Late Signups, Practices

Some quick updates for the next few days:

Late Signups

Missed signups? Bring the paperwork and two checks (1. $125 volunteer deposit and 2. $75 per athlete plus $15 per shirt) with you to practice. Requirements are on the team site: ctktrack.org

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

You may 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:

• On time. We only practice until dusk, which comes fast at this time of year. I know that religious education goes until 5pm for some families. It's fine if you need to be a bit late.
• 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. Our Lost & Found pile historically starts at first practice.
• 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!

2016 season signups are coming

Hello everyone, and happy new year. The 2016 CYO track and field season is about a month away, and we're due to have signups soon. Expect us to gather in a classroom at Christ the King school around the end of January. We also take signups during practice for a while.

Since we've moved to online scheduling of volunteer time, signups should be considerably simpler now. We still need actual paperwork turned in, and if you're enrolling a new athlete, we'll also need a few other things from you. I'll get the web site updated with these details.

General Details

I haven't been past College Park lately to check on the construction, but I've set up the permits for our usual schedule:

• Practices at 5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting in February
• Meets on weekends starting in March, dates and locations TBD by the league
• No meet or practice on Easter weekend
• Championship meets at the end of April/start of May
• Team picnic at the end of May

The diocese has posted the all-sports calendar for 2015-2016 on their site:

http://www.oakdiocese.org/CYO-and-scouts/cyo/IndexDocs/1516CYOSportsCalendar.pdf

I'm hoping we'll be able to practice at College Park, and I've added Pleasant Hill Middle as a backup site once we move to daylight savings time. Fingers crossed, everybody.

Eligibility

Just a reminder that this is the Christ the King/St. Catherine/St. Stephens CYO teams, covering Pleasant Hill, Martinez, and part of Walnut Creek.

If you have an athlete attending school or religious education classes in a different parish, then you need to seek out the CYO team for your parish. The league is very strict about this rule.

If your athlete does not attend a parish school or RE, then team membership is based on the athlete's home address:

http://www.oakdiocese.org/parish-and-school-locator/?layers=Parish+Boundaries

Athletes and families need not be Catholic to participate: tell your friends/classmates/neighbors.

Team Jobs

My own schedule is changing this season, so it's vital that experienced families step up to take on responsibilities for the team.

We still have the following openings that need to be filled ASAP:

• Treasurer
• Registration, roster, and paperwork wrangling
• Webmaster and results management

As always, completing a team job also relieves your family from having to work meet weekends, unless you also have a burning desire to shag softballs or rake sand pits. We certainly won't stop you from extra volunteering...

2015 Track and Field Season is done!

Hello everyone. There's a last bit of end-of-season business to take care of.

Awards

We had our team picnic on Sunday, and despite a breezy and cool start, we had a nice day overall, with lots of food, fun, and awards-a-plenty. I will publish the full list of award recipients up on the team site soon.

If you were not able to attend the picnic and your athlete has leftover ribbons from near the end of the season, either they came home with me, or a kind neighbor or classmate picked them up for you at the picnic. I'll send an email around to families with things leftover, and you'll have about a month to claim them.

Watch for a Twitter update when the awards list goes online, and a direct email if your family has something it needs to pick up from my house.

Helpful Families

Special thanks to the families who went above-and-beyond this year. I have prizes for our raffle winners that need to be picked up. They'll be combined with your athlete's awards, if you are owed any.

We also drew for free uniforms for next season, and I have that list set aside for next season's registration.

Shoe Donations

If you have the good luck to be coming to my house anyway, feel free to return or donate track shoes (spikes) that are still in wearable condition. We'll pass them along to athletes next year.

There will be a labeled bin on my porch for those, and thank you in advance for your support!

Summer, and next season

You'll get email about CYO cross country when it gets closer, typically around mid-August. Anyone with an eligible athlete will be notified, and the team will pull together its final list from registration. I hear that coaches Matt and Evelyn would be happy for an assistant or two this season.

The preliminary schedule is up for next year's track meets. It's online at:

http://ctktrack.org/schedule.html

Please help to keep our numbers strong by recruiting friends and classmates to run track! I know a number of the middle schools have their own meet in the springtime, and we're especially short on those upper grades.

