? the opening ceremony. Did you start that job? The Olympic staff is usually a two year project. You get picked two years in advance. The others are sometimes a year in advance. And the thing I want people to understand is we don't get paid for this. This is all volunteer. So with track and field, I can't speak for other sports. We are volunteers. We get the travel, we get the hotel or the village and we get a sweatsuit. So we're doing this out of passion and love for the sport. And that's what I want. That's astonishing. Yeah. You got a sweatsuit. That's your payment for all that time. I even asked for an extra t shirt one time jokingly from our CEO and he told me no. So uh, You need to work over, over, over time for that t shirt. That's right. I needed to do a little more, but the benefits and the opportunities I've traveled the world and seen things, been places that I never would have on my own. So, you know, in my mind, that's my. Payment, if you will, but it's not dollars and cents. Incredible. So you get the opportunity a couple years in advance and then you start planning. I know the athletes aren't chosen until shortly before at the Olympic trials, but you need to start your whole process. Right. What's, can you kind of walk me through what happens? Sure, you know, as to the preparation ahead of time, we have a training camp, so arrangements need to be made with that city and find the location, the track, the hotel, all the off the track stuff that, you know, athletes are going to need, the medical, transportation, and cities will bid for these at times. For example, in Athens, we stayed an hour away from Athens at an island. Crete. And so to get to and from Crete, we had an hour plane ride. And so when we were on Crete, we were on Crete, and then when we went over for opening ceremonies or for the games themselves, it was a one way flight. And then you were there in 96 with the games in Atlanta. Our training camp was at the University of North Carolina in 92. We were at a training center in France. Because the games were in Barcelona and the training center in France was, I think, about a two hour bus drive. So the National Organizing Committee will give you different opportunities and then USA Track and Field has to go out and make the contracts and seal the deals. Part of what I do as a staff member, what I encourage my staff members to do, if I'm a head coach, is to get to know the top athletes. In those event areas, you know, a year or two out, even start knowing the clientele, get to know their personal coaches, get to know their agents. Cause now we're dealing with agents a lot at this level. Yeah. Yes. At the international or the Olympic level, anything post collegiate. You know, you're dealing with agents a majority of time. If they have significant family members that are always around, you try to integrate yourself with them and find out a little more about the athlete off the track than what you maybe would know by reading a press release. And to me, that made it a lot better and a lot easier so that once the team was selected, Which is about eight weeks ahead of the games. Now you've already got a rapport and some kind of a communication going with those athletes. And when you have either some hard calls to make, like with the relay pool, you maybe take eight people, but then you only take six into the village. So you have to drop those people that have been traveling with you for maybe a month. And now all of a sudden it's kind of like, well, you were good enough to hear, but now you're not good enough to go into the games. here's your ticket home. And that was hard. That one I did not enjoy. And I think of only one athlete that was really a real negative about that. But most of them were pretty good because they knew going in that that was going to be a situation. But of course, none of them thought it was going to be them. So, you know, that's the other thing. And then you have to deal with coaches who, if you do drop their athlete or don't choose their athlete for a relay position. Why not? And how come? And I mean, I've been cussed out by some of the best because I didn't pick their kid to be in the relay squad there at the very end, or I didn't put them on a relay prelims to finals, so that gets a little messy. I've got 20 pages of emails from a family of an athlete. They were very upset that I did not run her in the Olympic games. And yet she had already run. She was toward the end of her career anyway, but she'd had so many opportunities and she just wasn't at her peak at that time. And so life goes on, unfortunately. Yeah, you have to have a thick skin, it sounds like, to be a coach. Yeah, well you do, and then leading up to it as a, a female and being young, you get called different names and accused of different things. I've been called the, what was it, the most unbending B I T C H this guy had ever met. And that was by a top collegiate coach. And so, you know, you get all different names when you don't conform to the, to what they want, they want. And so now there's more women in charge of national collegiate men and women programs. So that's helping, but it's still way behind what it could be or should be. And part of the problem too is they have combined different programs, meaning they put the men and women's teams together. And so there's now six coaches for both genders. In other words, total before there was three for the men, three for the women. And I understand, and it is a better coaching situation to have a combined, but as they combine these