Friday, February 17, 2012

Field Event Clinic is ON (but earlier)

After much juggling of schedules, I've managed to keep Saturday's field clinic going, albeit at an earlier time. The new time is 10:30-12:30 on Saturday the 18th. We'll be setting up at 10, and we must be off the field area by about 12:45 so the field can be prepped for a College Park girls' championship soccer game. The College Park track team is also scheduled to prepare the track area on Saturday for their season.

There are a few things to keep in mind:

* Athletes should treat this as a regular practice: bring a water bottle, dress in layers, use the bathroom at home. At this practice, parents are welcome to help. This is especially useful if you have signed up for a field job at a meet and don't have any idea what to do, or need a refresher on how to measure for an event.

* We always want to be good citizens, and if that means we can't practice something because it's being painted or raked or cleaned, then we will manage. We're fortunate to have access to such a nice facility for our practices, and I want to stay on good terms with College Park. Many former CYO athletes are on the CP teams and remember our program fondly. Let's keep it that way.

* Safety is very, very important. If all goes well, we will be able to spend at least some time with all four of our field events (softball throw, shot put, high jump, long jump.) Under no circumstances is an athlete to use any equipment without supervision from an adult associated with our team, and absolutely no using any of the high-school exclusive equipment. This includes trying to jump the hurdles and playing in the pole vault area, no matter how cool they are. Anyone acting unsafely will be asked sit in the stands until practice is over.

In addition, please take care crossing the field area (softballs in the air!) and do not play in the  long jump pits. The park has a nice big sandbox for that sort of thing.

* Only fifth graders and older may try shot put and high jump. Everyone may try softball throw and long jump. Athletes: please try everything that you're allowed to try! And please don't come just to hang out and goof off. If you want to do some conditioning laps, that's fine, too. We're holding this for your benefit, so make the most of it.

Thanks for your patience everyone, and we'll see you on Saturday.

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