Monday, May 29, 2017

Picnic Reminder, Off-Season Events

Pot Luck Picnic and Awards, Pleasant Hill Park, Saturday June 3rd 11:30 AMPlease come to the picnic and RSVP. Bring your own entrĂ©e to grill and a side dish to share. The team provides drinks and hot coals. Remember to bring utensils, plates, and napkins. We already have an RSVP list longer than any in recent memory!

We have lots of unclaimed ribbons (and some medals!) from the season, plus 7-up Club patches, various special recognition awards, a "helpful family" prize drawing, and two Athlete of the Year trophies to bestow!

The kids (and child-like coaches/parents) usually play some kickball, soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, or football while waiting for lunch.

Hope to see you there!

Off-Season Events
Pleasant Hill hosts a 5K "fun run" the morning of the Fourth of July, and you'll see good turnout from CYO coaches and athletes there. It's a loop around the downtown area, and then you're in a perfect spot to see the parade.

CYO cross-country starts up in August. It's low-key and lots of fun, with meets held along marked trails in local parks. I hear there are often popsicles. Expect email about this program later in the summer.

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Last Track News for the 2017 Season

2017 Season: That's a Wrap
We had our last meet on Friday and Saturday. Our team garnered a few firsts and a lot of personal bests. Congratulations to all who competed in the Diocese meet and to all our athletes who worked hard and improved over the course of the season.

Results from the meet will be posted at the Oakland diocese web site at some point. When they are, I'll try to import them to Athletic.net to keep the kids' statistics complete.

Awards & Picnic June 3rd 11:30-3:00 Pleasant Hill Park
RSVP for the picnic online through the signup site so we know how many drinks to purchase and which awards to get sorted:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0b49aeab2aa3f94-20171

We have lots of unclaimed ribbons and medals from past meets that will be available at the picnic.

If you can't make it but a friend or classmate will, please have them check for any ribbons or awards for your athlete. Unclaimed awards wind up in a box on my front porch for a while this summer.

Volunteers for 2018
Coming back to track next season? I'm not! So we need a new Head Coach, a new Team Coordinator (preferably a separate volunteer), and a new Treasurer (my wife Jocelyn won't be back either). It has been very rewarding coaching your kids and working with all the other volunteers, but it's time to pass the baton. Please let me know if you can step up in any capacity.

On behalf of the coaches, thank you for helping us make this a successful season! We appreciate the sacrifices you've made working the meets and supporting the team. We take pride in seeing your children grow and improve, and will gladly take credit for their future successes. I hope CYO was a good experience for them, and that they had fun. If so, we could use some word-of-mouth advertising so we can field more relays next post-season!

Hope to see you all at the picnic!

Sunday, May 7, 2017

News for the Week of May1st

Sectionals complete, on to Diocese
Thursday and Saturday were our sectional championships. Congratulations to everyone who competed, regardless of final placement. I will post results to Athletic.net as soon as I get them. And I'll send the list of athletes who qualified for Diocese as soon as I get that! Hopefully most athletes have a good idea if they placed in the top 3 or not, although field events may be less clear. Ribbons for the Qualifying meet should be coming soon. We'll surely have a backlog of them to hand out at the picnic, too.

Final practices Monday & Thursday
Our last two! College Park HS, 5:00-6:30pm. All athletes on the team are welcome to attend, not just finalists.

Diocesan Meet
Order of events and other info is here.
800m and 1600m events
Friday, May 12 at Moreau High School, Hayward, 6:00pm start (first race 6:30pm)

Parade and remaining events
Saturday, May 13 at Logan High School, Union City, Arrive at 8:15am, parade starts 8:30

There's the same small admission fee to Saturday's event: $4 and $2.

Athletes should be in uniform, and will not need stickers.

Volunteers
Did your athlete make it to Diocese? Congratulations! Expect to be contacted about volunteer assignments for Saturday. This will go online via Signup Genius as soon as we know what positions our team needs to fill.

Picnic!
I just put up an event on SignUpGenius for the picnic. Please RSVP here.