staffs, the head coaches are looking for coaches, obviously with the most experience. Well, how do you get experience if you never get your foot in the door? And there's a lot of young women coaches that don't get the foot in the door. And so then either give it up, go to a different career or just aren't given the same opportunities. And so that's an ongoing issue. I think that we still have very much. As a coach, you're doing the preparations and then the Olympic trials happen and you get your team, you know who the competitors are going to be on your team. It is interesting to think how just with eight weeks out, you have to coalesce this group of elite athletes who are going to The best in the country, some of the best in the world, there could be some egos involved, but suddenly they need to be a team in a very short amount of time. Right. Well, that's it. Your competitor's one minute and the next day you're given a sweatshirt. Now you're kumbaya teammate. Now you're rooming with your arch rival. So, uh, yeah. And this is when we pick the staffs. We try to be very, very alert to the composition and the personalities of the coaching staff that they get along because if they don't get along, then, and I've been on a few staffs where the chemistry was not good. And, you know, we got through the meet and you hope the kids don't see what's going on, but they probably do. And so it's just not as good a situation as when the Head coaches get along like an O four. My counterpart on the men's side, George Williams, we were like best buddies. So there was. No problems at all. And so it's a matter of using that time, like you say, to suddenly now integrate everybody into your team. And that's why I think it's so important in the years leading up to the selection that the event coaches have. Got a dynamic of some sort going on with these athletes and with their coaches that they can call on it and say, Hey, maybe you're upset at him because he beat you last week, but now we got to do relay handoffs and you got to make this happen. So no, it is a very much psychological exercise. And there are a few. Times when things are getting a little rough, but you know, you just work through them. We do have a team psychologist that travels with us and they too are chosen years in advance in order to travel with other groups to get to know the athlete because you don't want the athlete to suddenly make. Let's say his first Olympic team and then have some kind of a mental health issue and feel the need they've got to talk to somebody they've never even met. You don't want that because that's even worse. So that's where we have the continuity. Within the staffs from year to year, the medical staff is the same way because sometimes you're dealing with chronic injuries or personal medical issues that again, you don't want your business out all over the place. And so it really helps if you know, the team doctor, you know, that trainer knows me, or this masseuse is really good with me. And so there's a lot of blending that goes on. And as the teams. Go from year to year. There is a carry over. I mean, we don't have a brand new team every year. However, it's about half of a team every year. So you have the young ones coming in. Sometimes the veterans are welcoming to the youngsters and sometimes not. You just have to do it. Yeah, it's all based on personalities. How many coaches are there? So obviously the head coaches and then there's event coaches. And so say at the Olympic level, what's the coaching staff size? At the Olympic level, it was. Four men and four women. So it was like a staff of eight. Yeah, it's very small. And this time coming up for Paris, it's going to be even smaller because they're adding in some personal coach credentials there. So let's say like Bobby Kersey, who coaches several potential Olympic medalists, we want to make sure he has a pass to get into the final warm up areas at the expense of. Another staff member. So that gets to be a little bit of a political nightmare, but they want the medals. So we've got to do behind the scenes. What's going to create that or help it. Yeah. You sort of alluded to it. There can be a little bit of a political nightmare, but is that confusing for the athletes to be listening to their personal coach and then listening to their Olympic coach or is there ever discrepancies on what they should be doing or how they should be training? A good Olympic coach is a facilitator. And you facilitate the program the athlete brings to the training camp or to the meet. If you try to coach and change things, that'll be the only team you ever make. Because the athletes do reviews. And let's say as a head coach, if I'm on a team, and I hear that one of my events coaches is trying to change or do something to one of the athletes that gets back to me, I'll That'll be the end of that coach. So we don't want that to happen. The personal coach is the one that got them there. Not you. Now in 96, I was very fortunate because Charles Austin, who was a personal athlete for me, he was on the men's team and I was on the women's staff. So there, it was no problem. In 92, he was on the team also, which made it very nice. But if the personal coach is not around and the athlete is there and needing help, then you help. But mainly help is timing, caring, starting blocks, making sure they need what they need. Do they have access to the medical? Do they know where the weight room is? So a good coach, an Olympic or world championship level is a facilitator. And if they think differently, they