News for the Week of April 18th

Practice
Regardless of qualifying status, all athletes on the team are welcome and encouraged to come to practices as usual. Our last practice is Thursday, May 5.

Also regardless of qualifying status, you'll keep getting peppered with these emails until the end of the season. Consider it a free gift to you from the team.

Qualifying Meet
Don't forget that this weekend's Qualifying meet is at 1:00 pm (athlete and coach arrival time) at Granada High School in Livermore. Last year's Qualifying Meet explanation is still applicable. Read it here. One addition: even if an athlete has not managed to make one practice meet during the season, he/she can still compete in the Qualifying meet, but will not be eligible to move on to the Sectionals.


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.

News for the Week of April 11th

Awards
Ribbons from the Relay meet are still waiting on results to be processed. As soon as we get them, we'll hand them out.

Practice Meet #4, Saturday April 16 at Granada HS

The final practice meet of the season is coming up Saturday in Livermore. Athletes and coaches should arrive by 8:30. First event is scheduled for 9:00 am.

Qualifying Meet, April 23 at Granada HS

Because of difficulty finding a venue for this meet, it is an afternoon affair. The meet is scheduled for 1:00 - 5:30 pm.

There are some stricter rules starting with the Qualifying meet. I'll recycle and re-send last year's post next week, but in short:

• First and second graders are promoted into third graders via CYO magic
• Field events will compete by grade and gender: no latecomers, listen for your call
• Relay teams members must be a single parish, gender, and grade
• Top 3 finishers in each grade and gender for a given event qualify to compete in the Sectional meet the following weekend

Athletes may attempt any events in which they are eligible -- no third-grade high jumpers, for example, but it can be a new event to the athlete, too.

Athletes cannot do more than three individual events: the usual 2 races and one field, or 2 field and one race. I have to scratch their results if they go over. Relays are unlimited, provided they follow the single parish/gender/grade rules.

Sectional and Diocese Meets

The Qualifying is the start of the process that picks the fastest of the fast to send to the Sectional meet on April 28th and 30th.

From the Sectional, the top finishers go on to compete at the Diocese meet May 6th and 7th.

"Top finishers" means the top three places overall in an event, plus an alternate. Alternates are not guaranteed to compete, but alternates in field events usually have better odds.

If your athlete is on a qualifying relay team but cannot make the Sectional meet: we are allowed to make substitutions on relay teams for another athlete of the same parish and gender.

So, athletes who missed Qualifying could still be called upon to substitute into a relay team. We've had cases where someone was not able to run at sectionals, and we brought in a substitute leg on the relays.

Once we complete the Qualifying meet, coaches who put a successful relay team forward will be very interested in the availability of athletes in their groups for the final two weekends of our season.

News for the Week of April 4th

The Mary Chatterton Relay Meet was lightly attended (by both athletes and coaches), but successful with a lot of good runs and teamwork. Results and ribbons from this meet are a little delayed because the league data czar was on vacation.

Practice Meet #3
...is at Ygnacio Valley High this Saturday. Gates open to athletes and coaches at 9:00am. Our team is hosting this meet. Jake Otsuka is our meet coordinator.

If you have signed up to volunteer at Meet 3 and you'd like to hire a YV student to take your place, let me know and give me a check for $50 at practice this week, made out to "Ygnacio Valley High School Athletic Boosters." (Write small.)

Remember that athletes need to participate in 2 of the 4 practice meets to advance past the Qualifying meet.

Seven-Up Club
I may have failed to mention in previous newsletters 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.

Practice is at the usual time and places: Tues PHMS, Thurs CPHS, 5:00-6:30.

See you on the track!

News for the Week of March 28th

Happy Easter everyone! If you're in town, we have practice this week and a meet on Saturday.

• Tuesday practice at Pleasant Hill Middle School, 5-6:30pm
• Thursday practice at College Park, 5-6:30pm
• Relay meet at Ygnacio Valley High on Saturday

Mary Chatterton Memorial Relay Meet, Saturday at YVHS

• Athletes and Coaches should arrive: 9:00am

Remember if you are signed up to volunteer at the meet and you intend to hire a YVHS student to sub for you, you need to bring me a check for $50 at practice this week. Make it out to Ygnacio Valley High School Athletic Boosters.

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

If it happens that we have four kids in the Free Agent area, they will be instantly transformed into an impromptu relay team and put out on the track. This is always quite a spectacle.

Awards and Results

I have ribbons from meet 2 ready to hand out at practice this week. Personal best results from the first two meets have been assembled and will be converted to ribbons soon. This year, to make the result compilation more automated, I've made the executive decision that, contrary to past practice, the first time an athlete does an event, that constitutes a personal best and gets a ribbon!

See you on the track!

News for the week of March 21st

That's 2 practice meets down and only 2 to go! Be aware that to advance beyond the Qualifying meet, an athlete must have competed in at least 2 of the 4 practice meets. The Warpath meet and the Relay meet do not count.