Keep the team running strong!

We need coaching help for next season. Coaches are the heart of the program, and we've been very fortunate to have such dedicated (and patient) volunteers helping us out over the years, even when that means putting up with me. If you like to run and have good cat-herding skills, then CYO coaching is surely your destiny.

The team also needs families to cover many administrative roles: lost and found wrangler, team treasurer, awards coordinator, webmaster/data wizard, and co-coordinator. My time is going to be very limited next season, so a smooth transition now will make a big difference in 2016.

Track reminder: end-of-season potluck picnic and awards

Hi everyone, I hope you've been enjoying the radio silence from me for the past two weeks. We have just one more event for the team this year.

Team Picnic: Sunday, May 31 - 11:30-3:00, Pleasant Hill Park

This is an all-are-welcome affair, for team athletes and their families. As school winds down and summer begins, it's a good way for everyone to say goodbye-for-now to teammates and to collect ribbons, awards, and advice from the coaches.

Bring something to grill for your family if you like, and a picnic-y dish to share on the potluck table. There's no signups for dishes: bring what you can and don't forget to take things home at the end! The team provides drinks (cold sodas and water), hot grills, and entertainment in the form of lost-and-found rummaging and the afternoon awards.

Site is Pleasant Hill Park, under the shady shelter next to the teen center, near the corner of Gregory and Cleaveland.

http://ctktrack.org/picnic_site.png

RSVP if you haven't already so we can plan drinks and charcoal:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B49AEAB2AA3F94-20151

Remember to bring plates, napkins, and utensils, too.

See you at the picnic!

Track news for the week of May 10

2015 season: that's a wrap

Friday and Saturday were our final events of this season: thanks to the volunteers for helping out and the athletes for giving us a lot of excitement. Competition at the diocese level is strong, and everyone should be proud of how far they've come this season.

I picked up leftover field event awards from our team at the end of Saturday's meet, and will bring them to the picnic.

Results from the meet will be posted at the Oakland diocese web site in due time. I'll add a link to them from our team pages and post on Twitter when they show up.

There's a little end-of-season bookkeeping that I'll be doing now, including contacting families who fell short on their volunteer time and are forfeiting their deposit. Unless you hear from me soon -- or your bank -- you may assume that your deposit check is shredded into a fine confetti. I hope to have this done by the end of the week.

Awards & Picnic

There are many unclaimed awards from past meets, including Sectionals, and a few personal bests awards as well. These will all be at the picnic as extra enticement to attend. Coaches will meet with athletes and hand them out.

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/20F0B49AEAB2AA3F94-20151

The picnic is May 31, three weeks from today, at Pleasant Hill Park:

http://ctktrack.org/picnic_site.png

Picnic potluck lunch starts around 11:30am, with awards to follow around 1:00pm. Very casual, bring the family, and hang out with your track friends one last time before summer.

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.

Track Shoe Amnesty Program

If you borrowed a pair of track shoes from the team this season and they are still in wearable condition, you can bring them to the picnic to drop off.

If you happened to buy a new or used pair this year, or have outgrown pairs littering up the closet floor, the team is happy to accept donations for future seasons. Thank you!

Keeping you busy this weekend

Now that your weekends are free again, here's some opportunities to fill them up.

The CTK Parish Festival starts on Friday the 15th and runs through the weekend. This is a fun social event with carnival-type games, food, and that most sacred activity: bingo.

http://ctkph.org/events/christ-the-king-parish-festival

You're bound to see more than a few CYO athletes past and present at the festival.

The 2nd Annual St. Catherine's Food and Wine Jubilee is on Saturday the 16th, at St. Catherine's school in Martinez, if your tastes tend towards the slightly more grown-up.

College Park Track and Field fundraiser is also on Saturday the 16th, at Concord Ford in Concord. They will give CP $20 per person that comes in and leaves their contact details with the dealer. Be sure to mention the CP Track & Field program.

Many of our athletes go on to run for College Park and other area high schools. You can help keep those programs afloat with a small sacrifice of your time and email address.

