Avon Lake Early Bird Announcements

Cross Country Athletes & Parents:

Here’s our weekly update:

• We had an awesome start to our competition season last Saturday! The boys are right behind Brecksville, finishing 2^nd in the SWC. The girls finished 4^th, and have a TON of potential—that place will improve from the beginning to the end of the season (plus we have a lot of 7^th graders!). We have high expectations for both teams this season.
• Awesome execution last week! Walking the course, sticking together when going to the restrooms, setting up camp, breaking down camp, and picking up everything—it was great. We were impressed as coaches. Now we need to continue to do those good things.
•  Coach Arebaugh has been confirmed as our 3^rd coach for this season! He has a lot of experience and expertise in coaching distance runners, and is our distance coach for the Learwood Track & Field team. Welcome Coach Arebaugh to the team!
•   Apparel orders are now closed. We should be getting our gear in 2 weeks (Wadsworth week, if all goes well).
• Just another reminder: bring water and a watch to practice every day! We are working on intervals on the track and don’t always have access to water! We also are working on pacing so athletes need to continue timing themselves on intervals, along with keeping track of normal workout times and making sure we are aware of the ‘normal’ time!
• If you just bought spikes this week, bring them to practice Friday and we will wear them during the short run before game day! Bring your normal shoes as well, as you will play the game in your normal running shoes.
• If you need uniforms switched out, we just received our extra uniforms this week. We can switch out any uniforms that don’t fit. We’ll do this during the Friday Night Dinner!
•  Parents, the cafeteria was SPOTLESS on Friday! Normally I am there to help clean up, but was busy with uniforms last week. If you need help accessing rags/mops, let one of the coaches know tomorrow!
• All forms that still need to be turned in can be done so at the Learwood office. If we hear from them we’ll let you know!
• Athletes seem to be doing quite well injury-wise, besides a few aches and pains. If there is consistent, long-lasting pain, let us know (Coach Arebaugh is awesome at this), as we can help schedule a time to see the trainer at the high school. She’s really nice and the service is free to all Avon Lake athletes. Just email us to let us know.

Here is the information for Earlybird:

• We will be meeting at TROY (not Learwood), on Saturday, August 31^st, at 6:00 a.m. This is an early one again. Buses leave at 6:05 a.m. We should return even earlier than last week, no later than 10:30 a.m. (probably earlier) at Troy. We will have athletes call to be picked up so parents do not have to wait!
• Please remember to pick up your child in a timely manner as coaches have to wait for every athlete to be picked up! Last week, and this season, have been great.
• All BOYS run at 8:00 a.m.
• All GIRLS run at 8:30 a.m.
• This race will determine who runs TEAM and OPEN at the Tiffin Carnival next Saturday! We will talk about that on Friday!
• Bring uniform, apparel, running shoes AND spikes (if you have them). You will only wear your spikes for the race. Bring a cell phone, water, your weekly sports drink (just one), and a healthy snack!
• Last week everyone experienced the ‘wet feet’ associated with running a race so early in the morning. Just a piece of advice, bring sandals to ride home in as you’ll want to dry out your soaking wet feet on the trip home.
• Uniform violations were kept to a minimum! We looked good! Braceletes/necklaces need to be removed PRIOR to getting to the line. The officials weren’t too bad last week, they really only get nicer as the season progresses.
• But, just remember, if you wear compression shirts, shorts, or just regular shirts/shorts underneath your uniform, it has to be BLACK! Also, only one logo on the shirt and NO LOGOS on the shorts! I’ll bring black sharpies to color in any logos, and Coach Walters and I will be at the starting line to make sure everyone is okay.
•  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 Avon Lake Earlybird (8/31/13). 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, course map this week is the same as last week. It’s best to view athletes running at the start line, at the mile mark (by the tennis courts), and then at the finish. If you really want to cheer kids on where they will totally hear you, the base of the hill is also a good spot (I usually go there…they need some cheerleaders there!). The downside is you might not get to see the finish. These locations are fairly close to each other so you should be able to walk to each location without difficulty! I have extra copies of the course map in my BIG maroon bag. Feel free to grab one on race day.
• Athletes, here’s our Meet Cheat Sheet for this week! Awesome start to the season! We are going to have so much fun these next 8 weeks

This Week's Meet Cheat Sheet:  EARLY BIRD 

Coach Arebaugh

Coach Rocco

Coach Walters