Meet the Cross Country Coach: Adam Weiner

11/18/2016

Teaching physics at The Bishop’s School for the last 22 years, Coach Adam Weiner is at the center of a sport that relies on significant inner strength and the pure love of being in stride.

This Runner Does Not Stumble

Teaching physics at The Bishop’s School for the last 22 years, Coach Adam Weiner is at the center of a sport that relies on significant inner strength and the pure love of being in stride. Running cross-country is a unique endeavor. It is a struggle with self and with fellow runners. There is a notion about the loneliness of the long distance runner* that is no myth, rather it highlights a special state achieved, as each competitor reaches deep inside to win races and more importantly to accomplish better personal records.

And Coach Weiner is no stranger to the runner’s life. Born in Farmington Hills, Michigan (Detroit), his family moved to Reston, Virginia where he attended high school. He went on to attend the University of Virginia where he earned a B.A. in environmental science then to the University of Hawaii where he attained an M.S. in geophysics.

While there, he got involved in theatre. He started trying out for plays and kept acting because it was fun. He has played such serious characters as Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach in Chekhov’s Three Sisters and the philosophical Vladimir in Samuel Beckett’s, Waiting for Godot. As a result of his experience on stage, he went on to get an M.F.A. at S.U.N.Y. Binghamton (New York).

Let’s get back to the track. Coach Weiner ran cross country and track in high school and was a decent runner. He was a walk on at Virginia and while there experienced an injury that put him on sidelines. As a result, he did not run seriously for some time. So even though he joined the School's faculty in 1995, it was pretty much all physics and no time on the trail.

Fast forward to 2004-2005. He decided to lace up his shoes and started running with the Bishop’s Cross Country Team. He began to remember why he loved running because it was simple, natural and fun. Because of that involvement he was invited to become the assistant varsity coach by former biology teacher, Mary Fran Cullen, and has not looked back. He became the head boys’ coach in 2007 and head girls’ coach in 2008.

He also became a serious competitive runner. With his return to distance running, he started setting some goals, like running a mile in less than five minutes. He began running some 5K and 10K road races. From 2005-2010, he continued to improve his craft, well into his fifties. And he started winning some races. In 2010, he won the USATF marathon (masters) in Minneapolis; in 2013, an 8K in Williamsburg, VA; and in 2015, a USATF 3,000 meter race in Winston-Salem, NC.

What is really key about Adam’s leadership of the cross country program is respect for our Bishop’s runners. He knows the effort and sacrifice that goes into the sport. He takes great pleasure in seeing them succeed as a result of their hard work and dedication; both of which have a demonstrated correlation with performance. He admires the intelligent, thoughtful and introspective student-athletes who decide to take on the feat of a 4-5 kilometer race.

Seeing them battle with the challenges of the sport, the ups and downs of seeking excellence and achieving the satisfaction that comes from doing well means a lot to him. He gets to see the light come on when they record a personal best and realize that the struggle to succeed on the course was worthwhile. During his tenure they have won several CIF championships and regularly competed in the CIF State Meet in Fresno’s Woodward Park.

Teaching physics is also close to his heart. He enjoys the practicality and logical consistency of the science. The relationship between energy, force, speed and substance presents a powerful beauty, as well as an explanation of how things work. Guiding his students to come to grips with this and understand the structure and behavior of the universe is pretty special.

As a result of his approach to teaching physics through film, he authored a book, Don’t Try This At Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies, in which he describes his classroom journey for a wider audience. This has led him to be a speaker at Comic-Con, The Academy of Motion Pictures, The USA Science and Engineering Festival and National Science Teachers Association. He is also a consultant to The Science & Entertainment Exchange.

He also has an understandable fondness for the Russian writers. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev all occupy his bookshelves. And he has been enamored of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit since he was in high school and is also a big fan of Woody Allen’s films.

In his personal life, Adam met his wife in acting school, and they have a 12-year old son. His folks are 90 and 91 years old, both retired from the federal government (dad a physicist and mom an economist) and live in Silver Springs, Maryland. He has two sisters and a brother.

The bottom line is simple. Adam is a real renaissance man. He is a beloved coach as well as l fantastic teacher and colleague. We are all so fortunate to have Adam as part of the Bishop’s family.

Clearly, this runner does not stumble, indeed.

* The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a short story by Alan Sillitoe, also made into a 1962 film by Tony Richardson.

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