don't go or they don't go again. Let's put it that way. So that's very different from being a coach at a different kind of meet or a different level. Right. And it's different than a team sport, very definitely, because like a basketball team, you're putting the team together and now you are coaching them and have plays and schematics in the whole bit. But for swimming and for track, even though you have relays, we're still an individual event. But the team sports are different, baseball, softball, the head coach is a coach and develops a team philosophy. Do you recall how you felt? Let's just take a look. Use the bookends of the opening ceremony and closing ceremony. If you went to that, was it, did it go for excitement and nervousness to just relief? I was only able to go to the opening ceremonies three times, but I would think from a coaching point of view, that's kind of like your Olympic medal. In other words, when you're a team coach, you do not get medals, even if the athletes that you're working with, whether it's a personal coach or a team coach, you don't get medals. You get a certificate maybe afterwards, you know, so marching in with the USA to Stars and Stripes Forever and seeing the crowd and just watching the flags and the people and just that whole atmosphere. I will never forget that in 92. That was my Olympic moment just for me, if you will. Charles winning the gold medal in 96 was my gold medal, or me and my Olympic with an athlete. Each opening ceremonies was drastically different. And so that was interesting too. The fun part about opening ceremonies is they put all of the teams. In a, let's say an adjacent gym or stadium, like a basketball arena or something next to the main track stadium. And so you have like four or five hours to interact with all of these other athletes on other sports within the USA team. And so that to me was great fun because you got to meet and you take pictures with the basketball players and the swimmers and all of that. So that was a problem. Yeah. You got to meet everybody and see them before the action all started. So that was exciting. Now, when you get into the center of the field and it's the program with all the speeches, that's when our protocol kind of breaks down. Because now we don't want to listen to all those speeches. So now the teams start to interact and intermingle and talk back and forth. In 92, it got a little scary because that was the first time basketball used the professional basketball players, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird group. Yeah. The dream. Yeah. The dream team. So they marched in. It's the first of the USA delegation. Yeah. So all the other countries wanted to see the dream team. We wanted to see the dream team, the U S people. And so when we all got to the center of the infield, the Spanish organizing committee had these. little guards that were there to help separate the countries and keep us apart. Well, they were young kids. And when you get these athletes all storming toward Michael Jordan or whoever, Charles Barkley, those poor little people didn't have a chance. And it was kind of a mob coming at us. It got under order pretty quickly. So nobody got hurt or anything. I think then they took the team out before the end of the ceremonies, but that got a little bit treacherous. But in 96, Charles Barkley came back and talked to us. Grant Hill came back. Christian Leitner. A lot of the basketball guys would come back and intermix and talk. In 04, LeBron James was there taking pictures. And who else? Tim Duncan and the little gymnasts getting to see them. And Mia Hamm, the soccer team. And some of them were great. hospitable individuals and some of them were kind of jerks. So that was interesting to see too. And everyone's nervous. They're excited to be there, but no one's competed yet. So it's all anticipation at that point. Exactly. Now, closing from what I've seen and what I've heard is the exact opposite because there, you don't march in as a country. Everybody's just there. So it's athletes marching in or team marching in. It's much more casual. And I know the athletes have a good time with that too. I usually end up that night doing my laundry before heading back home. So that's, that's the only time you can get in the laundry room. The athletes are gone. Wait a minute. You've coached the entire Olympics and. You're doing your laundry during the closing ceremony and watching it on TV with some of the athletes that did not go to the closing ceremonies. Yes. It's so glamorous. I'll tell you never ends no matter what happens in terms of the metal hall and all of that. I mean, it must be just a very satisfying experience to have gone through it. I mean, it's so rewarding and just the honor, number one of representing your country and being at a pinnacle of a sport, the people that you've met, the experiences, the friendships that I still have today of people that I've worked with. 30, 40 years ago for like a little network and a little family. And the Olympic saying is once an Olympian, always an Olympian or you're forever an Olympian. There's no past Olympian. So the Olympics, it's a little group within itself too, from all the different sports. So that's interesting for networking purposes and so on. But day to day during those two weeks or two plus weeks, are you just. Every day getting up and you said you're more of a facilitator than doing the actual coaching. So you're just up and making sure like all the trains are running on time. Oh, yes. A typical day in the Olympic