Practice this week on Tuesday only (5:00-6:30 at PHMS). Enjoy the long Easter weekend. (And make your athletes do a little running!)

Our next meet is the Mary Chatterton Relays at YVHS on 4/2. You can hire a YVHS student to take your place volunteering at the meet for $50. If you'd like to take that option:

1. First sign up for a job on Sign-up Genius, then
2. Email Gina (volunteers@ctktrack.org) and me (info@ctktrack.org) of your desire to hire, and
3. Give me a check for $50 made out to "Ygnacio Valley High School Athletic Boosters" no later than practice on the Thursday before the meet.

You must get the check to me by Thursday at the latest: we have to get our numbers to YVH so they can find a helper to give up their Saturday for you. Emailing Friday night is too late.

Results and awards

The results from meet #1 are up at Athletic.net. I should be faster for meets 2-4 now that I've done it once. Ribbons from that meet will be handed out tomorrow at practice (and subsequent practices). Personal best ribbons will be a little delayed, but they're coming!

Please keep in mind that all the marks are hand-timed and hand-measured by you, our fabulous volunteers. The quality of the results lies literally in your hands. No pressure!

There are some rough spots as we all learn the mechanics of timely button-pushing, tape-reading, and popsicle-stick-dispensing. The key goal is fun for the athletes, not a drawer full of ribbons. Keep perspective, and enjoy the meets.

See you on the track!

News for the Week of March 13th

Practice 
Tuesdays at PH Middle, 5:00-6:30
Thursdays at College Park, 5:00-6:30

We're on our dual-locations for the rest of the season. Tuesday at Pleasant Hill Middle School, Thursdays at College Park. Practices are 5:00-6:30pm thanks to extra daylight.

Check Twitter (@ctktrack) or the front page of the team site for weather updates by 4:00pm on practice days.

Meet #1 Recap

Our first official CYO meet of 2015 is in the bag! Here's what happens next:

• Results from the meet are keyed in by the league and will be sent to coordinators
• After we've corrected any obvious errors, they get published online
• I'll clean them up and post to our team page on Athletic.net  

Thanks to all the families who helped out at the meet. Your participation was greatly appreciated.

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.

Remember to keep perspective! This is all about the athletes having fun, and they had plenty of that. I checked.

Ribbons and other Paraphernalia

The league manages our meet results. 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 combined 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. You get a ribbon for breaking your personal record, not for setting an initial PR, therefore you don't get a gold ribbon the first time you do an event.


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. There's a fancy embroidered patch that we'll give out at the end of the season.

Meet #2: Saturday March 19, Dougherty Valley High in San Ramon

• Athletes/Coaches arrive: 8:15am
• First event (my guess): 8:45am

Looking ahead

• No practice 3/22 or 3/24 and no meet 3/26 (Easter week)

Volunteer News

Our Web Admin, Bem Jones-Bey, has added a Volunteering link on the ctktrack.org website, that links to Sign Up Genius and to a comprehensive how-to doc for all the various meet jobs, Track 101. Check it out. Even if you thought you knew what you were doing, this doc will probably teach you something.

Extra Meet and Practice News

Meet #1 Reminder

• Dublin High School
• Volunteers, athletes, coaches arrive: 8:00am
• First event starts: 8:30am
• Estimated finish:  1:00pm (I'm an optimist.)

Athletes

Check in with coaches at arrival to get a numbered sticker. This high-tech mailing label needs to be worn in a visible place all day to register for events and have times and placings correctly matched up with athletes.

If an athlete is dressed in layers -- recommended! -- then put the sticker on their uniform, or whatever they plan to run in.

Remember to bring water -- just water -- in a bottle labeled with your name on it. Keep your stuff together, and take it home at the end of the day! Snacks and other beverages should stay in the stands.

Events

Athletes choose the events at the meet, with guidance from coaches. Jumping and throwing sign-ins are done at the event location, and race sign-ins are on the field near the start/finish line. There will be big signs set up for each grade on the field. Look for volunteers bearing clipboards.

Order of Events

1600m
4x100m relay 
400m
50m – grades 2-5 only 
100m
800m
200m
Sprint medley relay 
4x400m relay

Field events all open at once:
Long jump
Softball throw
High jump – grades 5-8 only
Shot put – grades 5-8 only

For running events, girls run first, starting with grade 2 and working up through grade 8, then boys run the same event, in the same fashion. Both running and field events "open" at certain points through the meet: listen for the announcements. Running events close quickly -- athletes should report to the field to sign in as soon as they hear their event open.

Running events take priority. If an athlete is waiting their turn at a field event and they hear their race being called, they need to let the field event official know they need to leave to do a running event, then report to the race clerks to check in. They should return to the field event after their race.

Uniforms

Shirts will be distributed prior to the meet on Saturday. For those not at the meet, there will be other pick-up opportunities next week at practice.

Practice

Practices from now on will be 5:00 - 6:30 pm.

Tuesdays will be at Pleasant Hill Middle School starting 3/15

Thursdays will still be at College Park High School