Saturday, May 30, 2009

Informational Meetings this week

This week we will be having our informational meetings for the 2009 cross country season.

On Monday the freshmen (class of 2012) will meet in Room 331 during 1st AB
On Tuesday the rest of the upperclass will meet in Room 331 during 2nd AB

We will be having a special lifting practice this Thursday AFTER SCHOOL to set some benchmarks for our strength training.

Be sure to make sure your teammates all attend - we don't want anyone to miss this meeting. We will be voting on captains, getting calendars for the season, etc...

You can also invite other friends you think would fit the mold of our team.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Preparing for the Summer Months

Greetings! Below is a list of things to keep in mind as we enter the summer months - the most crucial ones for a prosperous cross country season. If you have any questions please email me at fkieser@sja1890.org or kieserbigcat@roadrunner.com

1. Make sure you have a valid and up-to-date OHSAA physical on file. You can go to www.ohsaa.org, click on "sports medicine" and print the forms.

2. CC camp - camp is a week later this year. Typically upperclassmen and advanced freshmen attend, but it is open to anybody. As of this blog the camp was at 150 out of a possible 190 spots, so it is filling up fast. It runs from Sunday August 2nd to Friday August 7th. go to www.gopherarun.com and click on "camp" for more info.

3. Summer runs will be held at the same as usual...9:00am on Tuesdays and Fridays at South Mastick Park in the Rocky River Reservation. These are informal, but strongly encouraged. A calendar of events will be posted by the end of May.

4. During the school year, practices are held every day after school. Most of them will be held at SJA, but on occasion the team travels. Weekly updates will be provided to give advanced notice. We do not have formal practices on Sundays, but some girls make arrangements to meet on their own for a run.

5. This fall's schedule is a week later than normal. This is because the state meet is always on the first Saturday in November, which is Nov 7th this year. All meet prior to the state meet work backwards from that date. Please note this for family plans, SAT's, etc...

6. As with any sport, please keep good shoes on the athlete's feet! High School runners likely need a new pair of training shoes for each season. Waiting too long to replace shoes can lead to injury.

7. Our runners need functional watches. The kind that have stopwatches and take splits. Cheap ones can be as low as $10, but really useable ones are about $30. There's no need for $100 watches...