Two Words

I was originally going to leave E-City school early today to go up to N-City school to get my X-C money. And then talk to the Dean of Students about the teaching position he offered me last week on the phone. Well, we had three teachers out today. So because I had to cover a class in the late afternoon, I wasn't able to leave early to drive up there to see the Treasurer before she left. I'll try again next Monday.

But as for the teaching position, I thought about it over the weekend. And without meeting the Dean today, I was able to make a decision.

Here are some pro's and con's affecting my decision:

On the E-City side, I would have to give up coaching the softball team.

On the N-City side, I would have a shorter commute.

On the E-City side, I would have to give up my wonderful job of running the candy store.

On the N-City side, I would have a little more control over the X-C runners, i.e. seeing them every day and maybe getting them to go to practice more often.

On the E-City side, I would have to give up teaching the higher math classes like Honors Algebra and Pre-Calculus (I'm pretty sure the academic levels at N-City are a bit lower than those at E-City).

On the N-City side, the salary would definitely be higher based on comparing the X-C fees at both schools.

On the E-City side, I would be severing the long six year relationship that I've had with the students, the faculty, and the school.

So what was my decision? Well, it came down to two words (or one??).

White Board.

Leaving E-City, I would have to leave my cherished white board and go back to chalk boards.

And chalk dust. Chalk dust on my clothes, on my hands, on my shoes, in the air, on my desk, on my computer, etc. etc.

Nope. No chalk dust for me!!

Job Offer

A couple of days ago, the Dean of Students at N-City school called me. I know him because he was the Academic Dean at E-City school before he went to N-City. The N-City school will be expanding to three levels next year (grades 9 to 11) and he asked if I would be interested in a teaching position there. My plans were to go to N-City this Monday to finally get my X-C coaching fee, so I told him that I would think about it over the weekend, and stop in and see him on Monday.

Next Year

The state Meet of Champions was run last week so the Cross Country season in New Jersey has ended. Some teams and some individual runners will be racing today in the Nike and Footlocker championships in Wappinger Falls and in the Bronx respectively. But there will be no more X-C races in New Jersey until next September.

And now with the off-season here, it’s time to start thinking about next year. This past year, if you read my blog, I was coaching a brand new Cross Country team in N-City. At first it looked like a golden opportunity. At my interview I was told there were about 30+ runners who had signed up in the past couple of weeks. At that first practice, there were 11 runners. But as the weeks went by, personal issues came up as well as injuries. Work days took their tool as well as a growing lack of commitment. By year’s end, there was only one runner who went to the CTC championships. A sad showing.

As of today, I am about “30-70” for coaching a 2nd year at N-City. I know it is the first year that they have had a X-C program, but the work program and the lack of commitment could be serious deal breakers. The former is an excellent program that the school has but one day a week that runner is missing practice. The latter is something that can’t be taken lightly. A lack of commitment means missed practices which translate into zero improvement during the season. So the 30-70 means that I might be coaching there next year if I can’t find anything else and I would be able to put up with those problems.

The scenario that probably fits me best would be to take on a coaching position for a school that already has an established program. Between now and September I will be looking for any openings at northern schools. Starting a program and doing the normal practices is a bit more than I would like to handle. I would rather concentrate just on the coaching aspect instead of also initiating the program.

I did get one benefit from the N-City program (besides the money) and that was one year of experience. At the end of the 2 month season, I felt that I had learned how to plan a season, how to be organized, and how to get the most out of a practice. I hope to be able to use this experience in the spring’s softball program at E-City. But that’s for another time and another blog, if I create one.

Now I would be very hypocritical of what I said two paragraphs ago if I said I haven’t given up hope of starting a X-C program at E-City. Now that I look back on that effort, I realize that maybe starting a boy’s X-C team may not have been such a good idea. The reason why I did so was two-fold. First, I felt that a boy’s team would be better than a girl’s team and would be able to compete against the other schools in our conference. Second, there is currently only one sport in the fall and that is girl’s tennis. E-City does not have girl’s volleyball, field hockey, girl’s soccer, boy’s soccer, football, or any of the other fall sports that exist at larger schools. So the plan was that since the girls had a sport in the fall, I would start a new sport for the boys.

