Managing a huge team can be difficult, but Cross Country Coach Victor Doan wakes up determined to wear his running shoes and run, after school he transforms from a teacher to the cross country coach prepared to run with his team.
Doan represents the few of those who work twice as hard for their team in order to make sure most of students are accommodated. As the cross country team expanded Doan has leaned on his captains for extra support regarding managing the team. He believes the team was able to expand this much due to students influencing each other to run for cross country.
“You know there’s really not that much difference between coaching 100 or 200 students,” said Doan. “Running is one of those things where I think you can scale up pretty fast, but without it being too crazy.”
Some coaches implement a capacity for their team, but the cross country team opposes this with many people participating through the years. Doan believes the amount of students joining cross country doesn’t affect his coaching as they are outdoors.
“You know, I don’t feel as if the school has done anything itself, I definitely know there’s teachers who support the program and tell their students,” said Doan.
The school has not provided much resources or support towards the growth of the cross country team, but the program has gained its support from teachers and students. It’s unnecessary for Doan to advertise their program due to its exponential word-of-mouth growth, he said many kids are motivated to run and invite other kids with them.
“Six, seven years ago, I had almost 175 runners. That was just really hard to manage,” said Doan. “It’s been not too bad because I have, like, great captains that take care of this stuff.”
Because of the amount of people joining over the years, Doan has gradually gained support from his captains doing basic logistical stuff.
“I think students are more interested because they want to build endurance for other sports. But others like the competition,” said Student Alyssa Garcia, a junior, who is in her third year of cross country.
There are many students who join cross country to condition them for future sports they may join and most like the feeling of challenging themselves regarding their times.
“I enjoy running and making new friendships. I enjoy running because it relieves my stress,” said Garcia. “I don’t have to think about my problems. I only worry about finishing.”
