Early Bird 2012 Meet Information

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Cross Country Parents:

Here's the information regarding the Avon Lake EarlyBird Invitational at Lorain County Community College (LCCC).

·         Athletes need to be at Learwood at 6 a.m.

·         Bus leaves at 6:15 a.m.

·         All boys run at 8 a.m.

·         All girls run at 8:30 a.m.

·         Our estimated time of arrival back at Learwood is between 10 - 10:30 a.m. We will have athletes call home once we leave LCCC so parents can arrange transportation home from Learwood.

·         Avon Lake is hosting this meet. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our Athletic Director, Tom Barone, at tom.barone@avonlakecityschools.org.

Some reminders about the meet:

·         Bring extra apparel (t-shirt, sweatshirt, shorts, extra socks, sandals)

·         Athletes should only wear sandals when they are back on the bus!

·         Bring a healthy snack, something healthy to drink (water is best!), and a cell phone to call home on our way back to Avon Lake.

·         Parents, continue signing out with Coach Walters if you are taking your child home with you. Only parents can sign out athletes. Coach Walters will either be at the finish line, start line, or at the campsite—but she will most likely be at the finish line.

·         After the race, results will be posted online at www.baumspage.com. On that webpage, click on Cross Country. Then scroll down to Avon Lake Invitational (9/1/12). Click there to find out results. Please note: results may not be updated until later in the day that Saturday or perhaps even into the day on Sunday.

·         Course maps are the same as last week's, which you should be able to access on the team blog site. We will also provide copies on race day.

About the team:

·         If any parents want to take pictures of the team, that would be great. The last 3 years, we had parents take parents and we put together a team slideshow at our awards night. It’s been great! If you need any assistance or want to let me know if you are interested, just email me (rob.rocco@avonlakecityschools.org). Parents have set up slideshows, online accounts where athletes/parents can view team pictures, and we’ve even passed out picture DVDs on awards night if that is more convenient. Let me know!

·         Team behavior at last week’s meet was excellent. We will be assigning jobs for athletes on race day so the set-up and break-down of the camp runs as smoothly as last week. Any parent who could help in supervision of our camp after the races would be appreciated!

·         Team support last week was awesome! Let's keep it up this week--it's important to cheer on other runners as they need encouragement throughout their races.

·         Runners must show excellent sportsmanship again this week—we will continue to be respectful of other teams. If there are any issues with other teams please let me know but so far so good!

·         The races this week will determine who runs the team/open races at Tiffin. The top 7 runners will be on team, all other runners will be open runners, but all runners will have the

               opportunity to run at Tiffin!

·         ATHLETES NEED TO RUN ON MONDAY!

·         Monday’s workout: 18 (new runners), 30, 34, or 42 minutes (all runners who TRAIN with the team runners have to run 42 minutes!)

·         We are trying to get a bus for Cahoon Park next week for hill work. We’ll let you know if/when we can procure a bus!

·         We have picture day on Wednesday, September 5^th, at the end of our practice. We should be done by 5 p.m. at the latest, but if there are any issues we’ll have athletes call home!

·         Lastly, we have to talk about the Tiffin Carnival we are going to on Saturday, September 8^th. It is a gigantic invitational that the kids should really enjoy! We’ll provide more information next week but Coach Walters and I have been talking about bringing some snacks for the team as it is a long day. If you can help out, that would be great!

See you Saturday!

 

Coach Rocco

Coach Walters

SWC Preview Information

Yes!  It is finally here... our first meet and the information regarding the meet. 

Cross Country Parents:

Here is information regarding tomorrow’s SWC Preview Meet at Lorain County Community College:

       ·         We will be meeting at LEARWOOD (not Troy) from now on, per the Athletic Department

·         Athletes need to be at LEARWOOD at 6:15 a.m.

·         Buses will depart at 6:30 a.m.

·         We should return between 10:30 – 11 a.m.

·         We will encourage athletes to call home to make sure parents do not have to wait for the bus to arrive

Some things to remember about the first meet:

 

      ·         Bring uniform, any extra apparel you may want to wear, two pairs of socks, your practice running shoes (if you have spikes you still should bring your practice shoes to warm-up/cool-down in), your spikes (if you have them), sandals (to wear after the meet on the way home…your feet will be wet), something healthy to drink, a snack to eat both before and after the race, sweats to wear before and after the race, and a cell phone to contact parents on the way home

·         Parents, if you are taking your child home from the meet please make sure to sign out with Coach Walters at the finish line. Only parents can sign out athletes from the meet!

