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Scott Steffen – Episode 013 – Coaching Runners Podcast

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Scott Steffen is the boy’s and girl’s coach at Concordia Lutheran High School in Fort Wayne, IN.

His boy’s team won the state cross country championship in 2019. Indiana has a single classification championship and Concordia Lutheran has an enrollment of just over 700 students. His boys went on to finish 4th at the NXR in unquestionably one of the toughest regions.

In this podcast, Scott talks about the challenges of coaching at a small school and the challenges of having a small team.

Scott is a member of all three seasons of High School Running Coach and he talks about how that resource and the Fundamentals Education Course have impacted his coaching.

Enjoy!

Episode 012 – Change in Coaching Runners Podcast format

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Just a quick update to let you know that a new episode will be released every Monday. Most episodes will be interviews, but every so often I will do a Q&A.

I go into a bit of detail about the 2020 Boulder Running Clinics, which is an example of the only ads that will be on the podcast – ventures that help Jay keep the podcast going.

If you have a question that you’d like me to answer on the podcast please send it to jay@coachjayjohnson.com with “podcast” in the subject line.

Finally, if you’re on iTunes and would be willing to rate the podcast that would be greatly appreciated.

Jessie Magoto – Episode 011 – Coaching Runners Podcast

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Jessie Magoto is my guest on this week’s podcast. She is the girl’s coach at Minster HS in Minster OH, a town of 3,000 people. Minster has won four state championships in a row in cross country and won the track championship 2019. She has coached at Minster for 21 years. She coaches Sunni Olding who finished 10th and 5th at the Footlocker nationals.

In this podcast we talk about the importance of athleticism and why she has her girls in the weight room. She strongly believes is one of the keys to her team’s success. Jessie is speaking at the 2020 Boulder running clinics and I asked her how she approaches clinics and how she uses information from a clinic in her program. I’m very fortunate to work with Jessie at the Boulder Running Camps and we talk about her experience as a staff member and as a coach who brings her team to the camp.

It’s always fun to interview a friend and I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed recording it.

Kim O’Malley – Episode 010 – Coaching Runners Podcast

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Kim O’Malley is a Youth Development Specialist with 20 years of experience designing and delivering leadership curriculum in a wide range of settings. Kim has been a public high school teacher, head cross-country and track coach, an outdoor trip leader, a parent education facilitator and a professional development coach, blogger, public speaker, mom, and seasoned ultra-marathoner.

Kim’s coaching career began as an undergraduate student at Northwestern University when upon discovering the university lacked a running program- started her own. She co-founded Northwestern’s running club, served as its president and coach, and eventually elevated the program to varsity status at which it remains today.

Kim has successfully led large co-ed cross-country and track programs with diverse populations in California and Colorado.

She led the North Monterey County girls’ cross-country team to the first sectional championships for any girl’s program in the school’s history while focusing on holistic coaching practices that prioritized personal wellness, character development, and leadership.

As a program manager for the national non-profit organization Girls Leadership and a curriculum specialist for the Girl’s Athletic Leadership School network (GALS INC), Kim is committed to equipping teachers, coaches, parents and students with the tools they need to bring holistic, relationship-based teaching and learning into the arena. Kim’s career reflects her life-long passion for connecting leadership, athleticism, and social-emotional development.

In this interview Kim discusses how coaches can “coach the whole athlete,” a topic Kim will cover in detail at the 2020 Boulder Running Clinics. She also discusses Social Emotional Learning and how coaches can use that framework when working with their athletes.

Alex Ostberg – Episode 009 – Coaching Runners Podcast

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Alex Ostberg is currently entering his 5th year at Stanford University, where he has been an All-American in both cross country and track. This podcast is rooted in a presentation Alex did at the 2019 Boulder Running Camps titled, “The Ten Things I Wish I Knew As A High School Runner.” Alex is passionate about both the sport and helping high school athletes improve, which makes this podcast is a must-listen for high school coaches and athletes.

Alex has been running competitively for 11 years and has developed a passion for understanding the physiological, emotional, and psychological demands of running. He competed for 2 years in middle school with the Wilton Running Club. After that, Alex ran for Darien High school where he set 6 state records. He was a two-time qualifier at Footlocker Nationals, and the Northeast Footlocker Regional Champion in 2014. These performances earned him the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year twice.

In track, Alex was the Penn Relays 3000m champion in 2015 and the 2014 New Balance Outdoor Nationals champion. He finished his high school career with PRs of 4:06 (1600), 8:43 (3200), and 14:16 (5K). Alex was recruited to Stanford University where he has competed for 4 years and is entering his fifth year. He has steadily improved on his performances with four NCAA All-American certificates. He has excelled on the cross country circuit, placing 16th and 13th in the past two NCAA XC Championships. On the track his PRs currently stand at 3:59 (mile), 7:51 (3K), and 13:42 5K.

In 2018, Alex was elected by his peers to serve as captain of the Stanford Track Team. In addition to his training, Alex has developed a passion for learning about the science behind training and peak performance. He is pursuing a bachelors degree in Human Biology with an emphasis on Exercise Physiology and will also be getting a minor in Psychology. He has had the opportunity to be a TA for 4 different Stanford classes, including Exercise Physiology, Exercise and Aging, Clinical Anatomy, and EMT class. One day, when his competitive aspirations are over, Alex aspires to be a coach himself.

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