If I do decide to try again at E-City, I realize now that I will have to change genders. The 15 boys that had signed up the previous May were a total disappointment in terms of responsibility and commitment. And since my initial effort, the school has implemented a soccer club and an intra-mural basketball program during the fall which many of the boys have joined. That leaves very few if any boys who could be candidates for a new boy’s X-C team. At E-City, the boys are either big soccer fans or basketball fans. There is no third option.

So the option for a new team may lie with the females of the school. The girls are not as involved in sports as the boys are. They have the tennis, basketball, cheer leading, and softball programs. So since they are not that much into sports, the school’s girls may be where a new sport may grow and thrive. In fact, I feel that there is a different relationship with the females in the school than there is with the boys. The girls, whether they are athletes or not, will say hi and talk with teachers, while most of the boys won’t even look at you as you pass them in the hallway. So I need to count on this rapport with the school’s female population.

Why didn’t the girls come forward last year when I was looking for potential runners? Did they not listen to the announcements over the school’s intercom? Did they not see the 40+ signs I had posted around the school? I think they did. Two did come to me and I signed them up as managers for the short-lived boys team. What I think happened was that most girls in the school thought of X-C as a boys sport and didn’t realize that there are girl’s X-C teams as well.

So once I get an idea in my head, it always begins to grow. I have devised a plan for starting a new girl’s X-C team next fall. I don’t expect to get any of the girls from the tennis team. They seem too committed to that sport. Plus they don’t seem to be true athletes—walking around the court hitting a tennis ball softly is worlds apart from the demanding workouts of a X-C team. The same could be said for the cheerleaders. True, they are a bit more active and athletic than the tennis players, but still, too dainty for me to be a X-C runner. No, my target is going to be either members of the basketball and softball teams or girls who have no sport affiliation at all. Since I coach the softball team I will know which girls I can approach about joining a new team. This past week I dropped in at an open-gym session for the basketball team and I saw quite a few new faces (mostly freshmen) trying out for the team. Next spring I might touch base with the basketball coach and ask him if he would like any of his team to run X-C in the fall as part of a training program.

My plan will kick off on March 2, 2009. That is the day of the first tryout for my softball team. From talking to the girls at the school, it seems that there will be a lot of girls trying out for the team. That means I will have to cut girls which I didn’t do last year. To quash any ill feelings toward me from a girl who was cut, I’m hoping that by having an option to join a new sport in the fall, coached by me, may be enticing enough to the girl who was cut.

Next year, instead of putting 40+ signs around the school, I’m going to keep it very low key. I will put up just three signs which will be positioned at locations where all the girls of the school will see it and probably very few boys: outside the two girl’s bathrooms and one outside the girl’s locker room. And the key selling point of these signs will be that “you don’t have to be fast to be on a X-C team, you just have to be dedicated”. That way I could get both athletes and the girls who feel that they may not be athletes.

And the most important thing I have to do is to control any anticipated excitement on my part. I was in another world last summer anticipating the approaching X-C season and when it never got off the ground it was a crushing disappointment. When the N-City opportunity came along, that too was exciting, only to fizzle out after two months time. So as March approaches and my plan either works or not, I need to control my excitement. So as I always say, “stay tuned”!

End of the Season

The N City X-C season finally came to an end this past Saturday. During the week leading up to the final day, the lack of commitment by the runners continued to show at practice. The number of runners who showed up were 3, 1, 1, and 0. On Saturday, instead of five runners going to the CTC Championship at W Park in E City, there was only 1. So off we went, me, the runner, and the AD in two cars. The AD told me that he would drive the runner back and I could go directly home instead of driving all the way back to N City.

It rained the whole time driving to the Park. When we got there, the runner and I walked around trying to figure out where the 2.1 Freshman Course was. In the morning, the Public School North II teams were having their Sectional Championships. We got there just as the last race was finishing. The grounds were wet and muddy. As we walked around, we could easily tell who had run in a race that morning. If their legs and other parts of their body were muddy, we knew that they had raced. A beautiful site.

We went over to the finish line and checked in with the officials. The Freshman girls were to go off at 2 and my runner would follow in the boys freshman race at 2:20.

