Coaches' Corner

Here is a sampling of some of the things on our minds this week...

• Season Outlook/Goals:
• Fundamentally, our goals are based on relative improvement.  Success is measured in the improvement of each individual versus last year or over the course of a season.
• Additionally, the coaches believe that North Bay League titles – both Varsity and Junior Varsity – are realistic goals for the team again this year.
• A further realistic goal is to qualify both our Girls and Boys Varsity teams for California State Championships with top 4 finishes at the North Coast Section Meet.
  
  
• Roster Size – we are currently at 79 (our biggest before was 50 last year).  This has positive and negative aspects to it - it’s fantastic that we have so many kids willing to commit to competitive running, but the numbers sometimes present complicated administrative challenges. As coaches, we are finding we need to adapt our methods – here is how we are trying to manage:
• Using training groups to adjust workout duration and intensity.  We continue to adjust these groups as we get a better assessment of each runner’s ability and fitness.
• Using these groups we hope to ease the transition of our novice runners into improved fitness, more advanced training, and successful competitive experiences.
• For the first time, we are setting minimum fitness requirements prior to allowing athletes to participate in competition: 14:00 for two miles for Boys and 16:45 for Girls.  We will issue competition jerseys once athletes are able to meet this requirement.
• Reasoning:  competition poses an additional set of physical and psychological hurdles for young athletes. While we believe there is certainly benefit to adapting to these challenges, we would prefer not to introduce these until the athlete has achieved a sufficient foundation of fitness. 
• We believe everyone on our roster will be able to meet this requirement (if not immediately, then soon) if they maintain consistency in their training.
  
  
• What we hope to see in upcoming three weeks
  
• Consistency in training, build aerobic fitness, remaining injury free (or to heal from current injuries)
• Testing fitness in more low-key competitive environments at Rancho Invite, Ed Sias Invite, Casa Grande Interlock, and Viking Invite.
• Use these performances to help refine training groups and workouts.
  
  
• Ongoing Communications:
• If you would like to get email updates on days when we update the blog, go to the very bottom of this page and enter your email address in the "Subscribe via email" box