1/1 update

Braves,

I hope you have been having a great winter break. The days always seem to fly by when we are out of school. We are lucky that our season begins right after the break so we can jump right back in to things; that seems to help cure the holiday hangover for me. When I think about our team I realize how lucky we are that you are a great group of kids and we are happy to be working with you. We have a lot of kids who sincerely want to get better, and we have a very coachable group. Keep up the great work.  I have several things to share with you before we resume regular practices on Tuesday to help you be ready for next week’s meet.

This past week we held two practices, and the attendance was as expected considering many of you were out of town or had other commitments. If you fall in that category, we understand. Nobody died from the early morning workouts, but everyone there got stronger. Unfortunately many stayed at home in bed and got softer. Now I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, and again, I realize many of you simply couldn’t come – and many of you emailed me to tell me that, which I appreciate. What I am trying to do is illustrate a point. The point is that to get better and become your best self takes work. If we want to become region and state champions, it is going to take work. For years I have heard fellow coaches lament that “everyone wants to be the best, but few are willing to put in the work for it.” We have to take advantage of each day and we can’t let small things get in our way. Rather than finding reasons to avoid working, let’s find reasons to work harder.  It is that concept that makes track fun. Seeing your teammates work hard makes you work harder in return, and that is what makes this whole process enjoyable. Regardless where you are now, or how many practices you have been to thus far, I invite each of you, myself included, to think of one way you can work harder each day at practice – and then of course, do it. Let’s start fresh in the new year and get ready to work. If we each do that we will be able to reach our goals of competing for region and state titles in May.

As I said before the break, we have put ourselves in a good position heading into January, but we have only just begun, there are many months ahead of us. Take it one day at a time, one practice at a time, one race at a time and you will be surprised what you are able to accomplish, I have no doubt of that.

Our first meet is next Friday and Saturday at BYU. I will do my best to answer all your questions here, but if I miss anything feel free to send me an email.  

1)      You need to register for the meet online. Click here to register. Remember, we will register for the relays so don’t worry about doing that.

2)      Remember that indoor track is a club sport, which means the district will not provide us with transportation. Each of you is responsible to get yourself to and from the meet. Technically as coaches we are not even allowed to facilitate carpooling because of liability issues. If you have space in your vehicle feel free to share that information with your teammates. Here is a map to the facility.

3)      Friday night is when the field events are competed, namely High Jump, Long Jump, Shot Put, and Weight Throw. If you are competing in one of those events you can head down after school. Refer to the schedule to get an idea of when things are competed. Scroll to the bottom to see those estimates.

4)      Saturday is when all the track events are done. There is not a an exact time schedule, but on the BYU website you can see what time races in the past have gone. I imagine it will be similar this year.

5)      We recommend registering for at least two events (that ends up being $10). We also recommend running the 4x1lap at the end of the day IN ADDITION to your other events. Please let me know by THURSDAY if you are able to stay until the end and are interested in a relay and we will sign you up and pay for those. We are hoping to have a bunch of teams. The relay is one of the best parts of the day. Few things are better than running with your teammates on a relay.  (The reason it is called 4x1lap is because the BYU track is ~321m around, so they simplify the relay and it is a bit shorter than usual.)

We want you to run these three or more events for several reasons. One of those reasons is that we are early in the season and still are trying to build a base for the remainder of the year. Competing in more races will help you build up your stamina and strength. We are not trying to run our best race of the year next week, we are trying to do that in May. Running more races now will help you get there. Many of you are going to be competing is several events, on back to back days, over the course of the indoor season (State indoor and Simplot), and outdoor season (district, region, and state). If we don’t do multiple races now, we won’t be prepared for it.

6) Talk to your coaches about what events you should run. (Sprinters/Hurdlers, I’m going to recommend the 400m so be prepared.)

7)      Upon arrival to the facility you will need to check in to your race by highlighting your name (or whatever they ask you to do this year) on a table near the “bullpen”. If you walk into the main area you will eventually find it. We will be there to find you and direct you as well. There will be areas where you can warm up, but make sure you know which races are before your so you can go to the bullpen in time. the bullpen is where they give you a heat and lane assignment, and you might be in the bullpen for a while, like 30 minutes if you are one of the last heats, so plan accordingly. I will clarify this further at practice on Tuesday.

8)      There are bleachers in the facility but they aren’t very conducive to relaxing, so we will find a spot as a team where we can sit together and support your teammates who are racing.

