I work at a school outside of the district I coach at. I usually arrive on time but there can be traffic and meeting discrepancies. Is there a compromise where the athletes can change/have time to situate themselves (30ish mins?) Do a warmup jog/drills/stretching. And then when you arrive (4:00?,4:30?) you can start the workout/practice. This comes down to the makeup of your team. If your kids are motivated or you have some upperclassman with leadership skills this can work. It sounds like a smaller school so an assistant might not be possible but would be ideal. With the group I *currently* have the captains know to start to their warmup if I am not there exactly on time.
This is one of the dumbest generalizations I have seen on here. I have a friend who coaches one of the top distance programs in his state. He teaches at another school and can't start practice until 45 minutes after school ends. He regularly has one of the biggest rosters in the area and, as I said, is one of the most successful distance programs. The kids love him and love his passion for the sport.
45 minutes is quite different than 2.5 hours after school though.
I was responding to RichardRider talking about anything beyond 15-20 minutes being an issue.
OP: I guess I'm in the minority of opinion here, but I absolutely think you can practice at times others than right after school...will it hurt your numbers some....maybe. At the same time it will also weed out the kids that aren't serious about it/and or the parents just want a baby sitter for 2 more hours after school.
In the deep south there is no way you are hosting adequate practices for several months of the year if you are hosting at 3:00-5:00.....it's just too damn hot and humid. Successful programs can make practices whenever they want/within reason.
Belen Jesuit hosts practice as late at 9:00PM (atleast that's what I've been told) kids and parents will find/make a way if the program is good and they want success. That is my two cents worth.
i grew up in the south, and, at least for TF purposes, horsesh*t. my memory is the season started cool, maybe occasionally a warm (80F+) day or two in a heatwave, back down with a cold front. end of april when TF is over it's still rotating warm and cool.
to be fair, if we had a midday meet where you're stuck out all day, it could wear you down. and so we had our first progression level meet at night on consecutive weekdays.
but you're confusing late may-late september with the rest of the year in the south.
you might have a point on XC, which starts in august. my experience that was hot AF. and if you want to run on natural surfaces that generally has to be daytime. my memory we ran a humid but cooler morning practice and an afterschool practice PRECISELY WHEN YOU SAY IT DOESN'T HAPPEN -- 230ish.
the "counter-example" you mentioned is a rich miami area private school with $25k tuition. that's different. private schools you usually are responsible for your own transport to school. there's not usually a bus. or you take a city bus on your own dime. in any event, you're handling it, not the school bus. the high tuition reflects rich parents who can afford to buy their kid a car. and then 7 or 9 -- when i said my old soccer select used to practice -- is different than 5. 3 i stay at school and go home at rush hour. 7 or 9 i do a normal ride home from school, do homework, eat, come back. it's restful.
again, our soccer team used to play either 5 or 7 after school on weekdays, and the 5 slot was mind-numbing wait. you were often too keyed up to do homework, or wanted to save that energy burn until later. a girlfriend might stay after and want interest and entertainment. you're bored AF and might wander around campus getting into trouble. it's an awkward time for parents, who are just getting off work.
repeating myself. morning. during school. (or during the evening.). 5pm is just selfish.
45 minutes is quite different than 2.5 hours after school though.
I was responding to RichardRider talking about anything beyond 15-20 minutes being an issue.
i disagree. an hour might not be as bad logistically, as people would just stay there. but 15-30 mins you go to the lockers and get ready. an hour or so, it's not long enough to leave, but you have time to kill. you would have basic "unsupervised kids killing time on campus" issues, hazing, fights, fraternizing with the girls, getting into trouble. not everyone handles it by playing 1 on 1 with their hoops girlfriend for a little while.
for disciplinary reasons, you either want it immediately, or you want them to go home and come back in the evening. 5 is just logistically dumb, forces many kids to stay, then encourages them to figure out ways to kill time that may not be positive for your program.
Be "athlete centric" with your coaching and you will have your answer to everything.
You always schedule it for the time convenient for your athletes. If you can't do that they are actually better off with one of the teachers from the school and you take an advisory role if they don't know what they are doing.
I coached for 15 years at a high school. I always made it convenient for them. 30 minutes after school gets out is the best time. It gives them time to catch up with teachers after school if they need to and get ready. For those that needed longer I would have the team meeting as the first thing we did and the athletes would file in during that.
Making it later is a hardship for them and their parents. They are faced with staying at the school, or finding a ride later on from someone else. Then they have dinner, homework and they really need their sleep. All for the convenience of the coach is not a good reason.
This is my opinion on this as well. Everything I do, I do for the atheltes. That is the reason why I am out there. The athletes are always number one, and that means 20-30 mins after school ends.
Seems like a lot of people are really up in arms about this idea but I'd like to present a counter point. I once worked at a school that required students to spend 30-60 minutes a day catching up with teachers on assignments, etc., so I woudn't practice until 4 or later when I coached there. I'm also currently in a situation where I am taking over for a head coach who would practice at around 5:00 becuase of his work obligations. While I do have the ability to get to school earlier than that, realistically 4:00 would be the earliest I could do which would mean the kids would be out of school for an hour before I could be there. I am definitely pushing for them to do the same. Spend time at study hall, get homework done, plan anything extra after school before practice. It can work.
Seems like a lot of people are really up in arms about this idea but I'd like to present a counter point. I once worked at a school that required students to spend 30-60 minutes a day catching up with teachers on assignments, etc., so I woudn't practice until 4 or later when I coached there. I'm also currently in a situation where I am taking over for a head coach who would practice at around 5:00 becuase of his work obligations. While I do have the ability to get to school earlier than that, realistically 4:00 would be the earliest I could do which would mean the kids would be out of school for an hour before I could be there. I am definitely pushing for them to do the same. Spend time at study hall, get homework done, plan anything extra after school before practice. It can work.
I guess it kind of depends on if you want to just do the same thing the previous coach did or try to be better.
By 5:00 the kids will be home and in no mood to practice and/or full of whatever snacks they ate because they were hungry/board waiting around.
I'm sure you'll also have issues with parents with how late practice ends.
And, where are they going to go for 2 hours?
Home and back? How? They don't all have access to transportation and once they're home you'll lose them.
Start before 3:30 or just tell them that you can't do it.
And I can't believe this didn't come up since you're not a teacher.
based on his posts, he was an existing assistant, probably was going to have troubled fulfilling that role next season due to promotion and more responsibility, head coach goes bye bye, got treated as next in line, didn't tell them his circumstances have changed, but now has the power to dictate when practice is, and wants to bend everyone to his needs.
and, yeah, if he'd said, sorry, i have a work conflict with the traditional schedule, he doesn't get that promotion too.
I was responding to RichardRider talking about anything beyond 15-20 minutes being an issue.
i disagree. an hour might not be as bad logistically, as people would just stay there. but 15-30 mins you go to the lockers and get ready. an hour or so, it's not long enough to leave, but you have time to kill. you would have basic "unsupervised kids killing time on campus" issues, hazing, fights, fraternizing with the girls, getting into trouble. not everyone handles it by playing 1 on 1 with their hoops girlfriend for a little while.
for disciplinary reasons, you either want it immediately, or you want them to go home and come back in the evening. 5 is just logistically dumb, forces many kids to stay, then encourages them to figure out ways to kill time that may not be positive for your program.
I see you're one of those people who inhen=rently does not trust anyone. Probably better that you aren't a coach.