What a year this had been. It started out back in early September at an interview for the coaching position when I was told that 30 some kids had signed up for X-C. That was followed by that beautiful Saturday morning when 11 students showed up for the first practice. 9 girls and 2 boys. It had the makings of a solid girls team. But the apathy crept in along with a lack of commitment. And by year's end there were no girls and just one solitary brave soul, ready to run his heart out on the muddy fields of W Park.

2:20 came and he lined up with the other runners. The gun sounded and off he went. He was strong for about the first 1/3 of a mile but then the lack of practice began to show. He dropped back steadily. Finally as he came back to me from a loop to the other side of the park, he was walking and running. I spurred him on to the finish but he was experiencing pain and discomfort that an out of shape X-C runner always would. He finally crossed the finish line and he could barely stand up. We got him to the AD's car, loaded him in, drove over to where my car was, and got him some fruit and gatorade. Then I told him he ran a helluva race and off they went. He officially finished the race and his name appears on the online results. And he actually beat two other freshmen!!!

I decided to hang around and watch the rest of the races. I was able to take in the Girls Varsity as well as the Boys JV and Varsity races. It's hard to believe, but this was the first huge high school X-C meet that I had ever attended. It was quite exciting. I got in a position where with minimal walking/running, I was able to view the start, the middle, and the finish of the races. And along with the excitement, I also felt a bit of disappointment. As I watched these teams of young boys and girls battle over the muddy course, I realized that I was a coach without a team. Or more accurately, a coach without two teams.

And now the season is over. Today I had an open gym for my softball team. There were some new students trying out who showed some promise. But that's another sport for another time. As for X-C, I don't know what my future will be. I guess you will just have to stay tuned!!!

Bullet proof running gear?

If I was a betting man, and there was an "over-under" on the number of runners who would show up this week, I would have chosen the under. As I previously mentioned, the number of runners showing up has been dwindling. Three last Friday and two on Saturday. The weather has been getting cooler and today was rainy. Yesterday and today no runners showed up. But the real reason I haven't mentioned is that the official gang initiation period kicked off last Friday and is supposed to run thru Halloween. The annual event, held every October, got off to a roaring start last Friday with 6 drive by shootings in N City. Basically the runners on the team are just plain afraid to come to practice. So I will be canceling practice tomorrow. Thursday is a normal day off and Friday is Halloween and the team voted weeks ago not to have practice on that day. So the next practice will be Saturday. That leaves just one week to work hard to get in shape (the runners who will be going) for the championships on 11/8.

If this program continues in the future, having gang initiation week in October is going to put a crimp in this team's preparation for any late season races. I may have to google Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings and find out how to contact their representatives. Maybe I could convince them to move their initiation period to another time of the year.

Highs and Lows

This season has been a roller coaster of highs and lows and this past week was no different. There was a high on Tuesday when we ran our second meet of the year. We had only five runners compared to the eight that ran in the first meet. But the four that were running for the second time knocked anywhere from 2 to 7 minutes off their previous times for the course.

A low came the next day when two of the female runners informed me that they wanted to go to basketball practice as well as show up for X-C once in awhile. The school had just started basketball tryouts last week and were allowed to start early in the year (as well as overlap our season) because we are not a member of the NJSIAA and are not governed by their rules. I didn't care for this news and told the AD in so many words. He put the kibosh on their intentions and they can only practice X-C until 11-8.

A high came on Friday when the Girls Basketball coach came over to me in the gym. I thought he was going to talk to me about the season overlap, but instead he informed me that he wanted his entire team to run X-C next year so they could be in better shape for their season. I've never subscribed to the idea of having basketball players running X-C to "get in shape". I've always preferred to have a team made up of "runners" who are dedicated to the sport and not some ulterior motive. But an increase in team members is a good thing.

And then more lows on Friday and Saturday when only three and two runners, respectively, showed up for practice.

Tomorrow we begin the final two week preparation for the championships on 11/8. There are 4 or 5 runners who will be running in that--the others have one scheduling conflict or another. It will be interesting to see how many show up for practice this week. The weather will be getting cooler (forecast is for 40s and 50s) and the other runners don't really have anything to run for other than to just run for the sake of running. The two basketball players won't be racing in November so they may not show up at all.

