Finding Success in the Postseason
Bryan Reynolds a/k/a Backofthepack
Most of you frequently on the discussion board probably know my background already. For those who don’t, I am the parent of two kids who run for Daviess County. I’m also the founder of the club Runawayz, which ran in the off-season from 2007-2010. In this blog, I’d like to share with you how I think you can have a successful postseason experience. I’m sure you’d hear a lot of what I’m going to say from the Derby City coaches.
This blog is really geared toward the postseason experience for elementary and middle school kids, although some of points would also apply to high schoolers. High schoolers, especially elite high schoolers, have the opportunity to run at Footlocker or NXN. But there are several other post-season meets, including AAU, USATF Junior Olympics, and the Cross Country Coaches National Youth Championships. In those meets, the level of competition for younger kids is very high.
First, let’s define post-season success. If you are looking for secrets that will make you or your kid significantly faster, stop reading now. To me, the greatest success that can some from the postseason is giving the runners an enjoyable experience that will hopefully leave kids with a good feeling about cross country and want to continue running.
I’m not a runner. Although I ran XC in high school (poorly) for one season, I’ve learned most of what I know about the sport through working with my kids, driving their coaches crazy with questions, reading milesplit and other sources, correspondence with others whose knowledge I respect, and of course, trial and error. I don’t have an impressive running resume, but have had the profound good luck to work with a group of exceedingly talented young runners. I think it’s safe to say that a chimpanzee could have successfully coached the group I had. (Kind of like what’s happening at Assumption, ha ha).
I began thinking about forming Runawayz in 2005 while driving home from the AAU Kentucky District Championships held on a cold Sunday, November 13, at Grant County Park. We had driven up to the meet as a family in hopes of ending the season on a positive note after a disappointing Meet of Champions. When we arrived, we saw that almost everyone entered was part of a team. We knew no one, and the race wasn’t very fun for my 4th grader. It was not the fault of the meet organizers, who were great and extremely accommodating.
What I had done wrong is drive my daughter three and one-half hours each way to race in the cold on a course she’d never seen against a bunch of people she didn’t know. (It didn’t occur to me til then that she might not think exactly like I do.) On the long drive home, I started thinking that the process might have been a whole lot more enjoyable for her if she was part of a team. However, the thought of forming a team to travel to Florida for AAU or somewhere further away for USATF did not seem like a realistic option.
To my good fortune, in 2007 a new national meet was formed, the CCCNYC, and it was to be held at Masterson Station. Our middle school team was in the midst of a successful season that year, so I decided to invite a small group of local girls to run together in the new meet. We began with eight that year, and, starting the week after high school state, we practiced 2 or 3 days per week in the afternoons after school and at least once per weekend as a team. That meant I had to miss a lot of work hours, which is not always easy in my occupation. Still, those beginning practices formed some of my best memories.
In 2009, I added boys to the team, and Holger Jensen, now the coach at College View, came on to handle the coaching duties for boys. By 2010, we had over 60 kids in several different age groups. Unfortunately, however, work and other obligations made it impossible for Holger and I to continue in 2011, but here are a few thoughts for those of you who want to try something like this.
FORMING THE TEAM
Runawayz began with a core of motivated runners and dedicated parents. One reason I started the group was to bring together other motivated kids in the area and let them train together and, hopefully, build friendships and keep them interested in running. I’m proud to say that almost all of the kids who ran for us are still running competitively.
We started with 8 girls the first year, and had more than sixty boys and girls by the fourth year. We would contact local coaches, and ask them to identify motivated kids who might be interested and would approach some kids or parents that I had gotten to know at meets. As time went on, we were getting inquiries from several surrounding counties as well, and the team began to take on a life of its own. It was pretty easy to find kids who wanted to run when you could say you had some of the top runners in the state on the team.
Admittedly, I was focused on the dedicated kids, not every kid out there. With my limited time, I did not want to be viewed as another baby sitter where parents could just drop off their kids and leave. So, we did require kids to have run previously for the team or to have met the time-standard for qualifying for the meet. Another very knowledgeable coach told me that his team’s only requirement is that the kid has to love to run. In that case, the other factors take care of themselves.
PAPERWORK AND COST
For the most part, the big meets don’t require a ton of paperwork. Most kids are only required to provide a form or two and their birth certificates. It is the responsibility of the coach to collect meet fees and forms and submit them to the Meet Director. I’ve found that all the meets have easy to navigate web sites and the organizers are always extremely helpful.