The team provides cold drinks and hot charcoal grills: you bring something to grill for your family and something to share with the team. Salads, fruit -- picnic fare, nothing fancy.

Picnic is from around 11:30-3:00 on Saturday June 3rd at Pleasant Hill Park. We should have the fires hot by noon, and we'll start awards around 1:00pm. Note that there are awards for Sportsmanship, Team Spirit, Effort, etc. in addition to performance-based awards. We'd like to see all athletes and families at the picnic. Some awards are more likely to go to athletes who are known to be attending, so RSVP!

Our site is the covered tables near the youth center, at Gregory and Cleaveland. Look for the team banner.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

News for the Week of April 30th

Qualifying Meet Results
The kids had a great meet and a lot of them made it to the next round, the Sectional Meet. A preliminary list of our qualifiers is here. If an athlete placed 4th, you may see an "Alternate" flag in the far right column. That means he/she would not get to run unless one of the other Qualifiers did not show up, which happens fairly frequently. Note that 4th place finishers in the 800 m, 1600 m, and all field events will get to compete and are not alternates.

If your athlete qualified and will not be able to compete, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can get an alternate into the event. The final list of Qualifiers won't be out until Wednesday morning after a Coordinator's Seeding Meeting Tuesday night.

If your athlete was on a Qualifying relay and won't be able to compete Saturday, let me know as soon as possible so that we don't have 3 other teammates make the trip for nothing!

Practices
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come to practice this week (and next), not just qualifiers.

Sectional Meet
The 1600m event will be on Thursday at YVHS at 5:30pm (1st event 6:00pm). Coaches will split up and cover both this meet and practice at CPHS. The order of events is:
  1. Girls grades 3-5
  2. Boys grades 3-5
  3. Girls grades 6-8
  4. Boys grades 6-8
There should be no admission fee charged at Thursday's event.

All other events are on Saturday, May 6th at DVC at 8:00am (1st event 8:30). Note the location change--the schedule on our website said differently!

There is a small admission fee on Saturday. The usual breakdown is $4 for adults, and $2 for seniors and school-age children. Exact change will be greatly appreciated by the gate volunteers.

Athletes in uniform and coaches with their current cards are free.

There may also be a "spike check" at the gate. Athletes with track shoes need to present them for inspection. They are looking for 1/4" (or smaller) pyramid spikes. I have extra metal spikes of this style and wrenches if we need to do a replacement.

The gate will be very, very busy on Saturday. Please arrive before 8:00am, especially athletes in the 4x100 relay. The 4x100 relays start calling at 8:10am. Please don't miss your race because you are stuck in line.

Sectional Meet Volunteers
If your athlete is competing, please be prepared to help out. If you're behind on your shift obligations, this will be your chance to catch up. Otherwise, you might want to check out the list of qualifiers and see if another family wants to split a meet job. We'll know what our team job assignments are Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. Expect a Signup Genius invite!

Team Picnic
Our team picnic and awards ceremony will be Saturday June 3rd at Pleasant Hill Park. More in the next newsletter!

Sunday, April 23, 2017

News for Qualifying Week

Ribbons
We've got lots of them! If your athlete hasn't been at practice for the last week or so, chances are their primary coach has something for them.

Qualifying Meet, Saturday 4/29, YVHS
Arrive by 9AM. Last year's Qualifying Meet explanation is still applicable. Read it here. Notes from our Sectional Coordinator:

To participate in the up coming qualifying meet each athlete must have participated in 2 of the regular season Practice meets. (I have incorrectly been saying that all could participate, but just not move on. -Greg)

All Relay Teams must be grade pure and gender pure.  No mixing grades or gender to make a relay team.

Exception: 4x400 you are allowed to mix grades.  Must be gender pure.  The relay team participates at the highest grade level of the 4 athletes.  (for example a team of one 8th grader, two seventh graders and 1 third grader runs as an 8th grade team).

Long Jump, Shop Put and Softball Throw are Open events.  Please keep all field events open until the 15 minutes following the conclusion of the 200M.

