Boehmke: I have been coaching for 25 years as a head coach. I was never an assistant coach. I started student coaching cross-country and track & field at Eastside while I was a senior at Furman University. I became the head coach for XC at Eastside in 1978. I was a student coach in 1977. A teammate of mine from Berea's XC team brother ran at Berea and was the head XC Coach at Eastside. Mical Embler, who has a daughter (Elizabeth Embler, 10th grade) that is a premier runner at Travelers Rest, was an assistant track coach at Eastside. After Embler left XC coaching and teaching of science at Eastside I took the spot. Mical changed careers and 2 years later in 1980 I became the head track coach at Eastside.
SCRunners: In the future what goals do you have for the boys and girls cross country team at Eastside?
Boehmke: Generally I would like both teams to place in the top five in state. I would also like to be competitive in 3a and 4a. Female athletes are diluted because of the wide range of sports offered at Eastside (jv and varsity competitive cheer, jv and varsity volleyball, tennis in the fall, and swimming). It is tougher with girls to make my goals realistic, but still possible because it has been done in the past. Philosophically I want the kids to have a good time learning how to enjoy running as a life long activity. To narrow down my goals for this year's team I would like to have the guys place top 5 in the state and I would like the girls to qualify even though if we competed in the lower state I believe that the girls would easily qualify.
SCRunners: What or who inspired you to start coaching?
Boehmke: My high school coach Jim Mattos could motivate anyone to go out and do things. He gave us the freedom to try things our own way. He recognized each athlete as an individual with their own set of problems and own individual circumstances that allowed you to do things that best suit you on and off the track. He is a guy that you can sit around and talk to about anything, not telling his opinion, but he makes sure that you walk away with your own opinion. In him you can see his passion for coaching. He was actually a basketball coach, but he has a passion for kids and every sport. He worked with you regardless of how of good or bad we were and he made you feel good about yourself.
Bill Keesling was the head track & field and cross-country coach at Furman while I was attending school there. In those days at Furman we only had a guys team. He taught me the sport, made me learn split differences, how to manage events, and other things such as running a track meet, xc meet, and how to do it the right way. Keesling started the district meet, the Furman Invitational, he is the first Greenville Track Club president, and he started the Reedy River Run while being the meet director. One difference from Mattos is that Bill was a runner. He was not overly competitive but he was trying to experience the same types of things his athletes were going through, but not at the same level. I think that any coach of XC and T&F that runs helps each athlete to see that the sport is not a dead end, such as football and basketball. Running is a career than can be lifelong and does not have to end after college.
SCRunners: Did you participate in XC/T&F in high school and college? If so, what events?
Boehmke: I was never a top runner. I ran a 4:51 mile in high school. I did not get to go the state meet. I ran in the upper 11s for two miles, 2:12 in the half mile. I was never a help to Furman as an athlete. Keesling allowed me to work out with the guys and be a team manager. I looked to myself that I was a sort of GA or assistant without the undergraduate degree more than anything else. I was not just a guy that handed out uniforms, kept up with splits, and performances. For example, in the present it would include keeping up a web page. I made top 10 posters in each event while at Furman. I laid out the home course at home meets. Sometimes I left the golf cart out on the course because it ran out of juice. I would use my Pinto to load all the supplies into. I learned a lot of coaching philosophy and how it worked by keeping up with performances. By the end of my time at Furman I ran a 28:33 in a 5-mile race. Other times that I ran while in college were a 2:08 in the half, under 40 4 to 5 times in the 10k, and I ran other road races that the GTC held.
SCRunners: I know you are currently running yourself. What races are you training for? Do you believe because you run it motivates your athletes?
Boehmke: I have no idea of anything specific I am training for as of now. I will be running the coaches, parents, and open race at the Greenville County Championships this upcoming Saturday (Oct. 26) at Eastside. I would like to run a half marathon soon, maybe attempt the Paris Mountain 20k, and probably run the Green Valley 10 mile in February.
