Things Heard in Line While Waiting for Chipotle

Last week our collegiate team competed at Ithaca College. It was one of the bigger meets we were going to attend all season.  Coming back for the spring semester, it was the third meet we had competed in.  Thus far, we have competed at meets in Houghton, Utica, Ithaca, and most recently at SUNY Brockport.
 
This article will focus on happenings from Chipotle after our Ithaca meet.
 
In all honesty, our Ithaca throws weren’t what I thought they were going to be.  Four of our five athletes competed at the meet, and for the most part all of our throwers had a really good week of practice.  Unfortunately, sometimes the best programmed plans don’t go the way one would expect them to.  It was the first meet of the year that none of our throwers made the finals in either the shot-put or weight throw.
 
After the meet, we stopped for dinner.  I took a group of athletes to Chipotle.  While we were waiting in line, I overheard two of my throwers ahead of me have this conversation.
 
Thrower 1—I’m not sure why I didn’t throw farther today.
Thrower 2—Yeah, I worked hard this week.  I was expecting bigger throws.
Thrower 1—I thought I worked hard too.  I’m not sure.
 
I’m paraphrasing a bit, because there were more colorful words than I can write in this post.
 
My initial thoughts were thoughts of concern. First, I’m glad that two of my throwers had a conversation about this.  This line probably wasn’t the first time the conversation between these two throwers occurred.  I have a suspicion that this conversation began back at the fieldhouse in Ithaca. Second, even though I only caught this quick snippet, there is a lot going on here.  
 
Up until that point, it was the best week of practice we had since we returned for the spring semester.  Their coursework was pretty light.  Their training sessions in the weight room looked really good. Their technique looked pretty good as well.  So, what happened?
 
Before I share my thoughts, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts?  For any coaches out there that may have experienced something like this, what was your initial reaction and why do you think your athlete performances did not meet either your or their expectations?