High Jump athletes must compete when their grade group is called.  If an athlete checks out to compete in a running event, they must return to high jump within 15 minutes of the conclusion of their race.  Word of advice: please try to keep your high jumpers at the event as long as possible.  Many times they could have completed their High Jump competition before their running race.  Athletes returning to High Jump after a running event usually perform poorly on their remaining jumps.

Championships
Starting with this weekend's meet, we're into the final championship weekends. All the hard work that the athletes have done over the season pays off as we taper for peak performance on these weekends.

All the practice you've done as volunteers gets called upon, too. These are the weekends when we're especially careful with how the meets are run and results are recorded. On that subject, there has been a request that volunteers make sure that every meet result includes an athlete number (not just a name) and that relay results include 4 athlete numbers for each team.

The top three finishers overall earn a place at the next championship meet, which is a change from our normal "fastest in the heat" finishes at practice meets. This can be a hard concept to grasp for younger athletes. ("But I got the #2 popsicle stick. How come I came in fifth?") In track, we always stress the importance of setting personal bests over crossing the finish line first.

After Qualifying
The weekend after Qualifying is the Sectional meet, and the following weekend is the Diocese championship. For the Sectional meet, the 1600 will be run on Thursday evening at YVHS. For the Diocesan meet, both the 800 and the 1600 will be run on Friday evening. See the meet schedule on our website.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

News for the Week of April 16th

Hope everyone had a good Easter. We're back to our normal practice schedule, weather permitting.

Mary Chatterton Memorial Relay Meet, Saturday at DVC
Athletes and Coaches should arrive: 8:00 am.
The relay meet is special. We have four events only this week, and they're all relays, with no individual races and no field events.

Event order is:
  • 4x100m - the same relay we know and love from practice meets
  • Medley - double our normal sprint medley, the distances are 200m, 200m, 400m, and 800m
  • 4x200m - another doubling, every athlete runs 1/2 lap
  • 4x400m - our usual and the final event of the day
Despite there being only four events, the overall meet length is about the same, owing to the general chaos of staging.

We will still run girls in an event first, and then boys, with an eye toward filling all lanes in the track for each race.

There are no limits to the number of races an athlete may be in this week. Opportunists might even be able to run in the same event twice.

Free Agency

At this meet, there is usually a special "Free Agent" loitering area set up for athletes in search of a relay team. Coaches are urged to look there to round out relay teams.

This means we'll see multi-age and -parish teams this Saturday. It's all good, and it's all for fun. The only two rules for relay teams are:
  • Girls teams must be all girls: co-ed teams count as a boys team
  • Teams run as the grade of their oldest athlete
See you at the track!

Sunday, April 9, 2017

News for the Week of April 9th

Practice Meet #4 at College Park
...was a challenge and a success! Despite intermittent rain and rookies in some volunteer positions, we persevered and got through it. Although I've coached for quite a while, that was my first attempt at helping to run a meet and let me assure you, it is not as easy as it looks. Thanks to all the volunteers and especially Meet Director Mike Moore.

Easter Break
Normal practice tomorrow, Monday. There is no practice Thursday and no meet this weekend. Enjoy the holiday!

Marty Mart Scholarship
The Oakland Diocese awards a $500 scholarship to one 8th grade athlete each year. The application form and further information is posted here.

Looking ahead, the Relay meet is Saturday 4/22 at DVC. That meet is just what it sounds like--all relays. It's a lot of fun for the kids. We mix and match across gender, age group, and parishes to form teams as necessary (or as desired). The week after that is the Qualifying meet at YVHS. That is open to all athletes. At that meet and the Sectional meet, an athlete has to place in the top 3 (usually) to advance. All athletes are encouraged to continue coming to practice even if they have not advanced. The last meet is the Diocese meet on May 13th.

See you at the track.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

News for the Week of April 2nd

Meet #4 April 8th at College Park
Our team is hosting this meet. Mike Moore is our Meet Director. We still need to fill some key volunteer positions to make this meet run smoothly: Head Timer, Finish Line Coordinator, Away side Head Timer, and Away Side Finish Line Coordinator. If you have any experience at the finish line or as a timer, please consider signing up for one of these positions!