Every day I go to practice and instead of concentrating on my plan for practice, I wonder instead if anyone will be showing up. But it's still better than E City where the entire team quit. Next year has to be better. How can it be worse?

Here are pictures!

Here is the link for the pictures from Tuesday's race. Hope you enjoy them.

I don't have a photographer for the 11/8 race but am still searching :-)

http://albums.phanfare.com/5131397

The Hawk Rules

The second race of the season took place today. Four of the team's best runners were not able to make it for one reason or another, but the five that did race were the ones who have been coming to practice and working hard. The countdown to the start of the race had a few hiccups. With about 10 minutes to the gun, two of the runners tell me that they have to use the facilities. It's a bad thing that the johnnies-on-the-spot were about a tenth of a mile away, but it was a good thing that the last team to arrive was just getting there. We had a traditional huddle this time. As we walked towards the starting line, we noticed a hawk standing guard over its prey of a dead squirrel (no this is not an actual picture of the event). It was only about 20 feet from the starting line and most of the runners were staying clear of it. It eventually took off but not before one of our runners viewed it as a good omen for the team.

The gun went off and so did the four competeing teams. Four of the five runners had run in the first race. So besides finishing the course, they also needed to prove that they could lower their times. And they all did. And not by a little but by a lot. The top four runners on the team lowered their previous times by 7:21, 2:12, 6:17, and 7:06 respectively. An outstanding performance.

All five of these runners are freshmen and they were running a varsity distance (3.1 miles) against upperclassmen. Most freshmen in the sport are running freshman races of 2.1 miles. Again this was truly an outstanding result.

The next and last race will be at W. Park in E. City on 11/8. The freshmen will be running against other freshmen in a 2.1 race. They should do quite well that day.

Approaching Race Number Two

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.

Baptism By Fire

Well, the day finally arrived for the big race and in the end the minor problems were overshadowed by the amazing performance of the N City Runners. Today was only the 19th day that the team has been in existence. No runner had been able to run the 2.1 loop non-stop yet. And the total mileage for any practice had not surpassed 3 miles yet. And yet today the runners were asked to run a race of 3.1 miles, 1 mile longer than they had ever run before.

We arrived at the park about ten minutes before 4. The AD and the principal were already there. We found the coach and AD of the hosting school and told them of our arrival and gave them the info they needed. One thing I immediately found out was that since we are not a member of the NJSIAA, and since most races are monitored by the NJSIAA, we would be running as unofficial entries. That means that the times would not be included with the official results nor would our team of five girls be included in the team scoring. But regardless, it would prove to be a huge exposure to the sport of Cross Country for our young team.

The final roster for our team was five girls and three boys. About a dozen students and faculty were also present as well as other team runners who were injured or just starting to work out with the team. The amount of support of the spectators for the team was amazing. And the support of the runners towards each other during the race and afterwards was also truly noteworthy.

We were informed that our race, with about 4 other schools would be following a dual race by about 10 or 15 minutes. Also they would be running the boys and girls race at the same time and sort out the genders at the end of the race to determine the winners. So we waited off to the side, about 400 feet from the starting line. I figured we had enough time to have our pre-race huddle (a X-C tradition) before the race was to begin. Suddenly, the coaches of the other teams were yelling and calling for us to get up to the starting line. Apparently, they decided to switch the order of the races and we were going first. So he walked quickly to the start without being able to have the huddle. They lined up, all 8 of them. I knew they were nervous as you wouldn't believe, and about a minute later, the gun fired and they were off.

The course is basically a three loop so they passed the spectators two times before coming in the last time for the finish. We cheered them on each time they passed. I couldn't believe the perseverance and drive that these young runners had. True, they did some walking, but I knew they were keeping that to a minimum. As they passed each time you could see in their faces that they were hurting but they wouldn't quit. And keep in mind that these are sophomores and freshmen, and this was a varsity race, against teams of juniors and seniors.

Needless to say, they finished far back in the race but for the amount of time that they have been running, it was truly an outstanding performance. They all finished strong--there were performances by some runners that surprised me. But in the end they were all winners in my book (sound like N Dale again).