9)      This meet has a tendency to be longer than some of the other local meets. Last year the relay finished at about 5 PM.

a.       With that in mind please bring plenty of food and drinks so that you are well nourished and hydrated for your races. You will be much happier if you are well fed (speaking from personal experience) so I recommend having an abundance.

b.      I also recommend bring something to sit on like a chair or blanket, and maybe a pillow if you are the type that naps between races (as long as you are awake with plenty of time to warm up of course).

c.       If you want you can bring some games to help pass the time between races.

d.      Support your teammates when they are racing. It surprises me how often kids say that they started running faster when they heard a teammate yell for them. Support each other and enjoy the day together. This season is short so let’s appreciate each day and race.

e.      Prepare yourself mentally and physically for your race. Give yourself plenty of time to warm up and be in the bullpen.

We appreciate your hard work. We are on our way to getting better. I have put the links at the end here as well for those who may have missed the hyperlinks above.

Schedule estimates - http://www.byutrack.com/various/Special/Meet_Info/2016-17/BYUHSIndoor/Coug-HSIN17.htm

Registration - http://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Individual?meet=1000938

Map to facility - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Smith+Fieldhouse+(SFH)/@40.2473836,-111.6552114,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xe988d551777d2390!8m2!3d40.2473836!4d-111.6552114

Our team website – www.bravestrack.blogspot.com

Coach Jacobson

12/25 update

Braves,

We want to thank you for your effort, attitude, and determination that you have shown thus far in the season. We have been off to a solid start, which will be important to our success. Coming back from the break we have to continue what we started.

Make sure that you are staying active over the next two weeks, meaning going out and getting some a run in everyday that you can. On that note, we will be practicing on Wednesday and Friday of next week at 8 AM. We will meet by the back doors on the 3^rd floor. We are also going to be practicing field events those days.

There are some of you on this email list who have not come to practice for some time. I can remove you from the list if you would like, but I need you to let me know. If you haven’t been coming to practice but have some interested in joining us again, feel free to come back to practice; we’d love to have you.

Feel free to contact me with any questions, or refer to our website www.bravestrack.blogspot.com

I hope you all have a merry Christmas and happy holidays. Enjoy your time away from school, be in the moment, and get some well-deserved rest. We are grateful for each of you and your contribution to the team. We are looking forward to a fun indoor season with a good group of kids.

Coach Jacobson

12/18 update

Braves,

This was only our third week of practice, but it was by far our best in terms of commitment, effort, and overall improvement. Though we are early in the season, we are absolutely on the right track to becoming a successful team this winter and spring. We have two practices before the break, two practices (maybe a third if we can figure out a day) and then 4 school days before the BYU meet. The season is here and the days are going to go fast. As I repeat almost daily, we need to take advantage of every opportunity because there aren’t many. We had a stellar week, let’s build on that this upcoming week and over the break.

In regards to the break, we will not be practicing after Tuesday of this week. We will have two practices after Christmas on Wednesday and Friday at 8 AM. For those two practices we will meet at the east doors near the field house that lead to the 3^rd floor commons. I will try and lay it out a bit more clearly here:

Monday 12/19 – Practice after school as usual

Tuesday 12/20 – Practice after school as usual

Wednesday 12/21 – No Practice (school is shorter as well)

Wednesday 12/28 – Practice at 8 AM

Friday 12/30 – Practice at 8 AM

We encourage you to stay active over the break. Going for a run each morning would be a great way to maintain what we have started here. If you don’t do anything over the break you could lose the gains we have made thus far.

Again, our first meet is the first week back in school. For questions about the schedule please see our website, and feel free to contact me. The link to our schedule is here http://bravestrack.blogspot.com/p/2017-indoor-schedule.html

The way that BYU does their meet registration is slightly different from the others. This is the one meet where you will need to register yourself online in the events you want to compete in – registration doesn’t end until January 6^th at noon so you have some time, but we want you to be thinking about it. We will sign up and pay for the relays, so we will be asking who is able to run in them. The track at BYU is unique in that it is about 322 meters around (which makes it five laps for a mile). They do all the standard indoor events except the relay. Instead of being a 4x400m, it is a 4x1Lap relay (meaning 4x322m relay). We would like to put several teams together and get out and compete against each other. This meet is longer than the others as well because of the amount of teams that go down, so I would look at the schedule and make sure to arrive an hour and fifteen minutes prior to your race time. This will allow you to warm up and be in the bull-pen, which is where they organize the heat and lane assignments, with enough time. We encourage you to sign up for AT LEAST two events, not counting the relay, so that we get used to competing several times a day. Talk to your coaches about which events you should register for. When you register they will ask you to select your school (Bountiful HS) and then to pay online. BYU is a bit pricier than the other venues, and they tack on a transaction fee, so it comes out to $10 for two events. Here is the link for that registration http://www.runnercard.com/e/runner.Main?meet=1000938 More information will be given out in the coming weeks.

