I thought this guy must be crazy. I met him over the summer at camp, and like I said, I thought this guy looked and acted crazy. With his long hair and his crazy attitude, I thought how I am going to get through the season. This man was my coach for a good two months; Coach Breger saw a lot of potential in me, where clearly I had not.
I was told to run around 10 to 20 miles a week! I thought what the heck, telling myself I can’t run that much. Coach said yes you could; you just have to try. I began my running career. With the help from Coach I was able to become more confident in myself. I think he tried to scare; it worked be cause he got through to us.

The one thing Coach said to us after being pissed off by the teammates was “ Don’t ever give up; I don’t care if you are asking a girl out, studying for a test, doing something that you didn’t even think you’d ever able to do!” I believe in his saying even today. I brought those words into my life and accomplished something I never ever thought I was able to. I then started becoming more confident in school and at home.

My running career got better and better as the season went on. I actually ran more than the 10 to 20 miles a week; I increased to about 25 to 30 miles a week! I thought right around this time I had definitely made the right decision with doing cross-country. Then one race I ran a bad time, and Coach was mad. We went on our cool down run, but we only got about 5 mins at and people were walking and goofing around. When we got back, Coach flipped out on us! He told us not to be at practice on Monday. I was really disappointed because I really tried my hardest in that race, and I did my cool down. I went back to my car thinking about how disappointed I must have made him. Later that day my father went over there and talked to the coach. Coach said he thought I had a great race, and he knew I tried my hardest, but didn’t he like that fact that I was hanging around the kids who didn’t try to get better and the ones who slacked off all the time. Those moments taught me; I don’t ever want to disappoint him again.



I really enjoyed must of my first season with my new coach. I even made the back up varsity team for states as a freshman. Who knew? Coach knew! I am glad he saw what I didn’t see. When I come back next year, I am going to make varsity to prove to myself that anything is possible when you put your mind to it and put in the effort and try your best. Thanks coach Breger. I’m happy to nominate you for Educator of the Year.