McKenzie Bailey finished second at the 2021 Hoka One McNeil Invitational in TX No. 2 at 5,000m with a time of 17:08.20
Several years ago, the band Queen along with David Bowie produced a song called 'Under Pressure'; while the song might not have a lot of lyrics, the gravity of the song can still be felt.
The youth of today sometimes feel pressure which could be of their own doing or from outside influences. This might happen because of their inner need to succeed, wanting to constantly strive to up their game, or impress someone. We've seen this type of pressure many times that athletes put on themselves, surprisingly enough it can also be felt in our very own sport of cross country.
While she is just in her junior year, McKenzie Bailey of Georgetown has expressed she feels pressure in the sport. While some may look at it as she is just a teenager and may not have a lot of reasons to feel pressured, it's like the song which has few actual words where the gravity can still be felt.
Teenage years have always come with a lot of challenges. Today, things seem to be heightened by the internet, social media, and trolling. Finding something to alleviate that stress can often be difficult. For some, turning to athletics could be a viable answer to this conundrum, but success sometimes leads to a greater burden for the athlete.
Bailey is having a great 2021 cross country season. After finishing ninth at last year's UIL 5A state cross country meet, she has improved to running in the mid and low 17s in the 5,000m this season.
I've felt a lot of pressure from around me and I put some on myself."
McKenzie Bailey, Georgetown junior
At the Chaparral Invitational, she ran 17:28 and then at the Liberty Hill HS Cross Country Meet on September 11th, she ran 17:17.90 for the top time in the state at the time. It was this weekend, where she really opened people's eyes. She did so by finishing second at the Hoka One One/McNeil Elite Invitational amongst many of the state's top girls and now sits as TX No. 2 ranked with her new 17:08.20 personal best.
Exciting times, right!
Bailey's new found success comes with extra and unanticipated weight on her shoulders. With the spotlight and the state and national rankings comes extra internal pressure to continue to improve as well as some outside pressure to perform perhaps even better.
In an interview, Bailey was emotional when describing her thoughts on being the top ranked runner in the state at the time saying, "I talked to my coach about this, I've felt a lot of pressure from around me and I put some on myself."
That pressure she was feeling started to take the joy of running away. It seemed that being a top ranked runner came with opinions, outside expectations, projections, and possibly even a target on a young athlete's back.
The pressures and stresses she internalized wasn't just about her athletic pursuits, "I feel like I stress a lot about school and life outside of running also," Bailey expressed.
In this day and age, once you do something notable, the whole world can find out and will know in a matter of minutes as social media, the internet, and technology have made accessibility easy. With news and updates at our fingertips, this could develop into a new kind of pressure and take a toll on young athletes who may not have asked for the attention, may not want it as a youth or may not be equipped to handle it yet. As Freddy Mercury sang in 'Under Pressure' it can bring a building down.
(In one interview clip you can see how Bailey expresses she feels pressure to compete well and in a separate clip without the emotion she explains how through guidance from her mother and her coach she is winning the battle over outside pressure)
The new pressures Bailey began to feel from her success were affecting her running. "I feel like this week, I wasn't in the best mental space and I was kind of struggling to stay focused, but still enjoy it," she said.
This pressurized space is a dangerous area for young athletes. It could be a place some go to and never really rebound or come out of mentally; this type of pressure encompasses athletics and everyday life. Society continues to expect more and better things from our youth and that just adds more pressure on top of what they already feel internally.
However, Bailey is currently winning the battle while continuing to run impressively. One of the keys is that she isn't keeping things to herself and she isn't trying to do it alone. She has enlisted the assistance and help from her mother and her coach, "They both just told me to remember why I am doing it and that I'm not coming out here to prove anything to anyone. I'm in it to just really have fun," Bailey said.
This weekend, she also added some new things to her pre-race and mid-race strategies. Bailey tried smiling. Despite the pressure she was feeling, not to mention the pain and fatigue of running fast, she made sure she had a smile on her face throughout the race. She got a little more coaching advice while on the starting line . . . dance. That's right, Coach Andrew Braun told his nationally ranked athlete to dance and she did. That might have been just what Bailey needed at the time to take the stress away which could have helped lead to her PR.
When it all boiled down to the facts, Bailey didn't enjoy running anymore, there was a disconnect. Everything was just too much; it outweighed her running with her friends, becoming an elite level athlete, and doing what many of her distance running peers love doing. She concluded with some prophetic words, "I never was really running because I enjoyed it, but I found that I really do enjoy running. I think it's reconnecting with the passion for it and remembering that I love it more than anything."
