Todd Jennings (Father & Coach of Gabrielle)

McNeese!! yea thats a great place!

I don't understand why Flotrack even covers this type of crap. The girl is 10 years old. Most young girls can run this fast. Even in high school, how many times do we see the young freshmen girls dominating and by the time they are seniors they have slowed down so much.

I have seen alot of young girls start too early and take it too intense and burn out, but I have alot of hope for her. Her dad seems to have the right mind set about it and is holding her back and I think the key thing that he said is that she can do what ever she wants. That shows there is no pressure or expectations that she has to deal with.

I was running between 2-4 miles per day 3-4 days a week when i was 8. Now i'm a full ride college athlete,there is nothing wrong with starting young and enjoying what your doing.I never get injured and I put that down to being a runner for so long. There is a Kenyan on our team who used to run 3 miles to school everyday, then 3 miles back for lunch then 3 miles back to school, then home.12 miles a day did him no harm! There is nothing wrong with running when your small- essentially the human body is designed to run, there couldn't be anything more natural a youngster could do. Good Job!

Soccer and basketball can get quite competitive too. I don't understand why so many people think kids can't have fun running.

keeping it fun/easy is key at this age. maybe create some games involving speed workouts at a park(we even did that in high school). Good to know you're not pushing her too hard, 2-3 miles a day doesn't seem too extreme but I am still skeptical, most girls this age are playing soccer and basketball but i hope to see her keep progressing. good job dad

Good Going Coach / Dad:

Yes, the most important thing is to keep it fun. There is a lot of potential but learn from others that spark went out way too soon.