Village, once competition starts for track, would be get up at 5, head to the Village Cafeteria, McDonald's, and get your little Egg McMuffin. Number one, make sure your athletes are up that are competing that morning. Cause the first event is like at nine o'clock. So you've got to get out there and go through all the protocols. So you're having to leave like at six, six 30, maybe to get there, depending on how far you are from the stadium too. In Rio, I think they were an hour each way. So that was really bad, but you're there in the morning with your athletes that are in the morning session. And making sure they have everything. We do have a team official who checks their bags before they even leave the dorm. Because we've used to have top athletes leave like a uniform or their bib or take two right shoes and not a left shoe. So now we've assigned a person, a former athlete, actually, to check their bag before they go on the bus. And so when we get to the stadium, we're not having panic. And that has helped take out some of the emotion with it. But then we're there till maybe one o'clock, two o'clock in the afternoon, going through all of the preliminaries, depending again on the ride back and what time you have to be back at the stadium. You either get a box lunch to have your afternoon spent there in the warmup track under a tent or something, or you'll take the bus back to the village and, you know, you got a few hours downtime. Before you have to head back to the games for the evening session. And so the evening session, depending on what time zone you're in, it'll probably be until midnight, 1 AM. And then you catch the bus back. So now if you're having to get up at 4 30 or five or whatever. You'll see it's a very short turnaround. So if you could get back in the afternoon and get a quick nap, that is one way. If you can't, then you just nap under the tables or whatever's there in the warmup area. You see, it's a very glamorous job. The glamorous element is getting higher. You'd mentioned that. At least on the international level, or is it just the Olympics that it's volunteer? I don't know if like the Pan Am games and everything with USA track and field is volunteer. So the coaches are really getting paid through working as high school or college coaches. The athletes will be paying their coaches. Some of the top athletes that have contracts. So they have that built in coaching stipend. If you have an athlete, that's like top five in the world. The Olympic Committee will give you like 6, 000 a year. The biggest complaint I have right now with NC2A, they're bringing in so many foreign athletes. Our USA coaches are training all these foreign athletes. They go back at World Championship or Olympic time to represent their home country, and win medals and beat our kids. So we're losing out. We can't think that we are still the top dog in the race. When it gets down to team points and things, yes, we are winning, but the margin is getting very, very tight. And the U S Olympic committee pays USA track and field and USA swimming and all the different governing bodies. They'll pay them for the number of medals that you win at a major championship. Yeah. So the fewer medals that we win, it means less money coming into USA track and field for the athletes. So I don't understand why this is such a hard concept on why do we keep training our opposition and letting our top coaches be paid and stipend by our opponents. And nobody seems to be worried about that. And yet it's happening more now than ever. And our top coaches are being paid by foreign countries. They're not college coaches, so I don't want that to be misconstrued there. These are post collegiate club coaches, so some of them are making a living that's decent, but they're doing it with stipends from foreign countries. Because they probably just need to make money, so if that's where they can find Yeah. The paycheck. That's where they can find it. And you know, they've got families, so I guess I understand you're going where the highest bidder is, but I sure wish our USA governing bodies, whether it be NC2A or the Olympic Committee or whomever, would look at this and see, one, our top coaches are being paid by foreign countries, so we're losing that expertise. Some of our top sports scientists are being paid by other countries to come in and share all the scientific findings that we, USA, have paid for over the last 20 some years. And then looking on the athlete side, some of our top athletes in high school are being deprived of college scholarships because The colleges are bringing in these foreigners because they're older, they're more mature, and so therefore they'll score points quicker. A 20, 22 year old German, let's say, is going to be more mature athletically and so forth than most 18, 19 year old kids. So this is my opinion, but I stand by it. Our whole development program, which I used to be in charge of back in the nineties, has really taken a downturn due to these kinds of circumstances. A lot of our kids are not being mentored all the way up the way we used to. Back in the heyday when we had the Jackie Joyner Kerseys and the top people that had been helped and supported since high school. And so we're going to see the results of this moving forward. Yes. And in 2028, where are the Olympic Games? Los Angeles. Yeah. Right. So our hometown country, and I'm not sure what we're going to see. Do you have a preference working as an Olympic coach versus a college coach versus a personal coach? Do you feel like when it's more fun, more