All right.
Take the first two weeks off in July then.
You still don't need structured training in the beginning of August.
The new to the sport 9th grader can just ran as he/she feels before official practice starts.
Now, my perspective is more from a middle distance runner that just used cross country to get into shape.
But I did win one college cross country race, so I have a little experience there.
It's a blanket policy for all HS athletics.
in Vermont our coach gives everyone a somewhat individualized schedule to follow over the summer. We also have voluntary practices 3 times a week which he sometimes shows up to, or its just a captains practice. We won't be penalized or judged if we don't show up to the practice. As long as we're logging our miles. Not sure what the rule is here in Vermont though. I think for states with crazy strict no contact rules like MN, as mentioned, the coaches should give out a solid plan and then have captain's practices
You don't need a coach to run a bunch of easy miles (which is what you should do in the summer)or SOM if more experienced.
Let the kids have their summer, those who want to be good will run.
I'd like to know how competitive teams are that let their kids train on their own in the summer. I'd like to see their team finish at states, nike, and then track times. I can't imagine they are that good.
The intent is obvious. As stated by others, high school officials want to preserve the fantasy that athletes will restrict training to a small window of time while exploring the world, studying and enriching themselves in other ways during the "off-season."
This rule was developed in response to parents who complained that a high-school coach ruined their summer by enforcing practice schedules. I'm sure a coach even dared to kick athletes off a team for not practicing in the summer. And now you have a blanket rule.
This should work to your advantage. Any coach worth his salt can lay out a summer training plan in advance. If the coach doesn't, you have many more resources at your disposal than my generation did. And I'm going to assume that if you're posting here, you're more likely to stick to a summer training schedule than kids who need a daily practice to keep them in line.
So teachers unions can't hit up districts for coaches summer or off season salary.
Here in CA our section has no governance from the second week in June through the first week in August. They call that "summer." As of August 1 those next two weeks you can "condition" only. So for running purposes we can only run. No technique drills, timed intervals, etc. At no point can you cut an athlete for not participating in the summer and it has to be strictly optional. (Not a problem in XC, though O'Brian, the coach of Arcadia got in trouble a while back).
We hold (optional) summer runs Monday through Friday. The most kids we had out was the first day when about 20 showed. Yesterday we had two, our smallest number of the summer. The average has been about 10 kids. We had about 70+ on our team the last few seasons.
Fact is most kids aren't going to train even when you get together in the summer unless you are riding their ass. Sad but true.
This is the perfect example of why summer practices are vital. The posters on this thread that think every 14-18 year old wants to train like an animal on their own in the summer is laughable.