Texsox Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I received official word today that I will be coaching 7/8 grade Cross Country this year. I will also be coaching 7th grade girls soccer and probably 8th grade boys soccer. I am holding out hope for golf but the coach has done a nice job but is waffling if he wants to come back or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Golf coach would be awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan1 Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I coached 6th grade boys basketball and 7th/8th grade girls basketball last year. It's a ton of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 (edited) QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 09:03 PM) I received official word today that I will be coaching 7/8 grade Cross Country this year. I will also be coaching 7th grade girls soccer and probably 8th grade boys soccer. I am holding out hope for golf but the coach has done a nice job but is waffling if he wants to come back or not. Here is all you need to tell your kids: "Run faster!!" I coaches travel baseball in my hometown for three years. Made really good money for something I would have done for free. Loved teaching the kids baseball concepts. Had a blast every single moment except when we went to Cooperstown for a tournament when my friend (other coach) and I were in charge of them in the team dorms. All hell broke lose, they were so rambunctious, it was ridiculous. The team manager was supposed to stay with us, but took the high road to the hotel instead. These dorms are about 50 feet by 30 feet with one fan in the middle of summer. Still enjoyed the tournament even if we never got sleep and lost to some crazy-good California team. Edited August 17, 2010 by maggsmaggs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Run faster There is a huge physiological way to train kids - even middle school - to run their best at the end of the season. But, it's more about structure, teaching, and having fun at that age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted August 17, 2010 Author Share Posted August 17, 2010 The number one goal they have for the program this year is to increase participation. That's why they approached me. Gee, I thought it was because I was all-conference in college. The soccer has me a little intimidated but basically I have to follow the HS's system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipps Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Are you going to teach them while riding in a golf cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 I had a couple friends in one of those running sports. One of them wasn't watching and ran straight into the back side of a stop sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChiTown Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 07:57 AM) I had a couple friends in one of those running sports. One of them wasn't watching and ran straight into the back side of a stop sign. Well they only stay stop on one side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 QUOTE (ChiTown @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 09:19 AM) Well they only stay stop on one side He did still stop though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreye Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 06:26 AM) The number one goal they have for the program this year is to increase participation. That's why they approached me. Gee, I thought it was because I was all-conference in college. The soccer has me a little intimidated but basically I have to follow the HS's system. All-Conference in college? What, were there like 6 colleges in the US back then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonxctf Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 11:26 AM) The number one goal they have for the program this year is to increase participation. That's why they approached me. Gee, I thought it was because I was all-conference in college. The soccer has me a little intimidated but basically I have to follow the HS's system. were you a cross country guy in college? i can tell you that I ran at one of the best programs in high school here in Illinois. The success at the high school level really started at the junior high level which was also quite successful. I ended up running (and quite poorly) at the D1 level in College. If you aren't familiar with cross country that much, I can share some insights on good things we did. PM Me if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:58 AM) were you a cross country guy in college? i can tell you that I ran at one of the best programs in high school here in Illinois. The success at the high school level really started at the junior high level which was also quite successful. I ended up running (and quite poorly) at the D1 level in College. If you aren't familiar with cross country that much, I can share some insights on good things we did. PM Me if you want. Were you a Yorkie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonxctf Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 04:43 PM) Were you a Yorkie? Nope. Schaumburg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted August 18, 2010 Author Share Posted August 18, 2010 QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 11:43 AM) Were you a Yorkie? Coach Newton Basically borrowing a few of his strategies . . . Basically I will be recruiting, recruiting, recruiting The long green line will become the purple pack, they already have really short hair :-) It is a really short season so about 1/3 LSD, about 1/3 fartlek, and some speed work leading up to the big District meet. Working with my 7th graders on a year round running program will be the key for me next year. Now I have to take whomever comes through the door and in whatever shape they are in. Ideas? I'd love to hear them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonxctf Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 05:41 PM) Coach Newton Basically borrowing a few of his strategies . . . Basically I will be recruiting, recruiting, recruiting The long green line will become the purple pack, they already have really short hair :-) It is a really short season so about 1/3 LSD, about 1/3 fartlek, and some speed work leading up to the big District meet. Working with my 7th graders on a year round running program will be the key for me next year. Now I have to take whomever comes