·         After the race, results will be posted online at www.baumspage.com. On that webpage, click on Cross Country. Then scroll down to Southwestern Conference Preview (8/25/12). Click there to find out results. Please note: results may not be updated until later in the day that Saturday or perhaps even into the day on Sunday.

·         Parents, we will include a course map on the blog site. It’s best to view athletes running at the start line, at the mile mark (by the tennis courts), and then at the finish. These locations are fairly close to each other so you should be able to walk to each location without difficulty!

·         The goal of the first meet is really simple: every runner must finish the race without walking! After this meet we will refine our individual/team goals.

Some other areas of note:

·          So far our athletes have been doing very, very well! They are exhibiting great team behavior, their workouts these last couple of weeks have been unbelievable, and they are working well together!

·         We are going to have a  team meeting today to discuss positive team behavior and the importance of supporting one another during practice and at meets. Parents, please reinforce this concept with the athletes as we have another very large team this year and only two coaches. Experienced runners have been taught to support the new runners and to include everyone in team workouts and upcoming meets. This is the most important aspect of our season and we will not tolerate any inappropriate behavior at practice or at meets. We have had a tradition of excellent behavior from our athletes and we will continue to model such behavior this season. To this end, we really need adult supervision to help meet these ends. Coach Walters will be at the finish line, I will be at the start & finish, and will be at various points of the race. Parents, if we can have some help at the campsite, that would be great. Athletes will need to be reminded to stretch after their race and to go cheer on their teammates when they are not running.

·         If your athlete is complaining of injury, let me know so we can set up a meeting with the ALHS athletic trainer at the high school. If athletes are not diagnosed with an injury, they are expected to run at practice! Most of the time everyone is fine, but some days—particularly harder workout days—we are getting a lot of complaints of injury. It’s sometimes difficult on our end to diagnose a high volume of ‘injured’ runners when the complaints are so numerous on hard days, then nonexistent on easy days. Overall, the team seems to be very healthy but this is an option if we do run into injuries this season!

·         We may need to re-outfit some of the athletes as their uniforms might not fit. We will do this after practice today! Let us know if there is an issue. We have a limited number of uniforms, but we’ll do our best to make sure athletes feel as comfortable as possible with what we have.

·         Last year, parents took pictures of athletes at meets and then organized them for our end-of-season awards night. In the past we’ve either put the season’s picture slideshow on CDs and passed them out on Awards Night, but last year a parent created a website where our team could access pictures. If anyone is interested in taking pictures and/or coordinating organization of pictures, let us know! I think everyone would rather watch a slideshow presentation of our season at our awards banquet, as opposed to listening to me speak!

·          

Thanks for all your support! We appreciate all the help with the Friday Night Dinners and we look forward to seeing everyone this Saturday! This is a great sport because athletes, parents, and coaches all work together to make this a great experience for everyone! It’s been a great start to the season and we are excited for our official start tomorrow!

 

Coach Rocco

Coach Walters

Avon Lake Cross Country

 

Here are directions to LCCC posted on the Team's blog:

Week of August 20-August 25

Back to School WEEK!!!  

All workouts need to be preceded with a warm-up, form-drills, and core work (30 push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, crunches)

 

Monday               Meet at Troy at 6:30 p.m. We’re going to the Metro Parks in Rocky River to do hill work. We’ll return no later than 9 p.m.!

 

                                2, 3, or 4 hills (continuous running)

 

                                If you are out of town and can’t make practice, run for 25-30 minutes

 

From now on, practice will be @ Learwood Middle School from 3:00pm-4:45pm

Tuesday               20, 24, or 32 minutes

 

Wednesday        24, 28, or 36 minutes

 

Thursday             5 x 800 meters at up-tempo rate (we’ll discuss interval times at practice!)

 

                                If you are out of town and can’t make practice, run for 25-30 minutes

 

Friday                    15 or 20 minutes…then cardio (bike ride, basketball, skating, etc.)

                                

 

Saturday              SWC Preview (more info. to follow next week…probably mid-week)

FRIDAY NIGHT PASTA SIGN-UP INFORMATION!!

