IS MY DAUGHTER FAST ENOUGH to join the track team? Dear Coach Ed, My daughter, a tennis player, is anxious to be on a school team (which happens not ot have tennis.) She is interested in track (age 13-7th grade.) We are wondering what would be a good time for the mile or 880. She can run the mile without any type of training in 8:47 which I think won't cut it. What do you think is a good time for a track team. Is the mile her best hope? Thank you, Carol Hi Carol, What makes track such a good sport for young people is there is a place for everyone on the team. With track events of 100 meters to the two mile and field events of shot put , long jump, and high jump, everyone fits in. A mile time is not an indication of how good your daughter will be in track. With training she will get faster and at her age, I'll add, in a very short period of time. The biggest factor in determining how your daughter will succeed is finding the right event for her. I'll just give one example: A 12 year old boy on my team wanted desperately to be a great mile runner. He came to every practice, ran on his own, and competed in the 800 and mile at every meet. He usually finished mid back in his age group but he loved track. I could tell by his build and the way he ran, he was not a natural distance runner. I asked him, during his second year on the team, to try a 200 meter race. He was hooked! He found his events, the 200 and 400, and went from being a fairly good middle distance runner to Northeastern Champion in the 200m and 400m. He actually had an undefeated season in the 400. Bottom line is: go out for track, try the different events, and keep an open mind. Molly will learn a lot more than just how to run fast on a track team. It is a wonderful experience. Good luck, Coach Ed Ed Poirier, "Coach Ed", recently was invited by the United States Olympic committee to attend a workshop and training seminar at the Olympic training center in California. Feel free to email the kid's editor at goodrow@infi.net with comments on this column.