Looking for thoughts from the Let’s Run community. Just found out that our middle school is losing their athletic director and spring sports are a bit up in the air. The high school AD is taking over for now. I had just been talking to the high school track coach about trying to bridge the two programs. We have a fairly small high school team. Would bringing Varsity kids over to the high school be a silly suggestion? I’m not a coach but have coached kids in the past and would be willing to step up and volunteer my time.
If the high school kids are willing to be mentors and show the younger kids the right way to train, it can be great for the program. The young kids will gain knowledge and have someone to look up to.
I think it's good for kid's to understand the level of commitment necessary, but when middle schoolers start doing high school mileage too early then it can become a problem
That is a very good point. Our high school traditionally runs a fairly low mileage program but we do still have kids at all levels because there are no cuts.
I have reached out to people in charge and no one has shot me down. I see a lot pros but there are certainly some cons. Thanks.
I would be concerned with splitting the MS team. Your non-varsity runners need faster peers. You're also going to get caught up in at least a little bit of drama about who gets to run with the HS team and who doesn't.
If MS coaches are already in place, how does the AD vacancy cause problems? I'm assuming that schedule would have been set far in advance. What's the "up in the air" part?
I don't think just varsity MS kids would benefit. Like somebody else said your JV MS kids still need training partners who are faster. Depending on the # of runners you're dealing with you can structure repeats in a jump-in style workout. As an example: fastest kids running full 800, JV high school jumping in at the 600, MS kids jumping in at the 400 if it lines up with their training/mileage goals. We did this on my college team because we had a wide variety of ability levels. The main thing I'd be wary of is having 18 year old boys around 7/8th grade girls.
The athletic director is also the head coach of the track team. The middle school sent an email about enlisting the help of the high school AD to help spring sports happen. There are other coaches but they are new to the team and school.
My initial thought was to take some of the pressure off these middle school coaches by moving some of the older athletes. The track team tends to be large and kind of wild.
To be honest, all of our middle school sports are a mess and I have wanted some sort of bridge between the two schools for awhile.
I got a bit more information from another parent. The middle school team is 114 kids comprised mostly of 5th and 6th graders. It is going to be a mess.
I think it's good for kid's to understand the level of commitment necessary, but when middle schoolers start doing high school mileage too early then it can become a problem
I think it really depends on what you consider "high school mileage" and what middle schoolers you're talking about. I currently have a 7th grader who runs in the mid-20s (xc 5k) but obviously hasn't hit her growth spurt yet. She only runs 20-30 mins per day and does her workouts with the high schoolers who are her pace, but typically only does 2/3-3/4 of the workout volume they do. She's usually in the 15-20 mpw range.
I have some 8th grade girls who have finished growing and ran quite a bit last summer and winter. I have no qualms about having them at or slightly over 30 mpw.
I think the biggest issue is when kids only run from 12 or 13 on. Preteen and early teenage years should be spent building a general athletic base. Encourage them to do things besides run during the off season, and build opportunities to develop other kinds of athleticism. We find time for capture the flag a couple times per season. When the younger, lower-mileage runners get back from their 20-30, we do relay races involving different kinds of movements. I think those sorts of things really help them develop into more complete athletes.
I think it's good for kid's to understand the level of commitment necessary, but when middle schoolers start doing high school mileage too early then it can become a problem
I think it really depends on what you consider "high school mileage" and what middle schoolers you're talking about. I currently have a 7th grader who runs in the mid-20s (xc 5k) but obviously hasn't hit her growth spurt yet. She only runs 20-30 mins per day and does her workouts with the high schoolers who are her pace, but typically only does 2/3-3/4 of the workout volume they do. She's usually in the 15-20 mpw range.
I have some 8th grade girls who have finished growing and ran quite a bit last summer and winter. I have no qualms about having them at or slightly over 30 mpw.
I think the biggest issue is when kids only run from 12 or 13 on. Preteen and early teenage years should be spent building a general athletic base. Encourage them to do things besides run during the off season, and build opportunities to develop other kinds of athleticism. We find time for capture the flag a couple times per season. When the younger, lower-mileage runners get back from their 20-30, we do relay races involving different kinds of movements. I think those sorts of things really help them develop into more complete athletes.