through the door and in whatever shape they are in. Ideas? I'd love to hear them. At Schaumburg we followed the philosophy of Al Carius from North Central. http://northcentralcardinals.com/coaches.aspx?rc=121 My coach excelled under Al and passed it along to us. Not sure how similar this is to York's program. As for ideas.. I've always embraced the Run for Fun or Run for PR's idea. I think too often coaches focus on their Top 7 too much while neglecting the rest of the team. For fun, at the junior high level we had a few things... - 1x per year we did a 7-Eleven slurpie run. We all brought $2 ran a 3 mile loop to 7-Eleven and walked back. - 1x per year we did a Baskin Robbins/Dairy Queen run. Same idea. - We had the 100 mile club. So we all set goals of running 100 miles in meets/practices over a 2 month period. At the end, whoever achieved the goal got a t-shirt and some kind of certificate. - We run on Saturday mornings too. Not mandatory, but strongly encouraged. Little bit more relaxing then the after school practices. Coach would always bring doughnuts/chocolate milk for the team afterwards. We also made a point, through brothers/sisters of teammates, to go watch the local high school kids or college kids at meets in the area. We looked up to those guys and they embraced us too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 I'm coaching my stepdaughter's softball team (I don't know why they're just starting in August but whatever). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChWRoCk2 Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 12:59 PM) At Schaumburg we followed the philosophy of Al Carius from North Central. http://northcentralcardinals.com/coaches.aspx?rc=121 My coach excelled under Al and passed it along to us. Not sure how similar this is to York's program. As for ideas.. I've always embraced the Run for Fun or Run for PR's idea. I think too often coaches focus on their Top 7 too much while neglecting the rest of the team. For fun, at the junior high level we had a few things... - 1x per year we did a 7-Eleven slurpie run. We all brought $2 ran a 3 mile loop to 7-Eleven and walked back. - 1x per year we did a Baskin Robbins/Dairy Queen run. Same idea. - We had the 100 mile club. So we all set goals of running 100 miles in meets/practices over a 2 month period. At the end, whoever achieved the goal got a t-shirt and some kind of certificate. - We run on Saturday mornings too. Not mandatory, but strongly encouraged. Little bit more relaxing then the after school practices. Coach would always bring doughnuts/chocolate milk for the team afterwards. We also made a point, through brothers/sisters of teammates, to go watch the local high school kids or college kids at meets in the area. We looked up to those guys and they embraced us too. I ran for 4 years and was in the top 7 all four years and I can tell you that eating junk like slurpies and DQ at the end of a run just brings you back to square one. The key is to stay in shape and eat well during the season, obviously 7/8 graders are not really going to take this to heart and they shouldn't. The 100 mile club is only so effective, we got t shirts for achieving so many miles ran over the summer in high school, half the kids lied on their mile sheets just to get the shirt. One of the evident problems I noticed is that most the kids going into cross country just used it to get into shape, numerous kids in my high school ran with our team but really could care less how they did as long as they were in shape for winter or spring sports. This makes it hard to build a team because they just end up coming back next year out of shape because they don't continue to run after the season ends. Also, make sure you practice on the course your team will run on, we hardly did. As far as fun things... We played ultimate frisbee/soccer at the end of practice sometimes Ran relay races We also did bike runs, run so long then bike and switch off with a teammate Even running different routes and to different places is nice, I always hated running in the same areas each day, a change of scenery is nice As Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 I will have to change a little of the culture. Of the 4 middle schools we have the most students and the fewest runners each season. The previous coach would just have them run for twenty minutes every day. Boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 When are the group hugs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted August 21, 2010 Author Share Posted August 21, 2010 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 08:59 AM) When are the group hugs? Not so much group hugs, but hook them in the first couple weeks with some fun stuff. The motivated kids will always work a little harder. We'll push harder week three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Prawn Posted August 21, 2010 Share Posted August 21, 2010 That is cool Tex! My cross country coach in HS was a big inspiration to me, not just running but life in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjshoe04 Posted August 21, 2010 Share Posted August 21, 2010 QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 12:41 PM) Coach Newton Basically borrowing a few of his strategies . . . Basically I will be recruiting, recruiting, recruiting The long green line will become the purple pack, they already have really short hair :-) It is a really short season so about 1/3 LSD, about 1/3 fartlek, and some speed work leading up to the big District meet. Working with my 7th graders on a year round running program will be the key for me next year. Now I have to take whomever comes through the door and in whatever shape they are in. Ideas? I'd love to hear them. It's not the 60's anymore Tex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 QUOTE (Queen Prawn @ Aug 21, 2010 -> 08:39 AM) That is cool Tex! My cross country coach in HS was a big inspiration to me, not just running but life in general. She Lives!! Great to see you posting, I hope all is well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted August 22, 2010 Author Share Posted August 22, 2010 QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Aug 21, 2010 -> 03:01 PM) It's not the 60's anymore Tex. far out man, I can dig it. So we got peace and everything? No more war to stop communism? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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