Some Gatorade, a cool down walk, and the day was over. They all walked off to their homes, and as I saw them get smaller in the distance, I knew that on this day, in this race, they had graduated from weekday practice runner to Cross Country Warrior.

Just like "Hoosiers"

No, we didn't win a championship. It's just that I gave the team the Norman Dale locker room speech. Not the good one at the end but the one where he ripped into them after the first game they played. Last Friday we had a 2 PM practice scheduled. With the rain I decided to have the practice in the gym. One runner showed up. I was p-o'd !!! I cancelled Saturday's practice because how could I know if anyone would show up on that day as well?

Today at our pre-practice meeting, I let them have it (those that showed up). A Norman Dale speech about commitment to the sport and the team. And a new team rule--miss two practices and you face a suspension for an indefinite amount of time. I hope I got thru to them. Then I told them to meet me at the park.

Of course you can't stay mad at a team too long, so when we met in the park, I was the usual fun-loving coach. They had a good 2.1 loop followed by Intra Squad Meet # 2. Team B won again 9-12.

Wednesday is the big day. Real Meet # 1. Tomorrow we'll have a light workout followed by an info-packed meeting about the race. The AD should have the uniforms sometime tomorrow. We should have 5 or 6 girls racing and 3 boys in their race.

Finally, a good practice

With some students always on work program and now with several out with injuries or some kind of malady, the daily attendance is always a constant 6 or 7. And I'm learning to live with that. Today we finally had a good practice with seven runners with only one hiccup. One of the boys has been having pain in his legs and it finally got too bad today, so I shut him down indefinitely like I did the girl runner on Saturday.

Other than that, the remaining 6 ran the opening 2.1 loop quite well. Two of the runners got PBs (personal bests) for the distance. And then we had a mini intra squad meet. It would be their first exposure to how a meet works, so I mapped out a course of only about 1/2 mile so that I knew that they would be able to run the whole race without stopping and be able to attain some speed as well.

I tried to split the teams up so that they would be as equal as possible. I had three boys and three girls. I was off by a little because one of the girls who I expected to finish strong got stitches and finished 6th. As a result the race was as close as it could possibly be: Team B beat Team A by a score of 10-11.

Yesterday I thought I finally had the roster at a constant, but the one girl who quit is coming back and another girl who has been taking forever to get her "papers" in order has finally done so. So there are now 9 girls, with maybe another one to join later in the week--she talked to me today before practice. And there are two more boys joining--one of whom ran in today's practice/meet. He shows some raw talent and now I have what looks like three strong male runners. This program in the beginning gave the impression that it would be a girls team, but now it's starting to look more like a strong boys team.

One week to race number ONE.

Correction still

I was right the first time. The first meet will be at Branch Brook Park in the Arts H.S. Invitational on Wednesday, October 1. Some of the other schools that I found out will be participating are Arts, Pingry, and Montclair Kimberly Academy. That leaves just five days of practice left before the meet.

Today was the first practice since Saturday's. I announced two PBs (Personal Bests) and then told the team about the meet next week. In a word, they were petrified. To a runner, the sport of Cross Country is totally new to them and to run in a meet for the very first time will be a traumatic experience for most of them especially since they are way behind all of the other schools in terms of training. My job is to get them ready physically as well as emotionally and psychologically.

After one of my sophomores went down with a sore leg (near the calf) on Saturday I decided to add a calf strengthening stretch to our daily warm ups. It was added with good intention but seemed to back fire. The seven runners who were there today took off for the 2.1 loop that we start each practice with. Four of the runners limped back long after they started, three with sore calves. I was planning to have our first intra-squad meet but with only three runners, it would have to be put off til tomorrow.

I then gave them a crash course on how the scoring in a X-C meet works and then we broke for the day.

In terms of the roster: we will be adding two more boys which will bring our total to five. They should have their medical papers completed soon and should join practice Friday or Saturday.

The girls were at seven on Saturday. One has since left the team and one that only showed up on the very first day of practice has rejoined the team. So we stay at seven, but the one who got hurt on Saturday is going to be out for abut two weeks, And another one has been to the doctor and has either an asthma or a heart problem. Which leaves us with five to run the race except one of the girls has her work program on Wednesday and will not be able to participate. So unless we come up with another girl, they will be running as individuals.

