Victor Hudson, the head of the boys and girls track team at Menlo-Atherton High School, is always ready to coach. This is his fifth year as head coach, but he has been a coach there for 10 years. He’s always smiling and working with the kids; he loves what he does.
“I coach the athlete not the sport or event,” Hudson says. “I watch what the athlete does, determine his or her weakness and strengthen it. Some might need more speed, some more strength and some more technique work. But I help them all.”
Hudson has an impressive record. Since he has been coaching the varsity girls, they have won seven out of the last nine league titles, including the last two years.
The varsity boys have won five of the last nine league titles. The frosh/sophomore girls won their first league title this last year. The frosh/sophomore boys also won five of nine titles.
This year, Hudson has 108 students on the track team. I am one of them. I am learning how to pole vault, which is lots of fun and a sport I never appreciated fully until I started doing it.
Hudson coaches students in sprinting, the hurdles, relays, long jump, triple jump and high jump.
He does have help from other coaches, including Kelly Weston, the distance coach, and a cross-country coach at M-A.
Hudson has had lots of track stars over the years. This year, he says, “the two to look for are junior Keianna Talton in the 100-meter, 200-meter and relays, and sophomore Kim O’Donnell in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles, long jump and relay.”
“I think M-A will do very well this year,” he adds.
Coach Hudson grew up on the Peninsula, always sticking close to Stanford University.
Both of his parents graduated from Stanford; his dad attained a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and his mom received a law degree.
Hudson went to the University of Arizona and majored in electrical engineering, but left school to pursue a dream of becoming a pro basketball player. Although he tried out for the L.A. Lakers and Clippers, he did not make the team, and decided coaching and personal training was his future because he loved athletics so much.
He did get to play basketball with some of the greats: Magic Johnson, KiKi V and Pooh Richardson.
For 14 years, Coach Hudson has dreamed of building an athletic training facility, where he could coach and train all athletes — track and field, football, baseball, basketball, soccer — in one location.
He is a great cheerleader for all athletes. It does not matter if you are not awesome; he treats you as though you are.
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