Keeping you busy this summer

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.

De La Salle has a summer track day camp held on campus for a week or two, for athletes going into grades 4 through 9. There was a Groupon last year that knocked a bit off the registration cost.

http://www.dlshs.org/data/files/gallery/ContentGallery/De_La_Salle_Athletic_Summer_Camp_ScheduleFLYER.pdf

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

Volunteers for 2016

Coming back to track next season? We have many openings for team-level jobs to help with general administration.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B49AEAB2AA3F94-2016

I highly encourage families to step up while I can train you in the relative calm of the post-season. All of these positions are essential.

Also, we're always on the lookout for parents willing to train as assistant coaches next year. With a team our size, we can use the help to keep practices running smoothly. About 2-3 coaches per practice group is a comfortable amount of crowd control/cat herding.

Working either a team job or being a certified coach or coordinator fulfills your volunteer obligations for the team. The glamour and glory come for free.

Thank you

Since the coaches and I won't see you for a few weeks, thank you for helping us make this a successful season! We appreciate the sacrifices you've made working the meets, and getting athletes to practice.

The coaches and I take genuine pleasure seeing your children grow and improve, and will gladly take credit for their future successes. I hope CYO was positive for them, and that they remembered our number one goal: having fun.  (Hopefully, fun enough to recruit friends for next season.) Thanks again for helping us keep this program going.

Reminder: diocese events this weekend

Hello all, just a quick reminder about the diocese meet events this weekend.

Volunteer Assignments for Saturday are online

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0b49aeab2aa3f94-oakland1

I'll be by the snack shack at the start of the meet to check people in, and at the middle of the day for the same.  Our team has relatively few positions to fill this weekend, and I appreciate your help in keeping the meet going.

Friday 800m/1600m events at Moreau High School, Hayward

The distance events are this Friday on Hayward, in the following order:

Coaches Meeting 6:00 pm
1600 Meter begins at 6:30 pm

1600 METER —
3 4 5 6 7 8 GIRLS
3 4 5 6 7 8 BOYS

800 METER —
3 4 5 6 7 8 GIRLS
3 4 5 6 7 8 BOYS

Please dress warm if you are attending this event, especially athletes. Layer up and keep your muscles warm.

Saturday parade and events at Granada High School, Livermore

All the remaining events will be held at Granada High again on Saturday, after the opening parade. If you have an athlete in the 4x100m, it will start right after the parade and awards conclude. This always seems to take a little while to get going. As the first team alphabetically in Section 1, we lead the parade. Exciting!

Meet program: http://ctktrack.org/2015_diocese.pdf

Meet event locations: http://ctktrack.org/granada_layout.jpg  (same as last week)

Unless you are working a volunteer shift or have an early event, you do not need to be at the meet first thing. However, please take into account that this meet is very popular, with teams from the entire Oakland diocese represented. The lot usually fills up in the morning, and lines at the gates will be long.

There is an admission fee at this meet, and the diocese typically sells T-shirts right near the main entrance to the field. The snack shack will be doing brisk business, too, I'm sure.

Our team will be encamped in the away-side stands near the entrance to the baseball field and surrounding lawn area.

Like any meet: listen for the calls. Reporting to races is the priority. Check in at field events when they are called. Remember that the event order is unusual at this meet. If an athlete needs to be in two places at once tell me or a coach and we can get them checked in at a field event.

That's enough: have fun!

I've taken more than enough of your attention. Coach Trish will be at Friday's events, and I'll be there nice and early on Saturday. In all the excitement, remember to have fun! That's the most important part.

Final Sectional results are up

Thanks for your patience everyone. Final results from Thursday and Saturday's events are up on the league's page:

http://ctktrack.org/dvcl/results.shtml

I've pulled out the results for our team into two PDFs:

http://ctktrack.org/2015_sectional_individual.pdf
http://ctktrack.org/2015_sectional_relay.pdf

Places first through third are highlighted as progressing, with fourth-place highlighted as alternates. Congratulations to qualifiers, and well done to everyone -- I think I have a new batch of personal bests to put together!