Coaches how do you make cuts? How to trim off the fat

So there is 1 coach for both genders? If its 100 total for 2 coaches, you should be able to handle that...

We probably end up meeting with about 5 kids over the first 4-6 weeks of the season. If our schedule doesn't allow us to meet for a day or two then the girl does not get to attend practice or meets until we've had that meeting. After the first couple of girls go through the process word quickly spreads and kids tend to either drop or step up. We usually have 80-90 the first week of practice and end up with 70-75 at the end.

hs girls coach wrote:

We probably end up meeting with about 5 kids over the first 4-6 weeks of the season. If our schedule doesn't allow us to meet for a day or two then the girl does not get to attend practice or meets until we've had that meeting. After the first couple of girls go through the process word quickly spreads and kids tend to either drop or step up. We usually have 80-90 the first week of practice and end up with 70-75 at the end.

I'd love to learn more about what you say in these meetings, it sounds like a good policy. I had 80+ in my first XC season (solo), and it was a bear.

I never have a problem with an athlete quitting, but I take the stance that quitting a team is an active thing - they've got to own the decision and tell me they're quitting. For those that did, we had a good conversation about why (they had other activities they enjoyed more), and what they hoped to achieve in the future. It built the relationship between us, and they're all intending to join track in the spring (they're sprint types anyway).

The ones who just fade away on the other hand, they get their names called out at the beginning of practice with the rest of the absences (in case I missed them while taking attendance). After hearing the same names over and over again, the team writes them off and they're no longer a distraction.

We have been getting over 100 per season over the last several years with 2.5 coaches. The .5 position is shared with the girls team. After two weeks and time trials, we set up groups. The field event, sprinters, hurdlers go into sprint A. The cut-off is usually around 28.0 for 200m. Anyone who can't demonstrate an ability in a field event or sprinting goes into the developmental group. We call that group the Blue Army. There are usually 20-30 here, and we generally give them developmental type workouts to gain basic fitness. Kids who demostrate poor work ethic or miss practice without valid excuse get sent to that group too. The developmental practice time is often late in the day- I may have them come out at 4 when the other guys are finishing up. we also cancel this group when we have important workouts. I had a kid from this group go 4:36/9:58 a few years ago, so it is important. My AD and I both agree that you should never close the door on a kid. At some point, he may buy in and this could become his life. Our policy is if a kid misses practice without written excuse he sits the next meet. With over 100 per season, we get all kinds of athletes- good athletes with low intensity, poor athletes who will work very hard, etc.

We only cut for behavior or supervisory concerns. For example, my throws staff (2) know how many they can safely supervise/instruct - if we get more than that, they'll eventually have a "throw-off" and some of the kids will get "cut". But they're welcome to join the other event groups, and some of them do.

We've had over 100 for the past several years. My coaching staff has ranged in size from 5-9, with a mix of full- and part-timers. I'd love to have more part-timers (there are some talented parents out there!), but it's incredibly burdensome to get volunteers cleared by the district.

Instead of considering further cuts, I think you should flip the question around and instead ask "How can I get help?" If you've got 100+ kids coming out for the team, your AD should be bending over backwards to get you what you need. Surely there's a teacher or other-season coach who could come to practice once a week and hold a stopwatch.

Next, let me see if I understand this right: with a 100 person team, you have a distance coach, and then you coach everything else? I'd suggest your distance coach has to step up and carry more of the burden. What does he do when they're on a long run? Surely there are days he could take your 400m runners into the fold, or hold a stopwatch for the sprinters while you work with another group. Distance runners are (typically) the best-behaved athletes on the team, and require the least technical instruction. Surely he can spare some bandwidth to ease your burden.

There are teams in my league with only two coaches, but none of them have 100 athletes, or cover every event group. Those that have the numbers/balance, have the coaches to cover.

While I never made a cut in 16 years of coaching track and 7 years of cross country, I did ask certain athletes to quit on multiple occasions. It always had to do with attitude and work ethic. Almost all of the kids who I encouraged to quit were actually fairly talented and things on the team improved after they left.

I would never cut a kid who was out there every day trying. One year, I had a freshman boy who wanted to hurdle but was too small and weak to get over the 110H and could barely get over the 300H. He kept showing up and working and we let him run the 300H later in the season (he ran sprints until then). The kid kept putting in the work and by his junior year, he score for us in a couple of dual meets and as a senior, just missed scoring in our conference and regional meets in both hurdle events. He also ended being a great mentor for a group of young hurdlers his junior and senior years.

A school in my area had a boy run 21:30 as a frosh for XC. He would have been the fifth fastest freshman on the girls team. However, as this kids body matured and he kept working, he got better and ended up being all-state in cross and a state qualifier in track. He then went on to run D1 in college.

While we all want to develop great athletes and win, one of the best things we can do as coaches is to work with kids who may not ever score a point for us and help them become better people and gain confidence in themselves.

We trimed our collegiate CC team of all the tag alongs (People that didn't run in HS, or weren't competitive), and I think it helped make for a better experience and better training environment.

On girl we cut was actually holding her best friend back in workouts. Once the girl was gone, her friend improved and eventually became our best runner.

Another Coach wrote:

hs girls coach wrote:

We probably end up meeting with about 5 kids over the first 4-6 weeks of the season. If our schedule doesn't allow us to meet for a day or two then the girl does not get to attend practice or meets until we've had that meeting. After the first couple of girls go through the process word quickly spreads and kids tend to either drop or step up. We usually have 80-90 the first week of practice and end up with 70-75 at the end.

I'd love to learn more about what you say in these meetings, it sounds like a good policy. I had 80+ in my first XC season (solo), and it was a bear.

