2/22 Mandatory Practice Plans

T

The_Rocco

Active member
As we get closer to the start of the track season, I am interested in other schools plans to how to handle the beginning of mandatory practice on 2/22.

9 times out of 10 we start indoors due to the cold weather except for the distance runners. This year I am at the point of saying screw indoor practice if it’s above 20 degrees...we are outdoors or cancelled. The logistics of getting gym time with basketball going on and the spring ball sports makes it impossible to social distance without a slew of kids getting quarantined if someone tests positive in any of those sports.
 
 
Not a coach but I agree with your plan. Unless you have a very large indoor area there is no good way to be indoors and social distance. Tell the kids to bundle up and go from there.
 
We are thinking the same thing. Everything outside except for throwers. We might have to start off with splitting grades or something. Distance kids can go off campus and they have been around each other for an entire year now. Thinking of Med balls and Resistance bands for kids that can use that instead of crowding into the weight room. It's going to be a challenge, but I think we have to look at it as a challenge where some better ways of doing things might come of it. I was skeptical for the early start last year. How was I going to use the extra few weeks. We were so far ahead of where we were other years after 2 weeks it was unreal. Forced me to be better. Sort of did little things that we didn't have as much time for in other years and as a result, found ways to do more than we had been doing before. Just spending extra time on proper warm up helps a ton. "Waste" an entire day on stressing something, and you pick up 4 days as a result. I think moving some of our strength work out of the weight room will be better in the long run. I'm sure there will be other good ideas outside of our comfort zone that are better than what we do now.
 
I think you guys have addressed it but it also forces coaches to keep kids moving to the best of their ability. I found that indoor in hallways there was a lot of idle standing around. You can't do that to kids outdoor when it is cold. I got to where I rarely took kids indoor and just tried to catch up on neglected technique issues when it got warmer. We were a very fit overall group from throwers to jumpers to sprinters, so there is that. Maybe overall fitness will curtail some injuries.
 
What kind of numbers are you guys expecting. I have a feeling that teams are going to be significantly larger as kids are just wanted to be part of something after having so much of the last year taken away from them.
 
Looking at numbers from the Fall and Winter it looks like it could be just the opposite, smaller numbers. People still staying away until things are "normal".
 
For those that might think that throwers can't be outside in the cold, think again. In HS, I did a lot of early prep work throwing out in the cold in January & February. Coldest day I ever practiced in was 15 degrees F, and I had to brush 6" of snow off the discus ring to do so. It was a lot of fun tramping off into the field to find black rubber discs in the snow! I think I spent 60-90 minutes outside that day, but it taught me a lot about throwing in those conditions.

Pole vaulters & high jumpers are the ones who really can't do too much outside in the cold right now, but even then, there are drills you can do without actual jumping/vaulting

When people say they can't practice in the cold I say "BAH HUMBUG"!
 
gatornation said:
Looking at numbers from the Fall and Winter it looks like it could be just the opposite, smaller numbers. People still staying away until things are "normal".
Click to expand...
Interesting here a local school had record numbers of boys our for both football and CC and winter sports did quite well with numbers. I guess the mentality of the area you live in will make a difference.
 
JAVMAN83 said:
For those that might think that throwers can't be outside in the cold, think again. In HS, I did a lot of early prep work throwing out in the cold in January & February. Coldest day I ever practiced in was 15 degrees F, and I had to brush 6" of snow off the discus ring to do so. It was a lot of fun tramping off into the field to find black rubber discs in the snow! I think I spent 60-90 minutes outside that day, but it taught me a lot about throwing in those conditions.

Pole vaulters & high jumpers are the ones who really can't do too much outside in the cold right now, but even then, there are drills you can do without actual jumping/vaulting

When people say they can't practice in the cold I say "BAH HUMBUG"!
Click to expand...
Since I said "Everything outside except for throwers." I'll take it as directed at me. It's because we finally, last year, got things set up to throw disc into a net inside and have areas where we have room for them to do drills. We also have a bunch of indoor shots. For the past several years, there has been construction projects at the school that keeps making it difficult for the throwers. Every year a different area. It's much more productive for us, if we get the gym, to have the throwers inside. Seems unbelievable, but we have more room for more kids inside than outside. We did have two kids out at the rings yesterday. That's on them.
 