Meet #4 is the last "regular season" meet. Remember that athletes must compete in two out of the four regular season meets to be eligible to advance past the Qualifying Meet. Everyone is allowed to compete in the Qualifying Meet, but to advance to the Sectional Meet, you must place in the top 3 of your age group at the Qualifying Meet and must have competed in at least 2 regular season meets. (For the 800m, 1600m, and field events, usually the top 4 advance.)

Seven-Up Club
Remember also that we award a handsome patch to every athlete who has competed in at least 7 different individual events over the course of the 4 practice meets and the Qualifying meet. This is to encourage kids to try new events, even ones they might not excel at.

Important: Relay Meet Location Changed
I have just learned that the Relay Meet on April 22nd has been moved to DVC instead of Freedom High in Brentwood. That's much more convenient for us as long as everyone gets the word!

Easter Break
There is no meet the weekend of April 15th and there is no practice on Thursday April 13th. Enjoy the holiday!

Sunday, March 26, 2017

News for the Week of March 26th

Meet #3 is coming up this Saturday 4/1 (no fooling) at DVC.
The first race might be anytime from 8:30 to 9:00.
Athletes and coaches should be there at 8:00AM.

Meet #2 on Saturday was a success except for a couple of possible relay DQs (no problem, practice meets are for learning!) and a pulled muscle or two that I hope will heal quickly. When the results are up on Athletic.net, I'll post on Twitter (and thus the ctktrack.org home page).

Meet #1 ribbons will be available for distribution at the end of Thursday's practice. By the way, I changed the rules yet again regarding Personal Best ribbons--if I gave them out for trying an event for the first time, it would have been 170 PR ribbons for Meet #1! So I went back to the old rule that you actually have to beat your previous best time/distance/height to get a PR ribbon.




Monday, March 20, 2017

News for the Week of March 19th

Meet #1 Recap
Our first official CYO meet of 2017 is in the bag! Thanks to all the families who helped out at the meet and especially our Meet Director, Amanda Donohue. Here's what happens next:
  • Results from the meet are keyed in by the league and sent to team coordinators
  • I clean them up and post to our team page on Athletic.net  
  • The league also provides blank ribbons and filled-in result/place stickers
  • Our Awards volunteer, Kirsten Kirkpatrick, assembles and sorts the ribbons
  • Ribbons are then distributed at practice a week or so after the meet
The first meet always has a few rough edges. Meets should take a little less time each week as volunteers hit their stride along with the athletes.

Ribbon Notes

The top three finishers in each race heat and field event should receive a ribbon at a future practice. Placement at practice meets is determined by grade and gender: if we combine heats at the meet, the results are sorted out afterward.

Our team tracks personal bests, and hands out special gold ribbons. Returning athletes who broke their own records from previous seasons will get a ribbon at practice. To make the result compilation more automated, the first time an athlete does an event counts as a personal best and gets a ribbon!

Finally, we have a special "7-up Club" for athletes who compete in seven or more different individual events during one season. Relays don't count towards this total and the Warpath Meet does not count. There's a fancy embroidered patch that we'll give out at the end of the season.

Meet #2: Saturday March 26th, Granada High School in Livermore
  • Athletes/Coaches arrive: 8:00 am
  • First event: 8:30 am
Miscellaneous
Someone left a St Catherine shirt and track shoes at practice today. If they are yours, let me know.

I will bring our "lending library" of hand-me-down track shoes (spikes) to practice on Thursday and the meet Saturday. Anyone is welcome to grab a pair for the season if you find some that fit. (Spikes are a nice psychological boost primarily for the older kids, say 7th and 8th graders.) And if you want to donate any that your athlete grew out of, feel free.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

News for the Week of March 12th

Practice Time
5:00-6:30 Mon and Thurs until further notice

War Path Recap
I hope everyone had fun on Saturday. It was almost perfect weather.