It varies from kid to kid depending on the issue but there are 3 questions we always ask to start the conversation:

1. What do you enjoy about being on the team?

2. What do you hope to accomplish this season?

3. What contribution are you making to make the team better?

Most kids have an answer for the first 2 questions, but struggle with the third. We try to stress that you can find ways to contribute even without physical talent, but if you aren't interested in contributing to a team effort then you are better off finding a competitive outlet somewhere else.

This thread is amazing to me. I went to a small rural high school, where the coach had to beg and plead with kids to come out for the team just so we'd have enough bodies to field a team. I ran on a college team where we once went through an entire cross country season with five runners. We were one injury away from not being able to field a full team. Thankfully no one got hurt or sick that season.

I'm amazed that there are teams with 100+ kids and only 1-2 coaches. How do you even learn all the kids' names, much less give them any instruction? Seems like it would just be herding cats.

out in the sticks wrote:

This thread is amazing to me. I went to a small rural high school, where the coach had to beg and plead with kids to come out for the team just so we'd have enough bodies to field a team. I ran on a college team where we once went through an entire cross country season with five runners. We were one injury away from not being able to field a full team. Thankfully no one got hurt or sick that season.

I'm amazed that there are teams with 100+ kids and only 1-2 coaches. How do you even learn all the kids' names, much less give them any instruction? Seems like it would just be herding cats.

same here. In hs, we had to beg people to come out. We had 7th graders running varsity xc just so we could field a full squad. I don't think even the top teams in the city I live now have 100+, maybe like 50.

I have a football coach who will manage the weight room after practice hours.

The distance coach (head coach) is a bit of a flake. They are on the track three days a week. So those days are out. He will leave on another day to pick up his kids. The other day he is there. I try to manipulate the plan so that he is forced to work with the long sprinters on that day. That is the only thing close to his competency.

I do have a horizontal jump coach who volunteers a couple of days a week but he is also a student so I can't demand to much.

out in the sticks wrote:

I'm amazed that there are teams with 100+ kids and only 1-2 coaches. How do you even learn all the kids' names, much less give them any instruction? Seems like it would just be herding cats.

The names are easy. It's the technical work that becomes frustrating. When you have one kid who is trying to fix a flaw its not an issue. But multiply it by 50 and that's where your time goes.

And obviously herding the cats when I migrate to another group.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

My rule is, if you miss a practice, you wont be in the next meet. Seems to work since what is the fun of running and never racing.

No cuts in HS XC or track! You never know who you might cut.

Years ago, I had a friend who ran but she moved away after the 8th grade.

When my dad saw how much I missed her, he tried to give me something else to do and we ran every day the summer before I was in the 9th grade.

I kind of liked it and on a whim, went out for XC. Despite running 2 or 3 miles a day with my dad, all summer, at the first XC meet, on a team of 40 total, I finished 10th freshmen including two freshmen girls who beat me.

As freshman year went on, I lost track of my friend from 8th grade and got more into running. Fast forward to just after graduation my senior year. I ran into my friend from 8th grade who was in town to visit her grandmother. She totally didn't recognize me. As in, even after we started talking, she still didn't believe it was me. You could have knocked her over with a feather when she learned that, not only was I running but that I had finished 3rd in the state 2 mile.

another navy fan wrote:

I have a football coach who will manage the weight room after practice hours.

The distance coach (head coach) is a bit of a flake. They are on the track three days a week. So those days are out. He will leave on another day to pick up his kids. The other day he is there. I try to manipulate the plan so that he is forced to work with the long sprinters on that day. That is the only thing close to his competency.

I do have a horizontal jump coach who volunteers a couple of days a week but he is also a student so I can't demand to much.

Nice to have someone in the weight room. That's a resource I wish I could make better use of.

Before we bash the head coach too much, let's recognize there's a lot of work they have to do that is often out of sight of even the other coaches on staff: uniforms, transportation, administration, fundraising, etc. When I became a head coach, I was amazed at how much of my time was spent away from the team. So, credit where (if) it's due. That said, you could use some help and it's his responsibility to get it for you. So, you might have a conversation about that, and float the idea of hiring another assistant. You never know, if he's flaky enough, he might not even recognize there's a problem.

Basically I cut anyone who can't run under 5 for 1600 as a frosh, 4:40 as a soph , 4:30 as a junior, and 4:20 as a senior. If you aren't going to be able to make those times by those grades you aren't going to state as a senior and I don't need you.

This is a great thread. It's nice to have this conversation with coaches who are as interested in the sport as I am. We have had a fairly successful run the last several years because of how we schedule our sessions with 2.5 coaches. I learned early on in my career that even your most dedicated athletes will slack a little if they don't have a coach standing by them. School ends at 1:55. Throwers go right to throwing coach after school. Then we have different start times for our groups, usually 2:20, 3:00, 3:30. With two of us, we can meet each field event 2-3x per week, and our distance and sprint groups daily. It also helps if you have kids who can lead and instruct an event group.

20 throwers? Some teams have football coaches as the Head Coach and they require their linemen to go out for track. Most become throwers. If you have 20 throwers, that seems like too many for one guy to do a decent job.

In addition you will have goof offs. That may be the lone exception for cutting at the high school level. Give them a 2 week trial. If they are goof offs, say goodbye.

Read my post again. No one gets cut. But some choose to quit rather than try to pass the fitness test.

As for the "random talented kid", everyone knew 3-4 weeks in advance that the fitness test was coming. That's plenty of time to get in shape for a 1 mile jog, some push-ups, and some sit-ups. What good is talent without the self-discipline and work ethic to make something of it?