We will be entering our sixth week of existence tomorrow. And things have finally settled down. It's been three weeks since that day when I was alone at practice except for one other runner which was followed by a coach's tirade. Since then there have always been enough runners to have a practice. It's still hard to get these kids to appreciate how much work needs to be done to be a good runner, but I'm happy with what they have done so far. We are finally up to doing a little more than three miles during a practice. And it seems I'm giving out "PBs" everyday. A PB is a personal best, where a runner beats his/her previous time for a given distance. I give out a little card (in the school's color) which lists the event and the new and old time. Some of the kids are really into getting them. And like I said, there are always one or two given out every day.
The roster has also finally settled down. We're down now to 13 on the roster: four boys and nine girls. Of the four boys, one has mostly dropped out due to a serious family situation. Another boy, who is the best on the team, has gotten involved in two jobs which cuts down on his practice time as well as preventing him from running in the two races left on our schedule. Coaching this team is much different than a coach at any other school would experience. These kids have their normal school work day, outside school jobs, family problems, sicknesses, injuries, detention, staying for extra help, church and choir, sweet 15 rehearsals, etc. etc. I have yet to see the entire team in one spot at any one time. The thought of a team picture is a mere fantasy. I try to stay away from imposing any kind of consequences for missed practices in fear that it may drive the kids away for good. But next year I may have to re-think practices, absences, rules, and punishments.
As for the girls, my two best are now partial "shows". The best has been missing a lot of practices due to her Sweet 15 Party rehearsals. She will try and race on Tuesday in our second meet. But her lack of practices will hurt her and I don't expect a good performance from her. Her birthday is on November 8 (the CTC Championships in W. Park in E City) so she won't be racing there. The other top girl on the team has moved up to being the best. She has been improving each week and has been my unofficial winner for the "most dedicated" award for the season. But unfortunately she too is now injured and is out for the season. She joins two other girls on the "DL".
So with three runners on the DL and one with family problems, that has left me with a steady roster of nine runners who show up most of the time. This Tuesday is our second race of the year. There only will be 5 runners racing due to "work days" and other situations. I only know the host team (same as the first race)--the other participants are unknown. But we will again be running unofficially. Hopefully this time the start will be much smoother.
I hope to have a photographer there to get some shots of the race, and before and after. Check back to see if I am able to get them on the web.
That will leave only one other race, the 11/8 one. I did meet the coach of a Charter school from JC in the park this week. He would like to have a pick-up race with us. He has openings on his schedule and would like to fill them. He is going to contact our AD. I hope it can happen.
I'll be back Tuesday night with the story of Race 2.
2 comments:
Is it normal to have a lot of injuries for a cross country team?
No, it's not. For a team of only 13 runners, that's a lot. Only two have leg related injuries. The third has a heart problem that she tells me will be okay for next year. Also for next year, I will need to find some sort of athletic trainer to advise me on what warmup exercises are best for young runners.
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