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How to Improve the Sport

To follow up with my 'State of the Sport' post from a couple weeks ago, I stumbled across this interesting interview with Nick Symmonds that addresses some of the issues I had touched on.

During his career as a professional runner, Symmonds has consistently been the dominant American in the 800m (he finished second at this year's World Champs). He's also been an equally outspoken critic of the USATF-dominated track scene, as is apparent in the interview. I think he mentions some really interesting improvements; however, I don't really agree with him on everything (i.e., allowing gambling at track meets). Anyway, read the article (it's short) and see what you think about some of his ideas to improve the sport of running.

I'm sure I'll be posting a lot on this sort of topic: how to improve the sport (both locally as well as nationally) and how to increase fan base and public support of the sport. Basically, how do we grow running out of its 'niche sport' status? It's an awesome sport that is unique in its ability to engage a wide range of people not just as spectators but also as participants. In just the past decade, soccer has grown from a niche sport to one with a national audience; why can't track & field and running be next?

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