This was a HOT practice. I was so pleased with all the athletes' endurance through hard workouts in the heat. I saw many grinning faces as I left--I think from being happy to be done and happy at what was accomplished.
I was able to spend some time with the oldest girls and boys, and we discussed 3 important things to remember when sprinting:
1. Run on your toes. When racing the 100m or 200m, your heels really shouldn't touch the ground. Running on your toes propels your body forward and improves speed.
2. Keep your elbows in. Your legs follow what your arms do. If your arms move rapidly, so will your legs. If your arms are swinging out, your gait will be inefficient, with too much side-to-side motion.
3. Keep your head up, looking straight ahead. When we are concentrating on moving our legs as fast as they will go, we sometimes automatically want to look at them. Sometimes runners also look to their left and right and behind them to see where their competition is. All of these things slow us down. It's best to look straight to our goal (a few steps past the finish line), and don't waiver from your concentration on getting there as fast as you can.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Practice Tuesday 4/14
I worked with the pink group and the green group at practice today. It was a big group to have all together, but they managed to have a good workout. They began with running five 200's. Then they ran two 100's. I saw some hard work and some impressive speed. We ended at the shot-put. Athletes need to remember: "Lean-Turn-High-five the sky" when doing shot put.
The yellow group did 1 each of 50, 100, 200, and 400. Then they practiced long jump.
The purple group worked on building endurance; they began with 2 laps of running the straights and jogging the curves. Then they practiced long jump a while. Then they did 2 laps of indian relays with the baton.
Please bring your meet money Thursday if you haven't yet. I'm looking forward to a FUN meet this weekend! I have a working megaphone now, so that should help matters a lot.
The yellow group did 1 each of 50, 100, 200, and 400. Then they practiced long jump.
The purple group worked on building endurance; they began with 2 laps of running the straights and jogging the curves. Then they practiced long jump a while. Then they did 2 laps of indian relays with the baton.
Please bring your meet money Thursday if you haven't yet. I'm looking forward to a FUN meet this weekend! I have a working megaphone now, so that should help matters a lot.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Workout today
I had the privilege of working with the pink group today. They are such a beautiful, nice group of girls. They worked out hard today. They began with 2 laps of indian relays while practicing passing the baton. Then we did a pyramid of sprints: 200m, 100, 50, 100, 200. Next we did high-knees, bum-kicks and bounding for about 100 yds/each. Then a 200 jog cool-down.
The green group did a similar workout, but started with the pyramid. They did 4 laps of indian relays--running two of them at a tempo (harder) pace. Way to go!
The purple group started out at the long-jump pit and practiced their jumps. They ended with a pyramid of sprints: 50yd, 100m, 200m, 100m, 50yd.
The yellow group played Foxes and Hounds in the field for the first 30 minutes. The last half was spent in practicing their long-jumps. They used a target in the sand to try to better their jumps, and it worked! Good job!
The green group did a similar workout, but started with the pyramid. They did 4 laps of indian relays--running two of them at a tempo (harder) pace. Way to go!
The purple group started out at the long-jump pit and practiced their jumps. They ended with a pyramid of sprints: 50yd, 100m, 200m, 100m, 50yd.
The yellow group played Foxes and Hounds in the field for the first 30 minutes. The last half was spent in practicing their long-jumps. They used a target in the sand to try to better their jumps, and it worked! Good job!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
PR Bars and Practice 4/7/09
Today was a fun practice. We are starting to try to build some more endurance among all the athletes, so most of the groups got 2-3 laps of "striding (running) the straights and jogging or walking the curves." After doing some dynamic movement exercises (high knees, bumkicks and bounding) , the Pink Group and the Green Group did four 200's, working on technique of running on the inside of the lane. The Yellow Group did 4x 50yd, and the Purple Group played some Foxes and Hounds.
We ended practice a little early to have an awards ceremony and recognize all the athletes who improved their times at the meet on Friday. They were presented with a "PR Bar" (PR= Personal Record), that had a list of their new best times/distances and the margin of improvement. I encourage you to try to remember those new PR's and strive to beat them in the next meet. We talked about who our #1 opponent should be-- OURSELVES.
If you missed practice, we will get your PR Bar to you on Thursday.
Way to go Tracksters!!!
We ended practice a little early to have an awards ceremony and recognize all the athletes who improved their times at the meet on Friday. They were presented with a "PR Bar" (PR= Personal Record), that had a list of their new best times/distances and the margin of improvement. I encourage you to try to remember those new PR's and strive to beat them in the next meet. We talked about who our #1 opponent should be-- OURSELVES.
If you missed practice, we will get your PR Bar to you on Thursday.
Way to go Tracksters!!!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Meet Pics
A couple of parents have shared some pics (you may be able to guess who from the main subjects :-) !) I will add more if/when I get more!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
First Meet of the Season
We got through it. It wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but it did happen. MANY thanks to all the parents, brothers and sisters who volunteered. This program depends on volunteers, and we have some of the best! The athletes had a fun time and ALOT of improvement was made, so in my mind it was a success.
