Redhawks,
Our first meet is upon us, and I'm looking forward to seeing you compete. I've really enjoyed these first two weeks, more than usual, because of the caliber of kids coming out and because of the coaches we are working with - they, and you, have all made my job easier and more enjoyable. I've also been very pleased with the turnout. We had more people at Thursday's and Friday's practices than any previously, which is a good thing for the team, as long as we can make that continue.
Practice Information
Practices this week should all be outside on the track. On A days, those not in the class, should come up as quickly as possible to get warmed up and join the workout. On B days we will begin at 2:40. With no school on Friday, we may hold an unofficial practice in the afternoon, but that is tbd.
Meet Information
Our first meet is on Wednesday at Bonneville High School. The meet will begin at 3:30 PM. It generally lasts a couple of hours. The bus will leave at 1:30 PM - so you will be excused at 1:15 to get on the bus. If the bus time changes I will send an email out, and hopefully have it announced. It sometimes gets changed. You must ride the bus to the meet, and you can only ride home with a parent/guardian - not your friend's parent/guardian, only yours.
In order to get on the bus you must have COMPLETED registration on register my athlete. If it is not complete, you cannot go. It tells you on there if any parts are still incomplete, so double check it today.
We also need to register each individual online for the meet, which can be rather cumbersome at this stage of the season due to uncertainty of events. Here's what I need from you: if you cannot go to the meet, and you already know that, please reply to this email saying you can't go, so I don't register you.
Sprinters should plan on running the 100m, 200m (if not doing the open 400m) and the 400m - we need to learn where each of your fitness level is for that event. However, most of you will not be the open 400m. Some of you will want to run the open 400, so we'll put you in it, and some of you may prefer just do the 100m and 200m, which is fine this time, because we are going to enter everyone into a 4x400m relay at the end of the meet (exception: throwers). The 4x400m relay is the final event of the day, and we are going to have about 15 teams (give or take a few) and all runners will be placed on a team and the coaches will do our best to time each of you in your leg of the relay.
Distance runners should plan on the mile, 800, and 4x400 at the end, although we'll have to talk about that tomorrow at practice.
Throwers will be entered into the throws that they've practiced. Jumpers, if we are able to practice the jumps on Monday and Tuesday, will be permitted to jump - we may have to hold off on high jump at the moment though; that is tbd.
Uniforms
Finally, we will be distributing uniforms on Monday, so make sure you are at practice. Those of you who did XC, and were on the JV xc team, please bring your uniforms, to turn them in, and I'll issue you a different one. We have two types of uniforms, and anyone who is potentially going to be running in a relay at the larger meets must have the same uniform, so I need to make sure I have a few of those stashed away to give to those kids who end up on a relay team. That could be you, but due to the uncertainty I need to make sure I have enough for future meets.
Interesting Information
If you, like me, know people who constantly tell you that your knees will go bad from running, you can use this article to share some knowledge. Fun fact: the average American's knees fail more often than those who run. https://www.outsideonline.com/health/running/runners-knee-cartilage-study-2020/
For those who were wondering about static stretching and how it affects performance before competition, and how static flexibility affects performance: https://www.outsideonline.com/health/training-performance/case-against-stretching-flexibility-research/
Here is some information that our trainer presented to us on preventing and healing shin-splints.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Coach Jacobson