Our regular meets are conducted much the same way, but results are recorded on paper, typed into the computer afterward, and then posted online. The paper feathers are a War Path exclusive.

Uniform Pickup
Uniform shirts and team sweatshirts will be handed out at practice Monday and Thursday. Look for a table at the bottom of the stairs from the parking lot. They will also be available at the meet on Saturday, starting at 8am.

We'll hand out the ordered sizes first, and then we can make swaps for unworn items (trying it on is fine.) Parish assignments are fixed, so we can't swap one parish's shirt for a different one.

If you registered late (after 2/12) that may have been too late to get a sweatshirt. If you paid for one and you don't get one, you'll get a refund.

Meet #1 on Saturday, March 18, Granada High School, Livermore
  • Volunteers, athletes, coaches arrive: 8:00am
  • First event starts: 8:30am
  • Estimated finish:  1:00pm
  • There are still two important meet jobs open: Head Clerk and Field Events Coordinator. If you volunteered at any meets last season, you are qualified to perform these functions! Please consider changing your sign-up from "generic worker" to one of these two jobs.
  • We are the meet host. Our meet director is Amanda Donohue, who needs your support, patience, and gratitude.
  • Unfortunately, I will miss this meet, but our other coaches will handle everything just fine.
  • Parking: There is a band competition taking place in the parking lot of Granada High School, so it will be necessary to park on the street. You can park along Wall Street, or Mocho Street, which is the back entrance at Granada. It sounds like a mess, so give yourself extra time and plan on a walk.
Volunteers are committed for the entire meet, but athletes can come for just the first half or just the 2nd half in the case of schedule conflicts. Just let your primary coach know when that's the case.

Note that whereas dropping off athletes for practice is perfectly acceptable, for meets that's not the case. It is impossible for coaches to keep track of all the athletes at a meet and so parents should plan to stay and provide a "home base" in the stands for their kids. Food and drink other than water should remain in the stands. The team will drop bags and extra clothes in one area on the field and athletes should be encouraged to hang out there when not competing so it is easier for coaches to find them when events are called or relays need to be formed.

Correction:
An athlete only needs to compete in 2 out of the 4 "regular" season meets to be eligible to advance past the Qualifying Meet.

Miscellaneous:
In previous years there have been "rent a student" options for fulfilling your volunteer hours. I know YV is not doing that this year. If I find out that's an option for any of our meets, I'll let you know.



Sunday, March 5, 2017

News for the Week of March 5th

Practice this week: 5:00-6:00 at College Park
Coaches have a certification meeting right after practice on Monday, so we'll want to end on time and clear out.

War Path Invitational
Our first meet is this Saturday, 3/11, Ygnacio Valley's "War Path" invitational. Uniforms not required: regular running clothes are fine. Note that the meet is "All Comers". That means parents and coaches are welcome to compete! (The charge for competitors is $6.) The team pays the entry fee for all of our athletes, but there is a $3 charge for spectators too.
We won't need volunteers for this meet, but you should have received email regarding signups for the meets that start the following weekend.

Remember to bring:
  • Cash for gate admission ($3 per spectator) and some extra in case there's a snack table
  • Appropriate weather protection: sun hats and/or jackets, sunblock, sunglasses (or rain gear, depending)
  • Something soft to sit on, like a stadium cushion or old blanket
  • Optionally: healthy snacks like fruit, yogurt tubes, pretzels--nothing too heavy
If you plan to bring a pop-up tent or umbrella for shade, please set up in the back row of the bleachers so you don't block anyone's view. Pack bungee cords or tie-downs, as Ygnacio Valley can be windy, especially in the morning.

There is no smoking or alcohol permitted at this or any CYO event.
    Athletes should:
    • Have a light breakfast
    • Wear sunscreen and running shoes
    • Be on time to warm-up with the team
    • Be willing to try events and have fun
    We want to get the team together on the basketball court no later than 8:45am.  The courts are between the stadium and the school. Coaches will warm the team up and get a head count.

