2010 Assumption Cross Country: Summer Practice

Attendance. We encourage the girls to attend as regularly as possible until school begins, while allowing for family vacations and similar conflicts. If you cannot regularly attend summer practice (for any reason), then please discuss your situation with Coach Barry Haworth. Please note that girls who participate in our Elite Group are expected to attend summer practice on a regular basis. If you decide to quit the team, then please tell us so that your name can be dropped from the roster.

What you need at Practice. Each girl should have a pair of (devoted) running shoes that are designed to handle our practice routine, a water bottle (with the owner’s name on it) and a watch (to help with the timing of runs – as we are a time-based distance program, not a miles-based program).

Bad Weather and Practice. Unless weather conditions are considered hazardous and expected to remain unchanged for a significant amount of time, we will meet for practice. We allow parents to withhold their daughter from practice if those parents have concerns with their daughter practicing in certain types of weather (e.g. rain). We do ask that when bad weather leads parents to withhold their daughter from practice, they communicate this decision with a coach - so that the coaches are aware.

Basic Practice Rules

1. Every girl on the team should “check in” when she arrives and “check out” when she departs.

2. Running routes are determined by the coaches and announced at each practice. You may only run the “course” given to you by a coach, and should stick with that route to the best of your ability. “Wandering off”, stopping at homes, businesses, etc., without permission is not allowed.

3. You should always run in a group. Do not run alone.

4. You may run at practice with girls who are part of our team, approved adults, and coaches, but not with anyone else. E.g., running at practice with friends from other schools is not allowed.

5. Please keep your coaches informed of anything that occurs during practice which might be considered “out of the ordinary” (e.g. creepers, rule violations, injuries, etc.).

How Practice Works

1. We hope to start practice in a timely manner every day. Please be on time.

2. Warmup does not begin until one of the coaches announces that it’s ok to start the warmup.

3. There is a specific warmup routine that everyone is expected to follow (attached to this handout).

4. You may use the bathrooms before or after our warmup jog, but please keep your bathroom time to a minimum. Once warmup ends, you must ask for permission to use the bathroom.

5. If you cannot perform at practice as asked, then you must discuss your situation with one of the coaches. Note that everyone’s goal should be to run continuously at practice (i.e. no walking) but that with early practices, some girls may need to stop and walk. Walking is permitted for girls who believe they need to walk. Once we get to a certain point of the season, however, we expect “walkers” to let us know if they stopped during a distance run.

6. Once you are done with your distance run or workout, there is a specific warmdown routine that everyone is expected to follow (attached to this handout).

7. We have a core routine that is mandatory for girls in Group A (recommended for everyone else), but you have the option of doing this routine at home (or after practice).

Upcoming Team events

1. Team practice with Conner High School. We will meet with the Conner HS Cross Country team on Saturday, July 24, in Idlewild Park (Burlington, KY) at about 10:00am to practice and then have a potluck/picnic lunch afterwards.

2. Alumni and Parent Run. The team will host our annual 2 x 2k relay run on Saturday, July 31, (9:30am, Seneca Park) and post-race potluck/picnic. The race itself is very informal and open to all interested family members and alums, and (of course) all Assumption Cross Country runners.

3. Practice and Team Picnic. After a fairly light practice on Saturday, August 14 (9:30am at Seneca Park), we’ll have a team picnic (potluck).

4. Team Parent Meeting. We will hold a mandatory Parent Meeting on Tuesday, August 17 (expected start time is about 7:00 pm) in the Assumption theater.

Team website: Handouts, meet entries, directions to meets, a team schedule, etc., are all provided through our team website (http://crosscountry.ahsdistance.org). Parents and girls alike are strongly encouraged to (first) visit this website, rather than risk becoming the 120th person to ask the same question about something that’s probably posted at the website. Our website also contains information about historical performances on specific courses, school records, photographs, etc.

Required Reading/Viewing (i.e. Parent homework): our team takes a serious, very involved approach to informing parents about issues which relate to their daughter’s health as an athlete. We’re asking the parents of each girl on our team to access the “Intro Material” link at our team website and then watch the video posted there, as well as read the articles included below the video. This material addresses several important topics, all of which relate to the health and wellbeing of teenage female distance runners.

Email distribution list: we maintain an email distribution list where a significant amount of team-related communication occurs. All girls on the team will ultimately be added to this distribution list, and we encourage all parents to consider adding their name/email to the list as well.

Contact info: Coach Barry Haworth, can be reached by email (bmhaworth [at] louisville [dot] edu) or cell phone (email for the number). When text messaging, please identify yourself in the message.

Summer practice schedule

2010 Summer Cross Country Practice Schedule

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

7/11-17

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

rest

9:30am

Iroquois Pk

(meet by Ampitheater)

7/18-24

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

rest

Practice & Cookout w/ Conner HS

(details TBA)

7/25-31

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

(may change to 5pm)

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

rest

Alumni

Run

9:30am

Seneca Pk

8/1-7

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

(may change to 5pm)

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

rest

9:30am

Iroquois Pk

(meet by Ampitheater)

8/8-14

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

(may change to 5pm)

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

Seneca Pk

5:30pm

EP Tom Sawyer Pk

Freshmen

First Day

School begins

Practice after school @ Seneca Park

(Aug 17: Parent Meeting)

9:30am

Seneca Pk

(team potluck to follow)

Note that we may shift Sunday practices to 5:00pm if we expect no problems with the heat. If, on any given day or in any given week, the heat index is expected to be an issue, then we will consider moving the start time on that particular day to later in the evening (e.g. 6:00 or 7:00 pm).

Our practice meeting locations are:

Seneca Park: grassy area by the tennis courts and playground (corner of Rock Creek Dr and Circle Hill Rd)

EP Tom Sawyer Park: grassy area by the playground and parking lot (near the tennis courts)

Iroquois Park: parking lot by the Ampitheater (corner of Southern Pkwy and Kenwood Dr)

Alumni

Run

Seneca Pk

Freshmen

School begins

7. Leg Swings (10 reps each)

7. Leg Swings (10 reps each)

7. Leg Swings (10 reps each)