My last serious year of running until now was 1995. I ran the Smoky Mountain Marathon in February of 1995 in 3:57.44. A week before the marathon I ran the Green Valley 10 miler in 69:30. I also ran the Reedy River 10k in 1995.
SCRunners: How have you learned over the years of experience as a coach to motivate athletes to succeed individually and as a team?
Boehmke: When an athlete sees that a coach is running they know you can understand what they are going through. Kids sometimes say well if running is so easy why are you (meaning coach) not doing it. I can't run as fast or as far, but I run at my level, which is no different then asking them to run at their level. Plus, it is pretty impressive to have a resting heart rate the same as my age (47) or close to my age. I am actually 46.
Every person has a different way to be motivated. Every team is also motivated differently. Some teams perform well on hard workouts to spite the coach. An example is after 10-1 mile repeats the athletes may say, what's next? Other athletes need to be sweet-talked to do anything. The challenge as a coach is to challenge any athlete at a level that they can reach. This is not just at Eastside, but it is important to have a relationship with them so that they can believe in themselves as much as coach believes that they can achieve their goals. Some kids can be yelled at, some you dare not yell at, and others it may take sweet-talking. The idea of motivation depends on the situation and athlete. *Regardless of anyone's ability if you have some faith and the coach knows you have it and if the coach sticks with that person they will improve on and off the field. Sometimes I think that some that come out may not make it is a runner. But, I give them a chance, have patience with them, and they breakout to be their best.
SCRunners: Who did athletes admire the most when you were in high school?
Boehmke: Bart Star, Quarterback for Green Bay Packers, Joe Namith, NY Jets, Henry Aaron, Atlanta Braves, and I am not sure about basketball. Running role models included Jim Ryun, Marty Liquor, and Jim Ryun (1st high school runner to break 4 minutes in mile).
SCRunners: What high school did you attend? What year did you graduate?
Boehmke: Berea High School Class of 1974.
SCRunners: How much would you like South Carolina high school running to grow and how do you think it can be done?
Boehmke: Historically, what is has done. When I was an athlete Greenville County had 3 XC Teams (Berea, Hillcrest, and sometimes Eastside). Now we have 13 or so public schools and 4-5 private schools with cross country programs. The state XC champs has gone from 20 total teams, with no girls, to 100 teams for both boys and girls at the state meet. There was a running boom that took place in the late 70s and early 80s. It was a fitness thing and since parents were running, kids started to do it.
The quantity of XC athletes will grow. XC relies more on a motivated, caring coach more than any other sport. Even a track coach can take some athletes and win state, but you can't with XC because the team has to be developed over time. You do not kick, throw, or bounce a ball. Around the state the same schools and coaches are the ones that are always competitive because they are true XC coaches and are not just thrown in the position.
SCRunners: What is your most memorable event as a head coach?
Boehmke: Winning the 1987 state championships. We are the smallest 4a state school to ever win it. If Eastside had two fewer students they would have been 3a. When we won it was at the time the third lowest score ever, regardless of classification. It was an impressive victory because we knew we won it when the 5th guy from Eastside crossed the line, from a coach's perspective.
As a coach the contribution to a sport as a profession was being elected into the hall of fame (September, 2002) because peers notice the importance of your career. The cross-country inductees are announced at Coaches Classic and they are announced at Coaches Classic for track.
SCRunners: What concerns you about the sport?
Boehmke: More and more of a lack of appreciation from parents, coaches, and athletes for the attempts that are made to provide quality events for athletes. I find that e-mail and forums are really "chicken" ways for people to relay thoughts and feelings to those that are in charge. If you think it can be done better than the coaches or parents need to volunteer, attend sc coaches meetings, and hold offices in the South Carolina Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
"Running is the end in itself". Runners have always been friendlier than any other sports. Internet sites have been ways to find limitations of others. Why talk bad about a person because you are beating them? Why rank a team above mine when you know you are better? What happened with the encouraging words that runners gave each other regardless of uniform? I would like every athlete to have a class meet to run in. Frustration is overcoming the value I get from running off meets. One day I will just stop and I am not sure if the meets will disappear, not bragging, but I do not think anyone else can do a better job.