Please make sure to sign up to bring something in for Friday Night Pasta Dinners!!  

You have been invited by Nora Jones to sign up for "Cross Country Dinners." Please click on the link below to view the online sign up sheet. 

To sign up, go to: 
www.SignUpGenius.com/go/409094EA4AC28A31-cross/2867081

Thank you for all of your help and donations!  The athletes love Friday Night Dinners and it is because of the generous donations from the parents that we can have this fun event!  

Coach Walters 

It's not too late to join!!

If you decided that you would like to join the cross country team, it's not too late!  Here is what you need to do...

Fill out all the required forms that you can find by clicking HERE!

Bring the forms to your first practice.

Now you may be wondering... when are the practices?

Starting Tuesday, August 21st practices are Monday- Friday from 3:00pm-4:45 at Learwood Middle School.

If you have any additional questions please email me!

anna.walters@avonlakecityschools.org

Coach Walters

Week of August 13- August 17

Please make sure to check back periodically for changes and additions to this post.

Monday, August 13

PRACTICE:  7:00pm-9:15pm  Meet at TROY INTERMEDIATE.  We will be taking a bus to Metro parks for hill work.  Bus will drop athletes off at TROY INTERMEDIATE close to 9:00pm. 

WORKOUT: Hill Work...20-30 minutes incorporating hills if possible. 

Tuesday, August 14

PRACTICE: 5:30pm-7:00pm @ Learwood Middle School
PARENT MEETING:  7:00pm-7:30pm @ Learwood Middle School Auditorium 

WORKOUT: 18, 22, 30 RUN EASY 


Wednesday, August 15th

PRACTICE: 8:30am-10:00am @ Avon Lake High School

WORKOUT: 5 x 800 at race pace (This has to be done on a track)

Thursday, August 16th 

PRACTICE: 8:30am-10:00am @ Learwood Middle School
Uniforms will be handed out AFTER this practice... plan to pick up your child at around 10:30ish.  

WORKOUT: 22, 26, 34 run EASY

Friday, August 17th 

NO PRACTICE RUN ON OWN!!!! 

WORKOUT: 10 or 15 minutes easy... then cardio (biking, basketball, swimming, or skating etc.) 

All workouts need to be preceded by 20 jumping jacks, 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, and 20 crunches.  Do these drills AFTER your form drills. 

Thanks,

Coach Walters 

Practice is a GO!!!! Thursday, August 9th

We are still practicing today.  The weather radar claims it will be clear by 8:30am.  So, we are putting faith into this unpredictable technology.

We are still practicing on Thursday, August 9th!!!

See you in 30 minutes!!

Week of August 6- August 11

The 2012 Cross Country Season has officially begun.   Please make sure to read this entire blog post.  There is an important VOTE for the athletes to complete, as well as next week's practice.  

1. Now that the official season has started, we now start keeping track of attendance.  If your child misses 3 UNEXCUSED practices they may risk getting removed from the team.  Please make sure to give us a note if your child misses practice.  

2. Athletes can not practice until ALL forms are turned in.  Click here to print out copies of the forms.  These forms are due on Monday. 

3. Parent information meeting date has been CHANGED.  It will be on Tuesday, August 14th @ 7pm in the Learwood Auditorium.  

4. The time of practice has now changed.  8:30am-10:00am.  

5. We have TWO cell phones.  Both have been turned into the Learwood office.  

WORKOUTS 

Every workout should be preceded by dynamic stretching, core work (see directly below), and followed by static stretching:

20 Jumping Jacks, 20 Push-ups, 20 Sit-ups, 20 Crunches

MONDAY – Miracle Miles (running on stadium steps)

     6 laps, 8 laps, or 10 laps

     If you can’t run stadium steps, try to incorporate hill work on a 20-30 minute run

TUESDAY – 16, 20, or 28 minute run EASY

WEDNESDAY – Timed Mile…if you can’t make practice due to vacation/excused absence, then you need to run 20-30 minutes and we’ll time your mile run when you

                       return!

THURSDAY – 20, 24, or 32 minute run EASY

FRIDAY – 10 or 15 minute run EASY…then cardio (bike ride, basketball, skating, etc.)

SATURDAY – 20 or 30 minute run EASY

SUNDAY – Take day OFF!

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE CROSS COUNTRY T-SHIRT QUOTE