Correction

I had the wrong date for the Arts Invitational. It should be Saturday, October 4. So we have a little more than a week and a half to prepare.

The Die Is Cast

As we move into the second week of our late-starting season, it's time to reflect on the first week. The N City runners are still not in the best running shape and no one is able to complete the 2.1 north loop in the park without stopping. But they all do give it their best effort as they complete the task.

The roster is finally settling down to a constant number. I really don't want to take on any more new runners after ten days, so right now we are looking at 7 girls and 3 boys. One of the girls pulled up lame on Saturday, and she will be shut down until she is 100% healthy again.

Of the 3 boys, two show a lot of talent and it's a shame there aren't enough other boys to build a team around them. They'll probably enter any future races as individual runners.

Of the girls, 4 show some nice speed and the other three (including the injured one) are all determined to improve. Of the fast ones, there is one girl who is very talented and extremely dedicated to running. If I had a team of ten of her, this would be a team mentioned in the Ledger!!

The only concern at this time is the number of practices that the runners are missing. Most of the excuses seem to be legit: doctor's appointment, sweet 15 party practice, church, sick, too sore, etc. I'd prefer that they run if they were sore--that's the only way to improve--but I'm letting them heal. I don't want to play "bad coach" and drop any hard team rules regarding attendance on them for fear that that would turn them off towards being a member of the team. And this week will be a tough one--I mentioned in my first posting that these students work one day a week and miss school and practice. Well, once a month they work two days a week--the extra day being the Monday (today).

And now for the latest news. The AD wants us to participate in the Arts High School Invitational on Wednesday, October 1. That's only 9 days away. So in the practices available before that race, I will determine if the girls are ready to participate as a full team (need to run 3.1 miles). If not, I'll just select individual girls to run as well as individual boys.

So stay tuned.

"Eeeeet's Aliiiiive!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ah, yes, Frankenstein. That wonderful monster who came alive because some one's brain was put into ANOTHER body. Emphasis on the word "another".

During the summer as I was doing all of my research and planning for the upcoming Cross Country season, I came across two interesting items on the Internet. Both were ads for a Cross Country coach. They say hind sight is always 20-20, and if I had somehow known that the Cross Country program I was trying to start was going to be a huge failure, I would have contacted one of those schools.

But as the days went by and no new runners were coming forward, and the AD got closer to pulling the plug on the program, I decided to contact those two school just for the heck of it. I sent e-mails to each and one got back to me immediately. It was a Jewish high school located in a town next to mine. The AD informed me that the position was filled, but they were looking for two swimming coaches. I told her that was not my forte, and said thank you. She said she would keep me in mind for the future but I wanted something now.

The other school didn't get back to me for about a week. It's a special kind of school that is existing in the city north of E City, and that is why I am changing the name of this blog to N City. It is a new Catholic "high school" that resides in a Catholic high school that closed down about three years ago. I put high school in quotes because it is growing one year at a time. This is its second year and it only has Freshman and Sophomores. So in a couple of years it will have all four levels of students. It's also special in that companies sponsor a program where all of the students spend one day a week at a real job learning responsibilities about life. Their Dean of Students was also the Dean of Students at the E City school for a year and a half a couple years ago. So I had someone inside who knew me.

When the AD of that school got back to me, he said that the position was open and I could come in for an interview. So this past Thursday I drove up there after school and met with the AD and one of the Board Members (a former track star at ECHS). The school, the administration, and the Board are behind new sports like X-C 110%. The interview went well, and I accepted the job and the challenge.

I was told that about 30 students had signed up for the program, so I figured if 10 to 15 showed up at the first practice (today), I would be happy. I got there at 10:30 this morning and I waited around in the gym. Two boys showed up. Then five minutes went by. Then ten. It was deja vu all over again. I was ready to go home, when the Board Member drove up and said all the girls were waiting in the front of the school. So we finally got them all together in the gym for the first practice!!

