Coaches Spotlight- Patrick Calcutt (GISA)
1- Congrats on having a great regular season. When did you first become interested in Track and Field?
When I was in eighth grade in LaGrange Georgia, I got picked along with my best friend Milton Cato to run in an eighth-grade exhibition mile at the Carrollton Relays. I was hooked from that point.
2- Did you compete in HS or College as an athlete? or another Sport?
I ran track and cross country for Stone Mountain High School and for Chico Lynch and John Revere at LaGrange High School. In college, I ran track and cross-country for Florida State for the late John Brogle as a walk-on and teammate of a long-time high school competitor, Richard Corbett from Walton High School.
3- Describe your journey from novice Coach to your Head Coaching position now
We once lived in St. Petersburg Florida, where all six of my children went to Catholic school. There were many volunteer coaching opportunities there, including flag football and track. I also coached tackle football in a local youth league. When we moved to Southwest Georgia in 2008, I became a small-town attorney with more control over my schedule. By accident, I had heard that both the men's and women's cross country coaches at Southland Academy where my children attended school where leaving to coach at other schools. I stopped into the headmasters office and volunteered to help out. Two months later, I found out I was the co-head coach along with new women's basketball coach Paula Mcdonald. That was five seasons ago. My cross-country coaching position allows me to handle the distance runners during track season.
4- How important is it to have the full support of the AD and resources available to succeed?
Southland Academy is a very small private school, with perhaps 200 high school students. What we lack in budget and facilities, we make up for by having the personal time and attention of the athletic director and a "whatever it takes" attitude from the parents. Even though I am not a school employee, I am treated with great respect. The last person I shook hands with today leaving practice was our athletic director. I sympathize with coaches who battle boards, committees, and red tape for the simplest of requests. At our school, if you need it, it seems to show up the next day. When we won our first cross country championship this fall, our headmaster was there in person waiting to congratulate us. It is hard to fail in that kind of environment.
5- What are some of the challenges in building a successful program?
I read often of the distressing trend where young athletes are channeled and specialized into full-year commitments to a single sport, usually football basketball or baseball, but often swimming or tennis. That trend apparently has not arrived in this corner of Southwest Georgia. Our track and cross-country athletes compete in numerous other sports and activities. If there is one rule at Southland Academy it is: share your athletes with the other sports. This spring, we have shared track athletes with the tennis, soccer and baseball teams, along with the weightlifting and preparation for spring and summer football workouts. We coaches must be flexible with the childrens' schedules and the need to accommodate sports that do not necessarily fit in with our plans for the day. At the same time, one of the great joys I have had this year is to find a way to convert athletes from other sports into distance runners. The captain of our state championship boys cross country team is a starting pitcher on our baseball team. We have two tennis players on our 4 x 400 relay teams that qualified for state, along with a cheerleader!
6- Do you have a supportive Track Booster Club?
We do not have a track booster club. Unless you count me leaving my office every day before 3 o'clock to buy bottled water and ice and snacks for that day's practice!
7- Has Middle Track the past few years in your feeder schools helped contribute to the HS program's success?
The greatest advantage we have over the public schools is that our middle school students are on campus and practice with our varsity. Some of the children in our program I have coached since fifth grade. They already understand the concepts of interval workouts, peaking, hydration and recovery. Since they compete every day with their own high school teammates, they are completely unfazed when they step up in competition. As a result, I have had eighth-graders step up to varsity and make all-Region and, twice, all-State. I have had an eighth grade distance runner place at state in track nearly every season competing against high schoolers. Without the middle school program, what we do here would be impossible.
8- What are your program's Goals every season? County/Region title, State Championship?
My goal each season is to turn ordinary middle school and high school students into the best runners and teammates they can be. If they sacrifice and believe, the wins and the records and everything else will follow.
9- Assess your team's Region meet and the challenges faced at Sectionals to advance.
We have a very small region, giving us great opportunities to advance to State. We have 10 girls and 13 boys. However, the meet is run very quickly and on a single day, making it difficult to assess the middle and long distance runners' times against the short recovery. We have a sophomore on our ladies team, Chris Shattles, with one of the better 3200 times in the southeast this season (11:45 in March, 11:50 in Region). Our state record in GISA (11:09) in this event is held by one Grace Tinkey. Chris also is in the 1600 and 800, and on our 4 x 400 Relay Team.
10- What advancements should the GHSA make to bring our Sport on par with the 'other' 47 states ?
I can't speak to the GHSA, but I do think that having viable indoor track options statewide would dramatically improve the competitiveness of Georgia's outdoor season. I also believe that more universal use of affordable electronic timing would give coaches a better idea how to compare their athletes' times with their counterparts in other states. .
Bonus- What has been among your favorite accomplishments for the school you now coach at?
In my five seasons here along with Coach Mcdonald, we have broken either the boys cross country school record, the girls cross country school record, or both, each season. We have also broken girls track distance records last season and this season. However, it would have to be taking the nucleus of a middle school boys team circa 2009 and watching them grow into the team that won the High School's first ever GISA Cross Country State Championship this past Fall that ranks as my favorite moment. And just hours earlier Chris Shattles won the GISA Girls 1600m title.