Cost should not prohibit anyone from running in the post-season. Entry fees, organization (USATF, AAU, CCCNYC) membership fees and possible insurance typically total less than $50.00. Uniform costs can vary depending on your desire. Some teams show up for post season meets in fraying, decaying jerseys that they’ve obviously had quite some time. The only cost that can become burdensome is travel. We always left travel up to the individual, but I know other clubs arrange for travel to and from the meet for you or your kid, and might even offer financial aid to some kids.
UNIFORMS
While we’re on the topic of uniforms, most postseason meets don’t have strict uniform or jewelry requirements like High School and Middle school meets. You can pick the (non-offensive) name and colors you want. In our case, for a unique extra touch, I added tall socks in various colors and patterns to the standard XC uniform. I would actually keep the sock design secret from the girls till the night before the race, where we would have our sock passing ceremony to new girls on the team.
I learned the first year that screen printing establishments generally need more than one week to get shirts done. So, if you’re planning on doing unique uniforms, plan ahead somewhat. And order extras, there are always last minute additions to the team once you’re up and going. Singlets aren’t necessary, many teams run in tshirts.
PRACTICES
For me, and I think most of the kids, practice was the best and most memorable part of Runawayz. Practice is where they really get to know each other. (and in the hotel the night before the race). Having something fun for them to do at or after practice should be a very high priority.
In our case, a lot of the kids were motivated simply by the fact that they were practicing with a competitive group of others they’d run against all season long. A lot of them were simply happy to be with other kids with whom they shared a common lifestyle.
If you’re dealing with kids who live outside your area, frequent full-team workouts are simply not possible. I would still send a workout schedule to the team each week. However, getting all or almost all the kids together occasionally to practice was one of my main priorities. I can still see the camaraderie they developed at those practices at just about any meet I attend.
For the girls, workouts were designed for maintenance of the progress they had achieved during the season. The kids would get together for workouts and run on their own on easy days. Workouts were easy with motivated kids and when we had a workout planned, all the coaches had to do was get out of the way. As the group became larger, it was necessary to get help from other parents. Fortunately, we have parks here that are lighted in the evening where you can see the runners all the time.
I’m a big believer in the power of visualization. Before every practice, after stretching, I would have the girls take some time visualizing themselves achieving their dream race goal. Mark Bloom describes it in his book “God on the Starting Line.” Perhaps more on that in another blog
When you have a bunch of motivated kids running together, a kind of synergy develops. One night I will always remember with the girls involved a three mile tempo run with approximately fifteen 12-14 year old girls. I asked them to do it at 7:30 minute pace, and they all finished together in exactly 22:30. It’s hard to describe the feeling you get from watching a group of kids running uptempo, laughing and giggling all the time, and all staying together. After the run, a parent of one of the girls came up to me and told me that her daughter had said “I would never have been able to do that on my own, but it was easy with this group.”
We always did a ceremonial last run before the race. This was one practice I wanted to be sure that everyone attended. By then, Christmas lights would be up in the park where we typically met, so it would be a really cool atmosphere. The workout involved 300 meter repeats at race pace, with a one minute recovery, so not too hard. And again, it was neat to see 15 or 20 girls running in a big pack for the entire workout. When we were done, we’d all go to Starbucks, which is what they all liked best.
RACE DAY
On race day, the kids had already developed their own routines, and I didn’t try to change those. I’m not an in-your-face type of motivator. But I did take time to learn each girl’s PR, and the race in which it came. Before their race, I would go through, kid by kid, and remind them of that day and tell them to think about how they felt that day. Usually, most of them would be smiling and seemed a little more relaxed by the time I was done.
I did promise one group that I would shave my head if they finished better than third place. To my delight, they finished second. Although I was very slow about it, my head was eventually shaved, but I’m not sure they all believe that I did it for them.
For a coach of a large team at a big meet, race days can be very stressful, especially if you have kids in lots of races. That is one place where dedicated parents can be a huge help. It’s simply impossible to watch one race while supervising a group that’s getting ready to run in the next race.
In some age groups, we would not have enough kids to form a team. In those cases, we worked with teams like Team Kentucky and Derby City to add kids, or let our kids run for them, to increase the kids’ chances of a podium finish.
CONCLUSION
If you’re even thinking about running in the post-season, please consider the benefit of running on a team. If you’re not in an area that has a team you can run with, seriously consider forming one of your own. You’ll enjoy it more, and the competition will help keep you sharp for your race.