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We are Very limited on gym space. Usually the high school gym is taken by baseball or softball and we are left with hallways. We are very lucky to have a building that has four hallways connected that make about 280 Meters. I am going to have the throwers go straight out to the weight room with our strength coach everyday. Sprinters and distance will warm up outside if above 25. Our distance coach hates the pounding the hallways have on legs so he will take the then off site or to the track, sprints will either be on the track or in the school. after about an hour and 15 minutes sprinters will come into the weight room right after the throwers leave to go throw either at the elementary if we are mudded out or in the pits if we are dry. Distance crew will come in to the weight room while sprinters are finishing.
 
gatornation said:
Looking at numbers from the Fall and Winter it looks like it could be just the opposite, smaller numbers. People still staying away until things are "normal".
Click to expand...
I had expected there to be an increase in numbers for the fall sports due to kids craving some type of physical and social activity. From what I saw of the roster numbers for fall and winter sports at my school, the opposite occurred. I don't know that it is a result of people consciously avoiding things. Some kids appear to have found other ways to fill their time after things came to a screeching halt last spring. It's not hard to move on to something else if you're not overly committed to an activity in the first place. When speaking to XC coaches from similar-sized schools at a few meets in the fall, a lack of depth and a lack of numbers was a fairly common theme.

My school was poised to have its smallest girls team ever last spring, and 1/2 of the girls on the roster were seniors, so I'm expecting an even smaller girls team in a few weeks. Furthermore, the senior class was far and away the most athletic class on the team last spring.
 
We are looking at our normal numbers for boys and as of now, a record number of girls. It looks to me that we have lost those kids that were on the edge of coming out last year. Those wrestlers and basketball players that hadn't come to practice yet. The natural order of leadership will be interesting. We had a strong Senior boys class last year and that experience is just gone. Our Sophomore class is at least cut in half from the boys that were out last year. Girls don't seem to have suffered at all. We will see once the 22nd rolls around, but it doesn't seem like we will suffer poor numbers at this time. We all know that could change. This would have to be our largest freshman girls class if the numbers that signed up so far holds.

My daughter is at a large school in North Carolina and their problem is kids got jobs. Her girls Cross Country numbers were terrible and the boys were down quite a bit. School wide she says their numbers are way down in everything.
 
I dont know what coventry will look like this year. We had anticipated a strong season last spring, with 2 returning state qualifiers and almost a dozen returning regional qualifiers. The majority of them are graduated now. There is a sense around the team that they were robbed. As far as numbers go, I expect a slight drop off from last year. I think we will have 50-60 boys, and maybe 35 girls. Coventry (like many teams), will have some rebuilding to do. But I figure, Coach Daniel Savage has literally spent the last 8 years putting Coventry on the map. The team will be fine in Savage's hands. In Savage we trust.
 
We started Indoor / Winter Conditioning Practice the 1st week in November right after State XC. We usually wait until December to start, but with missing last year's outdoor season, we decided to start earlier. We have been lucky and have had several practices inside following all of the guidelines, and without an incident or anybody having to quarantine from being at practice. We've been practicing 3 to 4 days a week and have been to 3 indoor meets so far. Based on the indoor meets, I think outdoor will look fairly normal other than athletes wearing masks when they are not competing and coaches and officials wearing them at all times, trying to keep kids spaced out when not competing, smaller meets, etc. I was skeptical before XC season, but after that and 3 indoor meets so far, I think things are looking good for outdoor. We graduated 28 seniors last year so wasn't sure how many we'd get out this year, but have had around 50 during indoor with the majority of those 1st time track athletes.
 
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At our Academy our girls look great with 9 State qualifiers returning in XC, or indoor/outdoor track. We should be heard from this indoor and outdoor seasons. Our boys numbers are very , very low. However we do have an athlete who rates in the top ten in four events statewide and a thrower who is close to throwing in the 50’s in the Shot and was a regional qualifier in the discus as a freshmen. As long as the boy’s Head Coach/ Distance Coach doesn’t return to Ohio and screw things up we should be okay. Some years I felt we wouldn’t get an athlete out of the district meet. Those were the times we did some of our best coaching.
 
gatornation said:
Looking at numbers from the Fall and Winter it looks like it could be just the opposite, smaller numbers. People still staying away until things are "normal".
Click to expand...
I think it will be the complete opposite. We have over 40 kids signed up for Jr high track and more will show up on the first day. That is a very large number considering JFKs enrollment. The varsity will probably have the highest number out for track that they have had in years. Kids are anxious to get involved and do something.
 