Two boys and nine girls showed up. But we think even more may show up during next week. I'll probably stop accepting newcomers at the end of next week. I had all of the students fill out cards with their names, their grade, the day of the week they would be at their job, and in one sentence, why they want to run X-C. Three of the 11 actually had the word passion in the reason. These kids want to run, they have no problem with practicing every day, and they seem to be great kids from what I've seen today.

I gave them a brief speech about X-C, some rules and parameters for the team, then we exercised and got ready for the practice. The school is only about six blocks from world famous Branch Brook Park. So the Board Member and I drove over and met them there.

We were in the north part of the park and there is a nice 2.1 loop there. My aches, pains and bursitis were minimal so I decided to run the loop with them. They're not in great running shape, but they were able to make it around with a number of stops. I encouraged them as they made the effort. There are also a couple of runners who show some raw talent and almost made it around non-stop.

The only drawback is that there isn't an oval running track anywhere in the area. So my plan for that is to mark one out with cones in one of the open fields and do 200s, 400s, etc. there. So with the remaining time left, we did some fast runs on the gravel path and then we broke for the day.

The AD had set up a schedule of about 6 meets, but I feel we'll be lucky if we get in shape to run maybe the last two. They also have to acquire uniforms and maybe some new shoes, although almost all of today's runners had a decent pair of shoes on.

So readers, Monday will be day 2, and I'll be keeping you up to date with the high lights of the upcoming season.

The Final Nail

Well, today was Freshmen Orientation. Around 10 in the morning they were all assembled in the cafeteria to hear several speakers. Besides the principal, guidance counselors, and some upperclassmen, the Athletic Director and myself were also going to talk briefly.
The AD went thru his shpiel about all the different sports we offer and the conference we belong to. Then it was my turn. I talked briefly about the benefits of X-C and tried to make it appealing and opportunistic for them. I basically used a recruiting speech that Joe Newton (high school X-C coach extraordinaire) uses. I saw a lot of blank faces and I knew I wasn't going to get the needed number of runners to keep this program alive.
But it only got worse when a phys ed teacher suddenly got up after me and told them about the new basketball intramural program he was starting for the fall. Great! Any kid who is not in a sport is now going to go play intra-mural hoops rather than go out for X-C.
So it's over. I don't expect any freshmen to come see me before Friday.
It's a hard reality but I'm realizing that X-C is not a sport geared towards the inner city kid. Our HS is like any other inner city school--boys basketball is king and every sport is either horrific or doesn't even exist.
So this summer has been a waste of planning, a waste of money, and a waste of hope and expectations.
So I need to forget about this dream and concentrate on softball in the spring (boy are those girls gonna run laps!!!!). >:-)

Life Support

Another disappointing day for the E City X-C Team. Today, only one of the runners (A) showed up. He told me that S was in Canada and wouldn't be back til Tuesday. Nice of him to tell me. The two managers didn't show up either, but either way, I wasn't going to have a practice with one runner. So I told him that I was going to cancel practices until we got some more guys on the team. I then gave him a ride back to his house in the team van.

During the morning I also got a call from one of the runners who were in Cape May on Monday saying that he was also dropping out since practice was going to be held every day. And another runner's (who was a basketball player) father wouldn't let him join two sports because he felt he would suffer academically.

So the existence of this team will depend on two things. 1) hopefully some of the original 17 will show up once school starts. I would assume that they would be ready then after not running during the summer and also not wanting to have any kind of practices before school starts. 2) a real good sales pitch will need to be made to the Freshman class on Wednesday. That's the only way this program will grow--from the early grades.

So next week will determine if this blog will continue or slowly die like my other one. LOL

Day One

The alarm went off and as I dragged myself out of bed, I realized that THE DAY had finally come. After five years of thinking about it and eight months of actually creating it, the first day of practice for the S M H S Cross Country Team had finally arrived.


As I drove to the school in the early morning I was expecting the worst. The previous May I had a tentative roster of 17 runners along with two female managers who also wanted to work out with the team. 19 members. Not bad for the first year of a team. And so in May I gave them a challenging and somewhat demanding summer program to follow and I would see them in late August.

Now starting a cross country team at an inner city school is not the easiest thing in the world. It's like going to a Bronx high school and starting a golf team. In both programs the students are weary of trying a new sport they are familiar with and also the environment that they live in does not provide a good training facility.