    The team is paying admission for our coaches and registered athletes.

    Find a seat when the gate opens, and we'll bring the team in when we're warmed up. They'll find you in the stands.

    New to track meets?

    Don't worry: meets are pretty predictable, even if they don't look it.

    Field events start when the meet begins. There will be announcements over a PA system or bullhorn calling different age groups down to participate. Events at this meet are:

    High Jump
    Long Jump
    Shot Put

    In CYO, we limit shot put and high jump to 5th graders and older, for safety.

    Athletes check in at the event when their age group is called, provided they're not already lined up for a race (or are on the track!) High jump and long jump will be visible from the stands, but the shot put ring is tucked out of the way outside the main stadium fence.

    Running events follow an order, usually done from youngest athletes to oldest.

    These stage (line up) on the field. Last year there were hurdles with signs attached per age group. The same PA or bullhorn should be used for calls for these events.

    The event order is:
    1. 1600m  (4 laps, "the mile")
    2. 4x100 Relay   (every runner carries the baton 1/4 of a lap)
    3. 400m   (1 lap)
    4. 100m   (a short dash along the straight)
    5. 800m   (2 laps = 1/2 mile)
    6. 200m   (1/2 lap)
    7. 4x400m Relay  (every runner carries the baton 1 full lap)
    A key tip: if an athlete is waiting at a field event when their desired race is called, they should leave the field event to go run, after telling the field event clerk. Then return to finish the field event after the run.

    Running events determine the pace of the meet, and won't stop if an athlete is busy at long jump or in the bathroom. Paying attention to the calls is a track meet survival skill. If you miss your call, you miss the race. Oops!

    Which event?

    That's pretty much up to the athletes and their coaches. This week is a little looser, just to get everyone to see how it all fits together. Unless the coaches have something specific in mind, I'd encourage a go ahead and try it attitude.

    Regarding the season as a whole: after this meet, we have 4 regular-season CYO meets. An athlete has to compete in 3 out of 4 of them to be eligible to advance past the Qualifying meet in the post-season. So there may be times when it will be advantageous to come to a meet and do the first event before heading off to that soccer tournament, or vice-versa, rolling in better-late-than-never to get in one of the final relays.

    See you at the track!

    Sunday, February 26, 2017

    News for the Week of February 26th

    Practices this week will be 5:00 pm to about 6:10 pm.

    I have updated the meet schedule on the website to include locations and start times.

    Volunteering
    We got our meet assignments from the league and will be posting positions on Signup Genius soon. We still have 3 weeks until our first meet that needs parent staffing, so no need to panic. On the other hand, I'm sorry to say I underestimated the number of volunteer hours we would be assigned and we won't make it without boosting the family commitments a little. Therefore we are requesting that each family help out as follows: Assuming that working a full meet counts as 2 "shifts", we need a family with one athlete to work 5 shifts; a family with 2 athletes to work 6 shifts, and a family with 3 or more athletes to work  7 shifts. I apologize for the bait and switch, it was not intentional.

    Meet Coordinator Needed
    We have been assigned to host 2 of our 4 regular season meets, because we have one of the larger teams. I really need someone to take on this role so that I can concentrate on coaching. If you're willing to do both meets, that would be worth 7 shifts and satisfy your commitment for the year! I can of course get you the information and support you need to do the job. Please let me know if you'd be willing.

    More about the upcoming Warpath Invitational meet in next week's post.

    Sunday, February 19, 2017

    News for the Week of Feb 19th

    Hello families, it's time again for this week's news...

    Practice this week, 5:00-6:00pm

    Safety at College Park

    There are lots of other sports going on inside and outside of the track stadium. Remind your athletes to walk around the outside of the track fence to get to the stands. Don't cut across the field during games or other teams' practices. And look both ways before stepping onto the track--a good rule for volunteers and spectators as well as athletes.

    During lacrosse practice, we get to add dodge ball to our list of skills. Please make sure your athletes keep their eyes open for the occasional missed pass.

