How many high school programs have double practices meaning before and after school? Also, does it correlate to the schools having better programs and performances?
I’m trying to get my coach to start having multiple practices to allow more time for lifting and running both, but he is not entirely convinced and he also doesn’t want to show up for just a few people at 6 am.
30 years ago I had morning practices 3 days a week. Now I find it hard to get kids to come 4 or 5 afternoons a week.
I'm not a fan of morning practices for high schoolers. Most of my kids struggle to get enough sleep as is, and I've found that 90% of the kids don't have the discipline or ability go to bed earlier when there is morning practice. I find they get more of a benefit from the extra 60-90 min. of sleep than the morning shakeout. I have had a few individuals with the discipline to get the sleep to support morning runs and allowed them to do 1-2 morning runs a week, but that is certainly not the norm.
I wish I was joking here but we do have AM practices and no showers.
We usually get 10-12 kids at the morning session.
Also later on in the day they'll have a phys ed class.
again....no showers :(
The majority of our practices are in the morning with no PM practice. This allows kids to meet with teachers after school since I've found teachers rarely want to meet before. This also allows them to do clubs and student government without interfering with their training.
You can bet that most competitive Utah Valley programs have morning practices. I always see high school kids doing their hill repeats along my routes while it's still dark. And it's not just some elite small group of senior boys; it's the whole team.
Most teams practice in the mornings in Texas. 6am is common.
We do two doubles per week. UIL limits doubles to every other day.
We have a rule for our region that you can not have double days on consecutive days. Also max time spent for practice & competition is 18 hours a week. Not that anyone follows it but it’s the rule.
I echo the coach who struggles to get kids to practice. We have a policy that if you have an unexcused absence you don’t race. (A field trip is excused, you have a friend who needs a ride home right after school is not). We have 50% not race on a regular basis. Recently Parents complained about the strict standards and the administration said as long as they come to practice once a week they can participate. (I asked if this was also true for volleyball & football and their response was “those are cut sports and cross Country is a participation sport).
That aside I am doing by best to teach the love of running and am trying to create a competitive environment they want to be a part of. We have one optional morning practice a week the day before a race (they don’t need to come that afternoon). About 5-10 show up out of 60.
I suggest leaving the coaching to your coach and if your kid wants more to do it on his/her own or with a motivated partner go for it, but dont push your agenda on others. Upping the pressure on kids that are already maxed with social, school and athletic commitments is not what HS is for. Our coach does offer AM workouts but with no pressure or expectation in fact it has become a way to help kids balance their commitments not add to them. If a kid needs to miss a PM they can come to an AM. It HS, let kids be kids and coaches be coaches.
What time does your school start? That makes a difference too. Our high school starts at 7:10am and kids are poor here so usually only 2 or 3 kids on the team have a car; the rest have to take the bus. This makes it very hard to set up a morning practice schedule.
... all the good ones.
We do, and it is awesome.
That being said, it is completely unrealistic to have your coach host 2 separate practices, one before and one after. 1. Your coach has a home life. 2. There is something to be said about team bonding, which is hard to do if half the team isn't there.
So yes, morning practices are fantastic, but only if you make it mandatory for everyone.
You bet your bottom dolla wrote:
You can bet that most competitive Utah Valley programs have morning practices. I always see high school kids doing their hill repeats along my routes while it's still dark. And it's not just some elite small group of senior boys; it's the whole team.
Just out of curiosity, which schools would these be?
For the people saying it’s not worth sacrificing the sleep for the “shakeout”, realize that in South Florida (and I imagine many ither southern states) during all of XC and most of track the heat index the entire day is 95+ degrees.
We do our hard efforts in the morning and then if the kids feel so inclined, in the afternoon they can do a shakeout. But it’s virtually impossible for us to do real quality work at 3pm in that heat. Morning practice for us and many of the schools that are successful in the area are an absolute necessity
Same problem
Jayordon wrote:
You bet your bottom dolla wrote:
You can bet that most competitive Utah Valley programs have morning practices. I always see high school kids doing their hill repeats along my routes while it's still dark. And it's not just some elite small group of senior boys; it's the whole team.
Just out of curiosity, which schools would these be?
Not sure. Timpview?
Jayordon wrote:
You bet your bottom dolla wrote:
You can bet that most competitive Utah Valley programs have morning practices. I always see high school kids doing their hill repeats along my routes while it's still dark. And it's not just some elite small group of senior boys; it's the whole team.
Just out of curiosity, which schools would these be?
We meet at 6:30 every morning for a 30 minute recovery run, and dips, pull-ups, and crunches.
CoachMostert wrote:
Jayordon wrote:
Just out of curiosity, which schools would these be?
We meet at 6:30 every morning for a 30 minute recovery run, and dips, pull-ups, and crunches.
Coach Mostert,
What time does school start for you & your kids?
Great Oak in California has a 1st period gym class for the cross country team in which they apparently run doubles or do additional training. So not exactly before school but still a double. Also, let’s not forget Great Oak is one of the best and most consistent teams in the nation so this strategy apparently works
I go back and forth on this issue. Many of the kids I coach have heavy academic loads. Lots of AP courses, which means alot of homework. Morning practice means less rest so I say no for my school. I would love an 1st hour class. Imagine adding 8 to 12 hours of recovery after hard days. Do a hard effort at 8 am on Monday, and not run again till 3 pm on Tuesday.