If an inner city student doesn't live near a park it proves difficult and perhaps a little dangerous to go running around their neighborhood by themselves. So I think the demanding summer program along with the lack of good training facilities, not to mention that some kids might not want to train that hard during the summer months, may have led to the surprise that awaited me at the school this morning.

During the past week I've been getting hints that the turnout today would be small. One student had not re-registered with the school and another had told me that he wouldn't be joining the team. Last night I got an e-mail from another student saying he too would be dropping out. Friday night, I got a call from the mother of a runner (and an aunt of another) saying that the two boys would be in Cape May today but would be at practice on Thursday. My two managers had told me that they would definitely be there. So 2 mangers and a possible 12 other runners awaited me at the school.

I arrived at the school and started getting the van ready. A big water jug and the first aid kit were placed in the van. My plan was to go to the park instead of the original plan for a first day run of 6 miles through Roselle. Since it was becoming apparent that no one had done the summer program, I decided to just take the team to the park and have a workout designed to see where everyone was shape wise.

And so I then waited for 9 o'clock to roll around. Finally around 8:50 two sophomores (one is a basketball player) came through the front door. I welcomed them, told them the locker rooms were open if they needed them, and we would meet in the downstairs caf for a pre-practice meeting. And then I waited some more. 9 o'clock came. 9:05. I told the girl in the office to send any late runners to the caf or to the park if we had already left. After the meeting downstairs, the three of us headed out to the van. The two female runners caught us just as we were pulling out of the lot. So the five of us headed over to the park.

We arrived at the park, did some stretching and exercises and then we began our first workout. I had a strong feeling that my runners were not in good running shape. I had already set a small course in the park that was approximately 6/10 mile. I ran with them for the first time and told them that if they got tired to walk and then try to start up again. Sure enough, one of the managers had to stop several times. The other three made it all the way back with me to the end. My bursitis was killing me at that point so I was glad that that was all the running I had planned for the day. We took a slow walk (to let them recover) back to the start and they did it again. This time three of the four had to stop for breaks during the run. The sophomore basketball player (we'll call him "S") made a wrong turn and I saw him slowly jogging to the other side of the park. The other sophomore (we'll call him "A") finally made it the finish line and I congratulated him for beating S. He was ecstatic at the news. Finally S figured out what he had done and he finally came back as well as the two girls.

Another slow walk back to the start and off they went for the third and final run. This time I timed them even though the distance was only a guess on my part. S finished at 4:59, and A finished at 7:26. We then went back to the van for a water break. Then we went over to the track.

I knew I couldn't push them too much on this first day especially since they didn't seem to be in the best running shape. I had decided to do times on the very first day so that they wouldn't view these practices as boring and with the times they would have some way to measure their improvement. A goal to which they could shoot for.

I had the group jog a 400, then walk a 400. Then they repeated that. Then I had them run a timed 400. Not hard, but not a slow jog. I asked them to just kick it up a little higher than a jog. Both S and A came in at the same time (I'm going to have to instill some competitiveness) at 1:33.93. Then back to the van and then to the school.

So the bottom line is that I have two runners and two more coming on Thursday. I just need one more to have the minimum 5. I realize that I may need to do some damage control over any missing runners who gave up and quit because of the demanding summer program. Hopefully if I can do that, then I may have 1 or 2 more on the team.

But somehow in the future I need to get the team to buy into the need for the summer program. At the park today there was a high school (not sure which one) that was training. And they were running laps around the park with little effort. I hope my two guys took notice. And maybe at the end of this season, when the members who will be retuning next year see how well the other teams do in the meets, they will realize the importance of the summer program. Because as long as our runners don't complete their summer running, success will never come to E City.

One other plan that I have for filling out the team is by talking at next week's Freshmen Orientation. I'll give them a sales pitch and hopefully get a few more potential runners.

So that's where we stand now. Tomorrow and Wednesday are "run on your own" days. Whether they will or not, I don't know. But those two days all the students have to come in for their books and uniforms and stuff, so I thought I would put practices off to Thursday.

So I hope whoever is reading this, you enjoyed it. I'll try to keep this up to date more than my other blog. So until next time, so long.