satisfying? Well, obviously being an Olympic or world championship coach, it has a nice resume builder, but I get as much satisfaction out of working with my high school kids right now, or some of the post collegiate or the collegiate athletes, as I did being on the Olympic level and being hounded for why we dropped the baton and that type of thing. So my joy is working with the athletes and helping them and seeing them improve. And when they improve, then that's kind of validation for me that I've done a good job, I've prepared them, got them ready for the next level to reach their goals, because that's ultimately what my success is based upon, how well they perform and meet their goals. So that's my joy with it, regardless of the level. What do you think accounts for you being so successful? It is clearly you've trained yourself in knowing these sports, but I wonder if part of it is this connection that you're able to find with your athletes, because it's not a one size fits all. You can't just say this worked with Susie and now I'm going to do it with Joe. It's a unique fit for each athlete. You're able to read each person and. probably on a day to day basis to how they're doing. So is that your particular skill set that you are offering? I guess that I mean, I think looking at each athlete as an individual and as a human being with faults and with. Benefits with skills and yet areas that they're not so skilled in. My paying job over the years was a middle school teacher and middle school administrator. So I definitely had 30 some years of dealing with personalities and day to day situations. And I think that did very much help me in working with the coaching aspect and coaching helped me working with the middle school kids. So I think they worked hand in hand very definitely. I like to think just having empathy for the individual and finding out what makes them tick and what works well for them is something that I have access to or can do that I hope I can sense. I've got one top high school kid right now. That's a really good athlete, a division one scholarship. He's already signed and he was getting a little. lackadaisical here a little, about a month or so ago. And we kind of had a little come to Jesus meeting and he got back on track. So sometimes you've got to sit them down privately. And, and I think that's a big thing too, is knowing when and how to correct and when and how to reinforce and to be positive. I don't tell everybody they're the greatest thing God created and yet areas that they need improvement on. I try to do. As tactfully as possible and yet get the message across that, Hey, this is the way you need to do it, not your way. I've been around the block a few times more than you. So I think try it my way and see if that works and then just your reputation follows you too, and that helps because I've got parents calling me weekly. Can I join your group? Can I join your group? To a point you've got to say no until your numbers drop, because I don't want it just to become. a mass mob out there. You want to still have that individual interaction with the kid. That's reputable to do that. I admire that because you could probably just say ka ching, ka ching, sir, get out on the field. Right. At the very high levels, they have worked for years and years and probably spent a lot of money in training and they might get to the Pan Am Games or the Olympics and You know, we all celebrate the medalists, but some people have a bad day in that prelim or the final. And it's a very disappointing experience. How do you help them cope with that? That this pinnacle, the dream is to be there. And this is not the day that they have peaked or they haven't given the performance they've wanted. I think this is where whatever relationship you have with them really plays into a factor, because if you have a rapport with the individual, it's a lot easier to be empathetic and for them to believe you. Because a lot of times too, you've got to get trust and confidence with these elite level athletes. They're so used to people just hanging onto them and using them because they are good athletes. A lot of the trust is not just there because you have the title coach. You have to earn it for sure. Yeah. And so I think as long as you've shown them that you're genuine in the good times and in the bad times, and I know from my point of perspective with it, I want to be there when the negative thing is happening. In other words, when they win, or do well, or set a record, everybody's their buddy. Everybody's there. I stand back with that. I'm not trying to be into all that. But it's when the stuff hits the fan and things go wrong, that's when you need to be there. Even if you don't say anything, you're just there. And sometimes you're just there and you sit on the bus and you're just there while they cry. And then other times you try to say a few things, Sometimes they tell you they don't need to hear that right now and just to be quiet and then that's your cue to shut up and just stand there and be with them. So I've had athletes tell me that, that not now Sue, not now. I'm like, okay, that's fine. I'm not going to try to intrude on your moment of despair. But I think that they just know that you're there for them through thick or thin. And that's the key thing. No, there are winners and there are losers. And sometimes you're on one side and sometimes you're on the other side. And I think being a good sport is ultimate, especially obviously when things go bad. And when you do well, not acting like a