Coaches: how to regulate an irritatingly chatty warmup?

The only problem with chatting is they won't be focused enough to warm up well. Make minor threats ( a longer run, more repeats, pushups etc.) if they don't do the warmup properly. Note how the threat pertains to the quality of the warm-up, not the chatting. Stay on them verbally about doing things right. Things will regulate down to a reasonable level.

Once that's in place, as long as they're doing the warm-up, let it be and let them chat and goof off a little. Practice should be fun, especially the "down" parts.

What on earth is wrong with you?

You know running is supposed to be fun, right? It's the freaking warm-up. Relax.

wait, let me get this straight. In the modified words of Allen Iverson, "we're talking about warm-ups?,......,warm-ups?????????". Lol - not even "PRACTICE" but just the small part of it that should be the most laid-back, relaxed part of the practice?

C'mon coach. You want your runners to actually like being on the team. Practice in track is generally hard (i.e., the workout itself). But warm-up/warm-down doesn't have to be so formal. If you become a tyrant, you'll end up with kids quitting. People (particularly teens) need to have some fun mixed in with the pain of practice. The dynamics might be different b/w XC and Track due to new people. Go with the flow on that. As long as the kids are getting along and still striving to achieve results, don't be a scrooge and take away the little bit of hijinks they have or they'll view track as more an ordeal than an enjoyment and will not return for Junior season.

I think the OP is talking about drills/stretches ("dynamic warm-ups") and not jogging easy. If so, I would tend to agree that kids should be focusing on what they are doing. It is pretty easy to give yourself a soft tissue injury by doing a dynamic warmup the wrong way. High school kids are usually inclined to overdo things and overstretch or over exert on a drill. Also, if they are not thinking about what they are doing, they may be wasting the warm up by going through the motions.

Others are right that you can't be a jerk about it. Maybe you can shut them up by changing up the warm up routine every week so that they have to listen to you instead of doing the same old knee lifts and butt kicks?

I agree with the sentiment to let the warmup be chatty but at one time I had some pretty disruptive runners that just would not even try to get the movements right. I instituted the 2-Line formation for drills:

I'd announce:

1. Join line 1 if you want to run faster. You can chat but I'll ask you to make an effort to use proper form.

2. Join line 2 if you just down care. I won't bother you or provide feedback. I just don't want you to polite group 1.

No one ever joined line 2. They got the message that they could be social as long as they put forth a decent effort.

Lananna Pudding wrote:

I agree with the sentiment to let the warmup be chatty but at one time I had some pretty disruptive runners that just would not even try to get the movements right. I instituted the 2-Line formation for drills:

I'd announce:

1. Join line 1 if you want to run faster. You can chat but I'll ask you to make an effort to use proper form.

2. Join line 2 if you just down care. I won't bother you or provide feedback. I just don't want you to polite group 1.

No one ever joined line 2. They got the message that they could be social as long as they put forth a decent effort.

Nicely done, coach. Seems like you understand the high school mind.

2.1/10

Credit for creativity, but a big hit for clumsy execution (i.e. Galen Rupp reference, too early for indoor, etc).

Wtf? It's practice. You aren't there to socialize. Our couch would've yelled at us if we started chatting during stretching. If it persisted, people would've been thrown off the team.

Do football or basketball coaches of serious programs put up with that crap? Nope. Why treat cross country differently?

You know that your "dynamic" warmup with the 15 different "activations" has no impact in their subsequent performance during the workout, right?

Just let the kids have fun and enjoy the team environment.

Wait until you try to coach a bunch of women of their mid-thirties.

Surprise! wrote:

Wtf? It's practice. You aren't there to socialize. Our couch would've yelled at us if we started chatting during stretching. If it persisted, people would've been thrown off the team.

Do football or basketball coaches of serious programs put up with that crap? Nope. Why treat cross country differently?

My sentiments exactly. I really don't give a hoot if they talk during the running part of the warmup or the cool down. That's pretty much chat-proof. But if you give them a focussed task to do and let them bungle it then they will bungle many more focussed tasks in the future.

I never stand on the sidelines, I get right on the track and make them all go around me. I can correct, interrupt their conversations and motivate in a very personal way. If they are not moving, I get right up into their little circle and make them uncomfortable. Works every time.

Although I think DAWs are a great place to get the chattiness out of them. Nothing wrong with it until they stop paying attention. Just don't yell from the sidelines, they will not listen.

I felt the same way as the OP very briefly when I first started coaching. But pretty quickly, I realized that I was lucky enough to coach a group of very hard working boys. Most if the team members put a lot of academic pressure on themselves. Many if them faced tremendous extrinsic academic pressure.

Sometimes the kids need a few minutes to goof around between a day of school and an evening if homework. I expect them to take racing very seriously. I expect them to work hard during workouts. But if they want to blow off steam and chat during warmups, so what?

I would normally say 3/10, but with everyones reaction I'm going to say 7/10

We always chatted from the minute we arrived at practice until we went home. Our coach never had a problem with it and we had a lot of very good teams. Our girls were the best in the country at one point.

Surprise! wrote:

Wtf? It's practice. You aren't there to socialize. Our couch would've yelled at us if we started chatting during stretching. If it persisted, people would've been thrown off the team.

Do football or basketball coaches of serious programs put up with that crap? Nope. Why treat cross country differently?

Your couch would have yelled at you? Sounds like a pretty mean couch. What authority does your couch have to tell you how to workout? All it does is sit there. It didn't even move into your house on it's own, it had to be carried every step of the way

Surprise! wrote:

Wtf? It's practice. You aren't there to socialize. Our couch would've yelled at us if we started chatting during stretching. If it persisted, people would've been thrown off the team.

Do football or basketball coaches of serious programs put up with that crap? Nope. Why treat cross country differently?

Your coach was an a**hole and idiot. Maybe, just maybe they can socialize and have an effective practice. Especially if its just a warm-up.

Right on, TAA. I mean come on, we're talking about practice. Not a race. Practice.