I am a mental performance coach with a Masters in Sport Psychology. I was a successful track runner and have coached and taught for years. Aside from working with athletes on their mental game, I interview them on their experiences in sport particularly focusing on the mental aspects as well as their transition from high school to college so that all may benefit.
What strikes me, so many of you wonderful young people speak so freely about your faith, I'm so thankful for that, I'm a competitor of a professional sport in the 70s and 80s , I was born again 8 years into my profession, there wasn't a lot of openly Christian people in my world then , but praise God for you young people,
Yup. The injuries will still be there and the pressure and you can’t ever leave yourself. The chances of making it as a professional athlete and/or author are slim and some seasons are better than others. I wish her the best I hope she finds peace.
This had to be a very difficult decision. I can only imagine the recurring injuries weighed heavily on her state of mind and 'associating' it with her current location in Raleigh. It's impossible for an outsider to judge the why but there's always much more to the story than an interview. I doubt Coach Henes got to see the best version of Marlee with the frequent injuries so I'm sure she understood her frustration and apparent unhappiness there. I wish her the best of success in her new environment.
It's a good question. Honestly, I think it just wasn't' a good fit. KT reportedly is easy to get along with, definitely a team player, supportive, deferential to her older teammates, sense of humor, not too big for her britches, etc. Katelyn does train hard, and differently in that she spends a LOT of time in the gym. She sets a high bar as an example. Marlee was at the top of her heap in her region and may not have made the transition so smoothly into an environment where everybody was a star somewhere. Some athletes are like Lucifer in Paradise Lost: "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."
Those are interesting questions and perspectives, but I think they miss the mark. Marlee was not just "at the top of her heap in her region" in high school. In her senior year, she won her Foot Locker regional against the defending national champion and then finished 2nd in a down-to -the -wire finish at nationals with a scorching pace. This after finishing 5th at NXN a week earlier, despite suffering from a race-long side stitch. At winter indoors she won the Millrose high school mile in a meet record and was eating up the competition everywhere she ran. By the time the Covid shutdowns happened, it is safe to say she was the #1 middle distance and top 3 for long distance for high schoolers in the country. She was a work-out beast and made for NC State's high octane athlete and training environment. But she suffered a serious injury between the Covid shutdowns and starting at NC State and, despite limited periods of rebuilding and competing (where she started to show her potential), she has had a long string of injuries that have mostly derailed her collegiate running career. While it is impossible to project what any runners ceiling is in advance of actual performance, it is safe to say that she had the potential to be a premier collegiate runner and amongst the very best. It wasn't Tuohy or NC State that messed up her running career. It was injuries, plain and simple, and they started before she even entered NC State. Marlee is a great young person and has enormous running potential. I hope she can finally find consistent health so she can show what she can do.
Maybe so. She's had a terrible time with injuries. On the other hand, to quote The Dude, "Yah, well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion man".@@stephenkennedy3145
This is very interesting and answers a bunch of questions. The natural question is why would somebody leave NC State on the verge of a possible third national championship? But listening to Marlee, I can see how it makes sense for her. She is very smart and also very introspective. I thought she must have been miserable at NC State, but it's much more complicated than that. She's on a mission of recovery as much as self-discovery. Good luck to you Marlee
I am happy she is finding peace and happiness at Boulder. I love that place. Hopefully, she will experience happiness and success in that environment. They have a good team and the right conditions for success.
