September 3rd Early Bird INFO

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.

* Boys run at 8 a.m.

* 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, and our Athletic Department has asked the coaching staff to notify parents that we may need volunteers to help out. 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/sweatpants, shorts, extra socks, sandals)

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

* Bring a healthy snack, something healthy to drink, 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 (9/3/11). 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:

* Team behavior at the 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 Brecksville. The top 7 runners will be on team, all other

runners will be open runners, but all runners will have the

opportunity to run.

* We will have an OPTIONAL practice on Labor Day. We were thinking of holding it at the Cleveland MetroParks from 9 – 10:45 a.m. If you are in town,

come join us. If not, we will post workouts on the team blog site this weekend. ATHLETES NEED TO RUN ON MONDAY! If you plan on attending

Monday’s practice, parents will need to drive athletes to the MetroParks. We will meet at the boat launch in Rocky River…we will send directions in the

next couple of days (we’ll also put it on the blog).

Thanks for your help so far this season! The athletes are working very hard this week and we are impressed! Let’s keep it up and we’ll see you Saturday!

Coach Rocco

Coach Walters

The Learwood Middle School Cross Country recently competed at the Southwestern Conference Preview Meet at Lorain County Community College. Both the Shoremen and Shoregals came in 3^rd place out of the 8 total conference teams.

The Avon Lake Shoremen Cross Country team came in 3^rd place, behind Westlake and Brecksville. The following Shoremen scored at the meet:

Patrick S came in 1^st place overall

Ryan B came in 12^th place

Brandon B came in 13^th place

Alex H came in 25^th place

Aaron A came in 27^th place

George V came in 34^th place

Mitch C came in 35^th place

There were 150 total runners at the meet. The Avon Lake Shoremen are gearing up for the Avon Lake Earlybird Invitational this Saturday at Lorain County Community College. Good Luck Shoremen Cross Country!

The Avon Lake Shoregals Cross Country came in 3^rd place, asserting their place among the top 3 teams in the Southwestern Conference. The Shoregals also were behind Westlake and Brecksville. The following Shoregals scored at the meet:

Julia J came in 4^th place

Audrey S came in 12^th place

Allie S came in 13^th place

Juliana D came in 19^th place

Emily L came in 28^th place

Josephine K came in 33^rd place

Sarah L came in 40^th place

There were 131 total runners at the meet. The Avon Lake Shoregals are gearing up for the Avon Lake Earlybird Invitational this Saturday at Lorain County Community College. Good Luck Shoregals Cross Country!

Updates and Events

Attention,

Practice will be canceled on Friday, September 9th because of Student Activity Night. Please make sure athletes run at least 15 minutes that day!!

Also, picture day will be on Wednesday, September 7th towards the end of practice. No worries, we will end practice early enough so everyone can make themselves presentable for pictures. No one wants to look exhausted and sweaty in a picture! Order forms will be going home soon. Please watch for them.

Don't forget to email Pam if you are interested in helping out with Friday Night Dinner. Her email is: CoastieMom3@gmail.com

Thanks,

Coach Walters

2011 Apparel Order Information

If you are interested in ordering apparel please follow these instructions:

All orders MUST be placed NO LATER than September 5.

Go to this http://bsnsports.com/ and click on the MY TEAM SHOP Banner.

Then use this code: shorem4W7

More information will be sent home in the next few days. However, there is no need to wait. Everything you need to know is on the website! You DO NOT send your order into school. The only option is placing the order ONLINE!

Please select the items you want and you will then be prompted to pay online! You DO NOT need to send money into school for your items! YIPEEE!

Thanks,

Coach Walters

August 27th Meet Information

Athletes need to be at Learwood at 6:00 a.m. Buses will be departing at 6:15 a.m.

· All boys run at 8:30 a.m.
· All girls run at 9 a.m.

· We should return at approximately 11 a.m. We will encourage athletes to call home to make sure parents do not have to wait for the buses to arrive at Learwood

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 home 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 (8/27/11). 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.
· We will email a course map either tomorrow or Friday. We will do our best to mark it for parents so they know where to cheer on the athletes. We will also pass out course maps to athletes at Friday’s team meeting.
· 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:

· We had 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. Team captains and 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, and Mr. Carlson will help us at the mile marker. 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.
· At this point in the season there should be no walking during our road running. We have witnessed multiple athletes walking during workouts. This is our 5th week of running and if a runner continues walking during a workout we will have to set up a meeting with the Avon Lake High School athletic trainer so athletes can be evaluated by a professional. If athletes are not diagnosed as injured by the trainer, then they are expected to run if they attend practice.

Thanks for all your support! We appreciate all the help with the Friday Night Dinners and we look forward to seeing everyone this Saturday!

Also, there are directions to LCCC posted on the Team's blog as well as the information in this email.
http://learwoodmiddleschoolcrosscountry.blogspot.com/2010/08/directions-to-lccc.html
Coach Rocco
Coach Walters
Avon Lake Cross Country

Parent Volunteers at Meets

Parents,

Cross Country meets are a lot of fun but are also a very busy time for the coaches. Coach Rocco is usually at the starting line and off in various other places. I am always at the finish line, getting the finishing times. As you can probably tell, we count on the athletes to supervise themselves and make the right decisions; since our athletes are very well behaved we usually never run across any problems. However, for peace of mind, we would love to have a few parent volunteers to monitor the camp and also encourage the runners to cheer on their teammates.

If you are interested in helping out during the meet, please email me and we can coordinate what meets you are able to help out at.

Thanks in advance for all of your help,

Coach Walters

anna.walters@avonlakecityschools.org

Friday Night Carb Loading Dinners

Parents,

Connor V's mother, Pam V, has graciously volunteered to coordinate the Friday Night Carb Loading Dinners. This is THE reason so many of our athletes even join the Cross Country Team (also because of the trip to Dairy Queen). So, thank you so much Mrs. V for volunteering to do this.

If any of you are able to lend a hand or an item for this event please contact Pam V at CoastieMom3@gmail.com. (Also, an email was sent out with her email address. If you did not receive this email, please email me. anna.walters@avonlakecityschools.org and I will send you her email.)

Friday Dates

August 26th

Sept 2

Sept 9

Sept 16

Sept 23

Sept 30

Oct 7

(No school on Oct 14--so we do not do a dinner)

Connor's mother will let you know what is needed for each Friday. It is nice to have around 4-5 parents each Friday to volunteer.

Thank you,

Coach Walters