Welcome to Warriors Track & Field! Children of all ages can choose to join the distance group if they favor the longer races (800 meter, 1000 meter, 1500 meter, and 3000 meters). For many of you this is your first experience with track and field. Here's what to expect. The first few weeks practice will be held @COC Mon/Wed/Thurs. In the beginning of the season Distance will meet at 6pm, and eventually move practices to 5:30 or earlier but wait for direction from the Head Coach. Distance practice times and locations vary from week to week to maximize workouts. Typically, the distance group will meet at the south end zone with Coaches.
The first few weeks your athlete WILL be sore. The coaches will be doing a lot of conditioning exercises with your runners as well as teaching them drills and stretches which will probably be new to them. You might not see a lot of running in the first couple weeks. The coaches will ease your athlete into running more and more each week. Drills and warmups are extremely important in the beginning of the season so be patient and encourage your child to stick with it and see the payoffs at their first meet!
NOTE: For Gremlins only, parents are required to stay during the entire duration of practice. There is NO drop-off for Gremlins. This is for their safety, especially for bathroom breaks. Parents will be asked to take their child to the restrooms should he/she need to use them during practice. Parents please note if you leave during practice you will get a phone call from one of our directors.
Practices end times vary, so parents please arrive no later than 7:45pm to pick up your athlete from practice (or 10:45am on Saturdays). Also pay attention to the weather. If rain is in the forecast practices may end early and we hate for your child to wait in the rain.
Please download the Sports Engine phone app to receive a TEXT in the case of early dismissal or cancellation... we will communicate with parents via the Sports Engine phone app and social media sites. To download the Sport Engine app on your cell phone please review the document below and go to page 6: "Installing the SportsEngine Mobile app"
Practices will be held at COC for the first 2-3 weeks, at which point Head Coach will be having a mile time trial where she will determine who is able to run off-campus depending on their time. Head Coach will need parent helpers each practice. Please let her know if you can help. If we don’t have enough parents to go off campus they will have to stay at COC and miss out on the benefits of hill work.
The Distance Policy has been designed to ensure the safety of our athletes leaving the campus. Athletes will be sorted into 7 training groups, by ability level, based on a 1500 meter time trial. Groups will be defined as follows…
Group 1- Faster than 5:05
Group 2- Faster than 5:25
Group 3- Faster than 5:50
Group 4- Faster than 6:15
Group 5- Faster than 6:35
Group 6- Faster than 7:00
Group 7- Faster than 7:25
Athletes who do not achieve the minimum time of 7:25 will not be allowed to leave campus. Athlete’s times and leaving the campus are at the discretion of the Distance coaches. Athletes may move up in groups based ONLY on actual race performance.
The Distance group will be closed to new Athlete’s after the first 2 weeks of practice.