Coach reflects on key lessons from the track
Jun 06, 2011By: Randy Pascal
When Track North coach Dick Moss watches club prodigies like Andrew Ellerton and Ross Proudfoot circling the track with awe-inspiring speed, he does so knowing exactly what it feels like to be in their shoes. 
Granted, that was more than three decades ago. But victories in events such as Olympic Trials and NCAA finals tend to stay with a person a good, long while. 
Born in Sudbury and raised in various outposts across the region, the elder of two boys in the family recalled a time when “organized sport” was not a prerequisite to remaining active. 
“As a kid, it was a different time then,” Moss said. “We didn’t have video games, so we played sports all the time. We played pickup baseball, we played pickup football — we would go back in the bush and spend the whole day playing cowboys and indians.” 
Sure, it may not have been the base of cross-training that might work its way into modern times coaching manuals – but it sure was effective. After brief attempts at baseball and hockey, Moss was enrolled with the Sudbury Track and Field Club, under the guidance of head coach Errol Gibson.