Again, we are very happy with where we are at as a team. We have a group of kids who are ready to work hard and do what we ask of them. I said this in practice this week but I will share it again here. Each of you has your own reasons for joining the team. I don’t necessarily care why you decided to join the team, I care why you stay on the team. We hope you stay so you can become a better athlete. We hope you stay so you can help your teammates become better as well. And we hope you stay so you can be part of what we are building at Bountiful High. There are other reasons to stay on the team of course, but these reasons need to be at the top for our team to truly be successful.

We appreciate the work you have been putting in, let’s keep it going into next week and build successful days on successful days. Enjoy your weekend, Braves.

Coach Jacobson

12/11 update

Braves,

We have had a solid week and a half of training to begin the season, and we only have a week and couple days before the break. You are off to a great start with your effort in practices. Moving forward we need to take advantage of every opportunity and moment of practice because the first week back from the break we have a race. Over the break we will have a few practices that are not required. Those practices won’t be during any of the days from the 23^rd to the 27^th, but we don’t know the exact days yet. I will let you know in the email I send out next week. We also will not practice on the last day of school before the break, which is Wednesday and a short class day.

We have been pleased with how consistent many of you have been at coming to practice, and we appreciate those of you who have communicated with us when you are going to miss days for other commitments. Please continue to let us know that you are going to miss so we can plan accordingly. A number of you have been missing workouts without telling us beforehand, so we are left wondering why. Do all you can to not miss practices; we don’t have many to waste before the season begins. We are in a very talented region so for us to have a chance at winning this spring we need to be working. Every team who is in contention is doing the same thing right now. You don’t have to be the fastest or the most talented to work hard. Remember the Tim Notke quote, “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” As coaches we would much prefer work with a group of kids who lack talent but work hard than work with an extremely talented group who doesn’t.  With only a few days left before we race, now is the time to rededicate yourself and take your effort to the next level.

On this last Friday we had pretty tough workouts and we were impressed how hard each of you were working. That isn’t to say we don’t have room for improvement, because we do, but the work you are doing is setting you up for success; keep it up. As evidence for the effort I took a few pictures and I put them on our team Instagram (@bravestrackandxc) and our team website where I will upload photos all season long. You can find those pictures by clicking on the pictures link on the right side of the page. If you have pictures from meets or anything you will also be able to upload them there via the google page. It’s quite simple and is nice to have those memories from the season when you want to see them. Our website is www.bravestrack.blogspot.com

If you have any questions feel free to contact me. I know many of you are new to the sport so I’m happy to answer any and all questions. As the meets begin I will do my best to be thorough in the information that I send out, but I won’t be perfect, so let me know.

We are off to a good start, let’s keep it rolling.

Coach Jacobson

12/4 update

Braves,

I am extremely late in getting this out so I apologize for that. I hope you all have been enjoying your weekend and that you are ready to get after it this week in practice.

We were pleased with how many of you came to the first week of practice, and how hard you were willing to work. Don’t lose the excitement or determination that you had those first few days. It is easy to be good or determined for one day or one practice, the way that you become a successful athlete or person is by being good day after day, week after week. We must stack successful practices on top of each other so that we have successful weeks and months. We are only weeks away from our first meet. To those who are new to the sport maybe that sounds like a long time, but for cross country we practice for two months before our first race – and in college we practiced for 4 months before racing – so this seems like an extremely short time for preparation.

The good thing about indoor is that it is a perfect time of preparation for the seasons ahead; we aren’t winning region or state in January or February. Those races aren’t until May, so we use this time to get better, and improve ourselves. One thing that we want each of you to do is compete with yourselves and avoid comparing yourselves to others. On the one hand it is good to push and be pushed by your teammates, but never let someone else’s ability discourage you. It’s ok if you aren’t the fastest on the team, as long as you are working your hardest, then you are successful and you need not compare yourself.

Keep working hard like you did this week. Get to know your teammates and encourage each other when the workouts get difficult (consider that a foreshadow for this week, don’t stress though because you will be just fine). Plan on being outside at least a few days this week. With some snow in the forecast we are changing up our plans so that we can take advantage of the good weather days. Make sure you come with clothes in case we are inside or outside.

As said at practice, if you ever want to leave bags or other items in my room during practice you are welcome to do so. I don’t lock my door so you can leave it or get it at will. .

We will see you tomorrow. Same time and place as usual. You are awesome.

Coach Jacobson