fool is something because the world is watching you. These kids are watching you and they're impressionable. I think publicly you have a responsibility. To your team, to your country, if you're representing the U. S. or whomever, you know, and to your family, too. Did you always dream of being a coach, or how did you start down this path? Well, when I was in elementary and then going into high school, I always liked sports and was participating. Not very good, but liked to do it. Softball, actually, was The sport that I had most success in. And then as I aged out of the league, I turned into coaching in that league for a few years. But in high school, a friend of mine was one of the top U. S. sprinters in the nation. And at that time we didn't have high school girls track. So she was training with the boys at the junior college. She'd asked me to go and. Just kind of be there, she said to help and to time, but I think it was more, you know, have another female around and moral support. Yeah, exactly. And so that's where the bug bit. And as I realized that I was not going to be athletically very good. But I love the sport. So it was like, how do you stay in the sport and not be an athlete? So I started quote unquote coaching at 14 and learning by listening to these junior college coaches and reading up and we didn't have internet obviously. So it was like, go to the library and read and talk to people and watch. And that's how I got started when I was in high school, actually. And did you have mentors? Did people readily kind of take you under their wing and say, yeah, I'll show you how this coaching game goes. Of course not. Cause you were a girl. I was a girl and I was young and unless I was helping them carry something, I guess I was in the way. So it was working through at that time, the AAU, the Amateur Athletic Union, now it's USA track and field. And as we work through the governing body, cause that's how you had to have girls. Performing at that time, you know, interscholastic sports for high school was like golf and tennis and badminton. Those were the three sports that the girls could do. And since none of those appealed to me as, as much as track did. I shifted over and we did these club sports. And so it was through getting to know people and going to different competitions and clinics. And usually I was the only female in the room or one of very few and definitely the youngest in the room. And so you kind of sat by the side and just kind of watched and maybe ask a question once in a while, or you just sat there like a sponge is what I did to learn and to absorb as much as possible. And around what years was this? This was in the late 60s. It was very definitely male female separation as far as any kind of sporting goods. Title IX was not in yet. And so we did what we could through AAU competition at that time. And I just, I don't want to say bulldozed my way in, but I was there and I didn't step back. I did try not to let myself get intimidated and just. stayed in the room as long as I could and nobody asked me to leave. So there I was. Yeah. You didn't give up. You, you persevered through it. And did you have a goal at that point that you wanted to be a college coach or did you know you wanted to coach at the international level or do you remember having an end goal at that point? My goal at that time, because again, I'm late teens, early twenties, was basically just to teach and to coach and to have some fun using athletics as my vehicle that way. I started an age group team with my friend's father and my mother. They were the sponsors. And so I was coaching kids that were in elementary school. Before I had a driver's license. So my mother had to buy me, but at that time I was getting the enjoyment of working with kids. And it was through that experience then that led me into teaching my career that paid money because coaching didn't pay money. So I was balancing both worlds as educator and coach and they both worked hand in hand. My friend, as I mentioned, was one of the top sprinters. So when I travel with her and her family, I would see the national competition and I would see that the USA had dual meets with Russia, that the team would travel to Germany and places like that. So that was kind of neat, like, okay, maybe this is something I could work up into. And then were you drawn to the jumpers or were you also coaching the runners? Did you do it all? At the beginning I did it all. That's the nice thing with track and field is there's so many different events. If you can't run, you maybe can jump or maybe you can throw or finding different opportunities. So we did a little bit of everything. And. That's where, again, the studying came in and having to learn very quickly the different events based upon what athletes I had there on the team or what interests they had as I matured in the sport, shall we say, and I had more luck and opportunities with jumpers that was primarily kind of the avenue I took. And yet right now I'm working with high school kids in a club situation again, and I've got some jumpers, some hurdlers, and they come to you and then you adapt to them as to what their interests are. How much do you think successful coaching is knowing the specifics of the actual sport and how much is just being a great coach? I think to be a great coach at any level, the first thing is you need to know what you're coaching and you need to know the events or the sport. And I think people in schools, they get put into coaching jobs, you know, either for a small stipend or