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Running power: Grossman gives back

People Who Made a Difference

By Robert Collias 7 min read

Bobby Grossman's resume as a cross country and track and field coach at Seabury Hall is undeniably remarkable.

Now, however, he is facing his biggest challenge as he works through the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

"This whole year has been a challenge, it's so up and

down, and you don't know what's going to happen next," Grossman said Wednesday at his club team practice at the Eddie Tam Complex. "You get positive and then you get a negative. So, it's just definitely been challenging."

Grossman guided the Spartans to the first six Division II girls cross country state titles in history, from 2012-17 -- two of those were near record-setting team scores and were in reality overall state crowns.

Grossman has also coached seven of the last 10 girls cross country state champions and guided the Spartans to the 2014 and 2017 girls track and field team titles that are contested at a single level of competition.

Former Seabury Hall state champion Daniel Pietsch, who won an NCAA Division III 400-meter national title at Emory University before becoming an ACC finalist for Georgia Tech, has been attending workouts and helping Grossman coach recently.

"It's great," Pietsch said. "I mean, I've been doing it on and off for a couple years now, but he was a great coach to have -- it's great to learn from him as a fellow coach also. I feel like I got an idea of his coaching strategies and whatnot back when I was his athlete, but now I get a wider picture.

"I mean, it's just great to see what he's doing for these kids, what he's trying to make happen out here through all the difficulties with COVID."

Grossman is also a physical education teacher at Seabury Hall and sees many of his club athletes throughout the day.

The state Department of Education paused the fall high school season on Aug. 4 with a decree that all student-athletes, coaches and volunteers must be vaccinated in order to participate.

Grossman knows that he cannot lead his team as Seabury Hall during the pause, but he has kept his hat in the game by coaching his Upcountry club team.

"They had a race and I told them, 'You're not allowed to do Spartans or Seabury on three, you can say team on three,' " Grossman said. "That was on Saturday."

The high school schedule is set to restart with practice beginning on Sept. 27, although Grossman is taking a cautious approach since there have been no official competitions in the Maui Interscholastic League since March 13, 2020.

"It's challenging this year having mostly a freshman class of boys, in trying to get these kids to believe that we're going to have a season," Grossman said. "At the same time, you can't BS them, even a little bit. They're sharp, they know, so they're doing the best they can to keep it alive because they know what's happening right now, too.

"So, just trying to keep it all positive and so it's really just a P.E. situation for us."

Grossman pointed to the Valley Isle Track Club track and cross country meets put on over the last year as a big help in keeping student-athletes engaged. Those events were largely coordinated by Jesse Henderson, who is also a King Kekaulike High School coach, while Grossman also helped with the competitions.

"Having the league earlier in the year, the cross country and the track thing, having the help of Jesse Henderson and trying to create that opportunity for people to have an outlet, be competitive in this--you know, when you have soccer and a bunch of other sports that are competing--to have (runners) be able to compete, it's important," Grossman said. "All the club sports are going and maybe little county things here and there, but the state of Hawaii for high school is difficult and we haven't had anything.

"So, it is challenging. It's challenging just for myself to come back and do these things. I don't know. It's getting disappointing, at best."

Grossman sees both encouraging and frustrating signs that the Interscholastic League of Honolulu--an all-private school league on Oahu--is holding fall sport seasons as usual right now, although a couple football games have been postponed due to COVID concerns.

"The ILH is able to do it and they're ahead of the game," Grossman said. "They're able to practice and do things, they're ahead of everybody when it comes to all that right now. And it puts us at a disadvantage if we do get back to this."

Grossman said when the cross country season begins "we may have 20 kids instead of 40. They find other things to do and that's one of the big challenges right now."

Grossman tries to look forward as a coach, but right now he admits that he has been looking back at some of the breakthrough accomplishments of his athletes and teams.

"We've had some teams, and right now we have a good group of talent, but we don't know where we can go at this point," Grossman said. "We've had some individual state champions, we've kind of ran the house a little bit on that."

Jacob Romero is a freshman at Seabury Hall who is currently joining the Upcountry club practices that are held once a week. He is happy to be guided by Grossman.

"It's just inspiring because having someone who has coached some of the best runners in the state and ever," Romero said. "It's just like you know he can get you to that level yourself. It gives me huge confidence because I know these workouts will help me later on in the season during the races."

Kaylee Volner was second in the state cross country meet as a sophomore in 2019 and now as a senior, as she is preparing to compete in college, her resume is just not what it could have been after missing two track seasons and the 2020 cross country season.

"Not to have Kaylee have that opportunity to try to follow suit and to have that as your anticipation as you get older, and you hope that will happen this year," Grossman said. "And if not, I mean even talking about that makes me sad."

Volner said she is enjoying the preparation under Grossman as the hoped-for season approaches.

"Definitely, I'm actually really grateful to have Jacob (Romero), who is a freshman and all the other freshmen to run with," Volner said. "They've been helping me keep in shape and keep motivated. Yeah, just looking forward to that season and hopefully it happens."

Grossman manages to keep the workouts light for his club runners, who come from different schools and vary in age from middle school to high school.

"Bobby is just such a character," Volner said. "He's always pushed me to be the best, he pushes everyone to be the best. And I always want to be able to impress him and he continues to push me to be the best. Just hope I'm impressing him enough and I hope I make him proud."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

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