I don't know what my school's numbers will look like, but I'm not detecting a lot off buzz. As of now, the practice plan for the 1st week might consist of equipping people with snow shovels and identifying who can bring space heaters. My school doesn't offer viable options for training indoors. After 15 minutes on our floors and staircases, your shins and knees are toast. It's an old building, so it was built upward instead of outward. We have no auxiliary gym, and there's a good chance basketball will take advantage of the OHSAA allowing teams to have until the end of the state tournament to play their allotment of 22 regular season contests. If Tuesday is a snow day, our boys team would have 5 regular season games left to use. If the coach can find anybody to schedule, he might opt to play those games, if for no other reason, to get the extra practice time. Our girls team had 1 contest left before entering the tournament and has scheduled a game on the 24th.

As for quality of personnel, boys distance should be strong after a great XC season. However, they are rather inexperienced. Only 1 boy returning has any regional meet experience. The best throwers graduated last spring, including a 2019 state qualifier in discus as a junior. The jumpers all graduated, too. The girls also have only 1 athlete returning with any regional experience. She rode a perfect storm to a district title 2 years ago (4 girls were seeded ahead of her: 1 scratched, 1 was injured, 1 had a problem during the race, and 1 didn't perform up to her seed). Despite being a senior, she has only had 1 season of competition. In addition to the events of last spring, her freshman year ended after 1 meet due to injury. There's also a senior thrower who signed with a MAC school. She broke the school discus record at the district as a sophomore but didn't advance to regionals. All hurdlers and jumpers graduated last spring including 1 who was a regional qualifier as a junior. The entire 4x8 that was 7th at state in 2019 when all 4 members were juniors is gone. 1 of them was also a state qualifier in the 400 in 2019. All 4x4 members were juniors in 2019 and finished 6th at regionals. That junior-laden team was district runner-up in 2019.

As you can see, 2020 had the potential to be a pretty darned successful year for the girls team. We returned all of our best event performers from 2019, and our track was resurfaced in the summer of 2019 after we suffered through 6-8 years of it being in desperate need of resurfacing and a lot of "maybe next year" when asking the administration to address the problem. Now, most of the talent is gone. Aside from the 2 returnees mentioned, we have no idea what anyone else can do right now.
 
psycho_dad said:
We are looking at our normal numbers for boys and as of now, a record number of girls. It looks to me that we have lost those kids that were on the edge of coming out last year. Those wrestlers and basketball players that hadn't come to practice yet. The natural order of leadership will be interesting. We had a strong Senior boys class last year and that experience is just gone. Our Sophomore class is at least cut in half from the boys that were out last year. Girls don't seem to have suffered at all. We will see once the 22nd rolls around, but it doesn't seem like we will suffer poor numbers at this time. We all know that could change. This would have to be our largest freshman girls class if the numbers that signed up so far holds.

My daughter is at a large school in North Carolina and their problem is kids got jobs. Her girls Cross Country numbers were terrible and the boys were down quite a bit. School wide she says their numbers are way down in everything.
Click to expand...

I was just down there and saw a basketball game. All North Carolina high school sports indoor and outdoor have mandatory mask requirement. Soccer has started down there too and they are playing soccer with masks on... Has your daughter talked about this?
 
EuclidandViren said:
I was just down there and saw a basketball game. All North Carolina high school sports indoor and outdoor have mandatory mask requirement. Soccer has started down there too and they are playing soccer with masks on... Has your daughter talked about this?
Click to expand...
Their requirements changed so much, it was hard to keep track. For CC, the coaches had to be masked at all times and the kids had to have their masks with them at all times, so they could put them on ASAP. They did not have to have them on while running practice or meets.

She did say anything they do right now is masks at all times for school activities. No word on Track season.

They have had huge outbreaks at the schools, so after CC, they went to having to wear masks at all times. Her school had all high schoolers come and take finals in person and soon after that, had to shut down in person all together. Much more of a roller coaster ride there than here in NE Ohio. At least where I am anyway.
 
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