because nobody else will do it. And that's a real disservice to the kids because I see enough. High school and middle school campus was right now that so many of these coaches, God bless them, they don't know what they're doing and they don't care to learn. And I'm not saying they're just doing it for the check, but they're just doing it and they're not really taking an interest. And in some cases creating a potential health hazard or safety hazard. For the athlete, the students now on the flip side, there's a lot of middle school and high school coaches that are very much into it and students of the event and learning it. So I give kudos to them and encourage them. I think the biggest part of coaching after learning the X's and O's is just the compassion and empathy that you have for the kids. I mean, they're all humans. They all are different ability levels and different interests, different motivations. And of course, learning that, and then learning to deal with the parents on the younger level as to what their motivations are and interests are. It's a balancing act for sure. So I think to be a coach, you have to be, uh, magician at times balancing all the different concepts and as the students get older the problems or the situations differ but they're still there whether it be on the age group level or the olympic level. You still have situations and they just vary with the individual. Yeah. I've seen that one of my daughters is a high school basketball player and just all the psychological stuff too. Like she'll get really down on herself if they lose. She'll take it on herself that it was her fault that the team lost or something. You know, so there's all the mental game that can go in it too. Yeah. I mean, as a coach, you're not just dealing with what I call on the track. Yeah. A lot of times, and maybe more important is the off the track activities as far as the psychological, as far as making sure they're staying eligible with their grades, dealing with them when the drama of life, the tragedies of life, like breaking up with your boyfriend or girlfriend, or they flunked a test or their best friend was talking about them. So, again, depending on the level. The off the track situations are very much there when I'm dealing with the older athletes. I mean, there you get into divorce and you get into relationship situations and it gets very intense at times. So I'll, I'll guarantee you that. It's a really all encompassing job, isn't it? I mean, you're really kind of a mother or auntie figure or something probably for a lot of these. Few people have said that. Of course, now I'm at the stage where they say you're the grandmother, but it has been kind of a surrogate parent. And yet you've got to draw that line because you're not trying to be that. And get involved with the family issues, obviously, but then there's times when you kind of need to be involved with some of that, because you see things that maybe are happening that shouldn't be happening with the child. And then that creates another situation to deal with, but it's definitely 24 seven, if you're doing it right. And whether it's preparing for their workouts or competitions, or as you mentioned, just keeping them sane as much as possible. Well, Sue, thank you. I love all these behind the scenes stories. I feel like I've been able to be on an Olympic track, so thanks. Yeah, just bring your bed and, uh, your sackcloth. I'll bring extra for the coaches. There you go. Thank you. We appreciate that. In 2028, they'll want those. Drive down to L. A. Yes, yes. Thanks, bud. Thank you so much. Okay. Thanks so much for the opportunity to share. I'm grateful to coaches like Sue Humphrey who are intentional and conscientious about their work. Anyone who ever was a competitive athlete or is the parent of one knows the importance of these good coaches. Plus, thanks Sue for all the behind the scenes information from the Olympics. Here are some of my takeaways from our conversation. Number one. Notice where you're experiencing joy in your work. Sure, the glitzy things like Olympic opening ceremonies are fun, but the real satisfaction may be in the day to day, like watching your athletes improve their skills. 2. No matter their speed or where they finish in a race, treat each person as a full human being, with both faults and skills. 3. Titles don't confer respect. You have to earn it. 4. If you've shown your genuine nature through the good times and the bad, and you've not just been there for the triumphs, people will trust you when they're struggling. 5. Win or lose, be a good sport. You owe that to your teammates, your fans, your family, and really, to yourself. And finally, number 6. Sometimes it's worth doing something simply because it's really meaningful to you, even if the payment isn't. Is only a sweatsuit. I'd like to thank Sue Humphrey for sharing her experiences with me. Who knew some Olympic coaches were doing laundry during the closing ceremony. If you'd like to learn more about Sue at her book, please go to the show notes for this episode on our website, what it's like to.net. You can also find all of our past episodes there. If you like listening to stories about the Olympics, you might wanna check out episode 43. When Justin Spring talked about winning an Olympic medal in gymnastics. And episode 12 with Olympic photographer, Jeff Cable. If you're not already following us on social media, please do. And please tell a few friends about this podcast too. I'm Elizabeth Pierson Garr. Thanks for being curious about what it's like.