    Uniforms

    ...have been ordered. We'll let you know when they come in and are ready to be picked up.

    Track not working out?

    Hopefully things are starting to get a little smoother for your athletes. The first few practices can be chaotic until the groups settle in.

    Sometimes track isn't a good fit, though, and that's OK. You may drop from the program with a full refund if you notify me via email by February 28. Your deposit check will be shredded, and we'll remove you from the volunteer sheets.

    Starting March 1, the fees refund drops to 50%, with the deposit check shredded.

    Dropping on or after our first (real) meet on March 18 means a forfeit of both your fees and deposit.

    Uniform costs are refunded at 100% or 50% as above, provided you haven't picked them up yet. Once handed to you, the uniforms and sweatshirts are yours to keep.

    Don't just vanish. Let me know if you need to withdraw an athlete from the team so we can update our records and handle any refunds you're entitled to.

    Upcoming Event: "War Path" Invitational, March 11

    Ygnacio Valley High School holds a special all-comers track meet each year to help raise funds for their track team and for new equipment. Provided we have good weather, we'll attend this meet as a team again this year. The team will pay the admission fee for our registered athletes and coaches.

    I highly encourage everyone to come out if they can. It's a very low-key event, with no volunteer requirements. It gives everyone a chance to see how meets work. Think of it like a special Saturday practice.

    We don't need our uniforms for this meet since it's not a CYO function. Regular running clothes are fine.

    Volunteer News

    We hope to have the volunteer schedule posted in the first week of March. We're still waiting for final meet information from the League. We'll let you know when you can start signing up. If you have questions in the meantime, you can email volunteers@ctktrack.org.

    Sunday, February 12, 2017

    News for the Week of Feb 12th

    Practices continue Mondays and Thursdays, 5:00 until dusk (~5:50).
    We will have practice on President's Day, but it's not a big deal if an athlete can't make it.

    Fee checks will be deposited on 2/21, or shortly thereafter. (We had a few requests for forewarning.) This does not apply to volunteer checks, which are held until the end of the season.

    Weather Watch

    If the forecast calls for rain, I will post any cancellation of practice by 3:00pm on the team Twitter account (@ctktrack). Those tweets appear on the front page of our web site, too. If there is no tweet, practice is on!

    Late Signups Still Accepted

    We're still taking signups at practice and we're still collecting missing birth certificates, concussion forms, payments, and deposits. If you haven't received an email reminder, then you probably aren't missing anything.

    See you on the track!

    Saturday, January 28, 2017

    First Practice and Late Signups

    Late Signups

    Missed signups? Bring the paperwork and two checks (1. $150 volunteer deposit and 2. $80 per athlete plus $15 per shirt) with you to practice. Requirements and forms are on the team site: ctktrack.org

    First practice Thursday February 2, 5pm at College Park track

    You can park in the large lot under the solar panels and then walk your athlete down to the track. There are stairs near the school-side corner of the lot, and a paved path leading along the side of the baseball field to the stadium. Athletes should resist the urge to run up and down the hillside and climb fences.

    Please walk your athletes down to the track to avoid anyone wandering off. We are planning to meet in the stands as usual. Athletes need to stay off the track until instructed by a coach.

    Practice ends at dusk, which is around 5:45pm right now. Parents are welcome to stay and watch from the stands.

    If you have turned in all your completed paperwork, adults do not need to stay at practice, but do need to be back in time for pickup. Please don't make your athletes suffer the embarrassment of being the Last Kid Waiting with me and the other coaches.

    Being Prepared

    Athletes should come to practice:
    • Dressed appropriately. It can be cold and windy at the track. Dress in layers, and label your team sweatshirt and anything else that could be easily mixed up.
    • With water to drink. A reusable sport bottle with plain water is the best drink, and the only beverage allowed on College Park's track and turf -- no sports drinks. Label the bottle, too!
    • Wearing running shoes. Flats, basketball shoes, and skate shoes (Vans) are not running shoes.
    Athletes never need track shoes ("spikes") at practice, and generally don't need them at all.

    See you soon!