High School Practice Start Time

Sigh...

I tell kids who ask for training advice here to talk to their coach.

I will you to talk to whoever hired you.

This sounds like an utter rubbish idea.

I think a 3:30 start time would be reasonable to give you commute time to get to school. That’s if there’s a place for the athletes to do homework till practice starts. A 5 o’clock start in March and April is especially difficult with sunset and weather. This is why most high school coaches are teachers.

It’s been at around 3 o’clock at just about every HS, for many, many years. Parents aren’t going to put off dinner until 8:00, to accommodate a 5:30 practice time. Would your school even support such a late start?

Nothing personal but they must have been desperate. Or you mislead them. Get ready for low numbers. Otherwise, it's what you make it.

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.

Don't forget that many working-class families rely on income from part-time jobs that their kids work, especially in the rough economic climate that we find ourselves in. Track at 5:30PM or missing out on $200/week from that fast food / retail / grocery job? You're going to lose that one.

this is strangely worded. "head coach for the school i coach at" sounds like you've been assistant coaching there and somehow making the 3 time work.

which then makes this a preference and not an absolute issue.

that's one issue, and the other issue is transportation. if you have kids work out during an in school period, then immediately after school, they don't need their own car to get to school, and after school timing gets them close to 5 where a parent can pick them up if they can't carpool.

i used to have trouble with before hours practices where i couldn't just do the bus. to get a parental vehicle i had to get up super early. that catches up to you.

the offcampus and after hours idea for your XC probably keeps the team tiny. requires a car or a friendly carpool. and if the team is tiny not many options for carpool.

if the track is on campus, but practice is 5, you need either a car to leave and come back, or you're leaving unsupervised kids on campus for 2-3 hours daily before practice. what could possibly go wrong with that. we used to sometimes have weekday home games at the HS at 5 or 7. no car meant mind-numbing hours farting around waiting for time to get ready. you're kind of trapped.

your idea they can "study" is naive. most kids won't unless you make it monitored study hall. i think you'd have a bunch of exhausted, brain-fried kids who have been in classes since 7. and with a 5 o'clock practice probably kids starting to get hungry.

It should be doable. If 4 teams can figure out how to share the bball gym - boys and girls varsity and JV, they can't all practice as soon as school gets out. I would have hated waiting hours for practice every day, but like I showed in my example, kids do.

This has to be a troll. "I just got hired for a new job, but I'm not available at any of the times the job is. Is that OK? I also was already working as a coach for the school before being promoted to head coach and made it work previously, but it suddenly is no longer possible for me to show up at the regularly scheduled practice time. None of this happened to come up during the job interview, so I'm coming to LR instead of discussing with the athletic director."

So they just called you out of the blue and told you that you will now be coaching HS track????

Wow.. that's some random stuff.. my "scam likely" calls all want to buy my home or sell me some worthless car repair insurance.

This is B.S.

Coach FLINT

Serious answer...Competitive HS track programs are large and diverse. To attract and maintain the largest possible roster, with the best athletes, you should do everything you can to make it as easy as possible for the athletes.

Moving practice to 5:30pm may be allowed, but it will almost certainly result in the loss of a few athletes (and potential championship points).

We start Feb 15. 5:30 would have e it completely dark before practice ends. Our school ends at 3:30 and practice at 3:45. How will you handle meets? We have 2 per week most weeks and leave school at 1:00 to 2:00.

Most posts here are not serious, mostly ridiculous, definitely troll bait. I rarely answer directly to posters like this per say but usually to those dumb enough to consider the post and most of the responses that follow.

This response is correct for those non-teachers that want to coach hs kids. Anything other than 15-20min after the last bell is just telling them your sport isn't that important. The kids know how to get a late pass from a teacher they are getting help from. IF you start later, you are just telling the FB coach and anyone directing traffic in the bb gym that you aren't serious and they'll make sure the kids know they shouldn't waste their time on track. If you aren't willing to respect the sport or the kids time, don't expect a very good turnout. You'll definitely get what you give. Don't settle for the scraps either if you do get there after school. Go after the best athletes too that think they just want to lift weights for fb or play league bb. You wont get them all but the ones you get will help.

This is of course you are trying to be competitive. If not, don't bother. One thing is for sure, it's a constant game of winning hearts and minds of the kids, parents, co-coaches, other adults who want more of the kids time and to heck with you etc... Your AD will either help or hinder that process as well. I'd suggest working for a great mentor for awhile if you can until you're ready. Not always possible but it speeds up the learning process. Nothing wrong with being an assistant until then. Head coach title isn't what most people think. They usually dont have a clue what it takes to make a program successful and sustainable. Details......

yeah, you'd be driving up costs on a daily basis for selfish reasons. gotta turn the stadium lights on for a bunch of extra non-competition days for which no teams are paying entry fees.

that and in the northern half of the country teams in the winter and first part of spring want to be out there as close to midday for obvious reasons. if they aren't doing indoor you want to be out there at like 2 to be warm as you can be.

the "focus on the stars" turnout argument is silly. TF as a team sport you want strong turnout where kids have to compete to get entered each week. you want as many kids out there adding in small points to the stars as you can. on my HS team, one of the guys who eventually progressed towards state at hurdles, couldn't even get regular meets when he first started. he had to keep improving to be even competitive for meets.

any idiot can saddle up the handful of easily gifted jocks around and make unusual practice scheduling demands.

We don’t need to f*in’ practice, Randy!