I did learn many things that I want to change in the next meet (which is just around the corner).
Here they are:
*I will have a megaphone to make announcements with at the next meet. I had borrowed one from Parks and Rec, but it didn't work, and by the time I realized this it was too late to order one. I ordered one today for us to have in the future.
*We will number the events instead of attaching a time to them. Timing is too unpredictable, and kids need to know when to go where. When the kids arrive at the meet, their coach will write the numbers of the events they are in on their arms. The events will be announced 2 at a time (one first call and one final call), so the participants will know when to be where.
*We will give medals to the first person in each heat. In this first meet we only gave a medal to the first place in each event, and place ribbons in the heats. We found that many of the kids didn't understand what a heat is and why some got first place ribbons and no medal, while others got first place ribbons AND a medal. Hopefully this will be more encouraging to the athletes.
*I hope to have yummy, warm hot-dogs at the concession stand. Though our next meets won't be at night and likely won't be so cold, we will be there over lunchtime. Hopefully this will help keep tummies happier.
* We won't allow last-minute additions to races. Our team was innocent of this, but I did let the other team add SEVERAL kids to races on-the-spot. I let this happen b/c they were there with their money and forms. However, it slowed down the meet significantly. So, in the future, I will INSIST on ALL entries in advance so last-minute lane changes don't slow things down.
And a final note:
Some imperfections in the sport of track and field just come with natural human error. No one likes to see injustice, and we will do everything in our power to make sure the right athlete gets the right award. However, even at the highest levels of competition, discrepancies exist and mistakes are made. I encourage all parents who are able to volunteer as a timer at some point during the season. It can be a hard job to have. If you do see a problem, please don't hesitate to respectfully bring it to the attention of the officiators.
Please just always remember (and I have to remind myself of this often, because I am naturally very competitive when it comes to sports), that the main goal is for our young athletes to have a positive experience. If we are negative about the sport in any way, our children will mirror us. If we are positive, they will also be positive and the confidence and skill we hope for them will be achieved.
I did learn many things that I want to change in the next meet (which is just around the corner).
Here they are:
*I will have a megaphone to make announcements with at the next meet. I had borrowed one from Parks and Rec, but it didn't work, and by the time I realized this it was too late to order one. I ordered one today for us to have in the future.
*We will number the events instead of attaching a time to them. Timing is too unpredictable, and kids need to know when to go where. When the kids arrive at the meet, their coach will write the numbers of the events they are in on their arms. The events will be announced 2 at a time (one first call and one final call), so the participants will know when to be where.
*We will give medals to the first person in each heat. In this first meet we only gave a medal to the first place in each event, and place ribbons in the heats. We found that many of the kids didn't understand what a heat is and why some got first place ribbons and no medal, while others got first place ribbons AND a medal. Hopefully this will be more encouraging to the athletes.
*I hope to have yummy, warm hot-dogs at the concession stand. Though our next meets won't be at night and likely won't be so cold, we will be there over lunchtime. Hopefully this will help keep tummies happier.
* We won't allow last-minute additions to races. Our team was innocent of this, but I did let the other team add SEVERAL kids to races on-the-spot. I let this happen b/c they were there with their money and forms. However, it slowed down the meet significantly. So, in the future, I will INSIST on ALL entries in advance so last-minute lane changes don't slow things down.
And a final note:
Some imperfections in the sport of track and field just come with natural human error. No one likes to see injustice, and we will do everything in our power to make sure the right athlete gets the right award. However, even at the highest levels of competition, discrepancies exist and mistakes are made. I encourage all parents who are able to volunteer as a timer at some point during the season. It can be a hard job to have. If you do see a problem, please don't hesitate to respectfully bring it to the attention of the officiators.
Please just always remember (and I have to remind myself of this often, because I am naturally very competitive when it comes to sports), that the main goal is for our young athletes to have a positive experience. If we are negative about the sport in any way, our children will mirror us. If we are positive, they will also be positive and the confidence and skill we hope for them will be achieved.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Yet again...
We had to postpone our postponed meet for today to tomorrow because of an almost state-wide tornado watch.
For those of you new to the sport of track and field, please know that this is unusual. Last year we participated in 3 meets, and in none of them did weather come into play (except getting a little too much sun at one!). I know the kids are ready for competition after 3 weeks of practice. It will be nice for everyone to get through this meet so you know what to expect in the future. They are really ALOT of fun!
For those of you new to the sport of track and field, please know that this is unusual. Last year we participated in 3 meets, and in none of them did weather come into play (except getting a little too much sun at one!). I know the kids are ready for competition after 3 weeks of practice. It will be nice for everyone to get through this meet so you know what to expect in the future. They are really ALOT of fun!
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