2014 JL Mann Boys XC Parent Meeting

1. 2014 JL Mann Boys XC Parent Meeting Thursday, August 21st JL Mann Auditorium

2. Paperwork: Round 1 • First round of paperwork is due tomorrow. • I can’t do eligibility without that, so if I don’t have it tomorrow, you are guaranteed to not compete in the first meet.

3. My Coaching Philosophy • My primary job as coach is to help each student-athlete to achieve his potential as a runner while representing JL Mann in the sport of Cross Country. • I will also use sport to teach skills and attitudes that will help the student-athlete to succeed in life outside of sport. Not many will turn pro…… • When athletes are not reaching potential, it makes me unhappy…. No such thing as good enough here. • No such thing as a passing grade in my books.

4. How to get in touch • 864-633-9492: call or text • Up at 5:00am, asleep by 9:00pm • gmcatee@greenville.k12.sc.us • Don’t have school email on my phone… don’t email if it is urgent: call or text. • Talk after training or meets • Sign up for texts from Remind: details to follow via email • Twitter @CoachMcAtee

5. Coaching Help • 52 guys on the roster as of today. • Coach Markwell: been helping since track season last year. Lots of great perspective and insight for me and for the guys. • Coach Taylor: helped during XC last year and is going to be able to be at some of the practices again this year. Very good at analyzing.

6. Team Objective: State Meet • Our team goal is to qualify a team to the SCHSL State Cross Country Meet at Sandhills in Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 8th. • How do you qualify? Finish among the top 8 teams at the AAAA Upper State Qualifier Meet at Dorman on Saturday, Nov. 1st • What will that take? A team average in the high 16s on a flat course and a team average around 17:30 on the Dorman course. • Is that doable? Yes.

7. How Can Parents Help the Team? • Host pre-race pasta dinner (dates to follow) • Attend races. • Take and share photos of the team (esp. Seniors) • Help fundraise or donate money to the team (entry fees, equipment, banquet, awards, travel to the Low Country meet etc.) • Join Booster Club: $80K donated in 2013… this will be a tight year for $ at JL Mann. You can donate money to them and earmark it for boys XC. Form is with meeting handouts. • Donate food for Canned Food Meet on Sept. 25th • Other ideas?

8. Inner Tube Connection? • Need large ones: cars up to large trucks • Don’t need them to hold air: even big rips are OK…. I can work around that. • Going to use them for strength training.

9. Individual Objectives • Run some particular time or win a particular place at a meet. • Make varsity and or earn a letter (new letter policy this year) • Improve personal fitness or prepare for another sport (not free personal training) • Improve self control and self discipline (toughness) • Make new friends, spend time with old friends • Learn teamwork, working toward a goal. • Learn time management • Have fun

10. Competitors • Competitors are team members who are fully committed to finding out how good they can be at cross country running…all of their actions point toward that goal. • If our 10 most talented guys were all competitors, we would win State meet.

11. Participants • Participants are team members who enjoy being on the team, but are not as concerned with results… still expected to follow all the same rules.

12. Competitor or Participant? • Which one are you? Not just based on time or results. You don’t have to tell me… I know from watching you. • This team has both competitors and participants: both are welcome and both will be coached and held accountable. Both will be expected to contribute in some way. • Participants often turn into competitors. • Participants will not be running on varsity, regardless of their times.

13. How Can Parents Help Their Son? • Support them rain or shine. • Feed them good healthy food and make sure they get lots of sleep (8-10 hours with some of that before midnight). • Make sure they attend training every day: training with the team is a priority. This is not an individual sport… it is the ultimate team sport. If you don’t train, you don’t compete. • Make sure they complete the “on your own” workouts. • Make sure they regularly stretch at home (rapid growth and lifting)

14. Prepared for Practice • On time, or with a pass from a teacher • Wearing the right clothes and shoes • Already hydrated and carrying water • Proper nutrition through the day • Wearing a watch, or carrying a smart phone with a gps enabled app. • Ready to work….ready to get better.

15. Risks Associated with Cross Country Running • Statistically speaking, our sport is one of the safest you can play (CDC data). • We cannot eliminate the risks, but we can work to reduce and manage those risks. • Coaching Education and improving Professional Competencies. • The safety of your son is my number one concern; not as concerned with his physical comfort (practice in the rain versus practice in lightning) • RRCA safety guidelines (handout)

16. Finalsurge.com • Website we use to log all workouts. • All students have instructions. • We are going to do a tutorial next week to get everyone on the same page. • I have to have this data to monitor the safety and effectiveness of what your son is doing. • If there is NO WAY you can do finalsurge, you will need to keep a paper logbook and show me once a week. • Expected to keep track of times, paces and distances for everything you do.

17. Chronic Injuries • Repetitive stress type injuries like stress fractures, shin splints, knee problems, and back problems. • How do we manage that risk? Use proper progressions of training, managing how much training versus how hard, injecting variety in training, using preventative exercises (pre-hab), and making referrals to specialists when indicated. • Too much….too soon. • RICE

18. Acute Injuries • De-hydration, heart attack, heat stroke • How do we manage that risk? Pre-participation screening (physical), self monitoring, coach monitoring during warm-up, coach monitoring during training. • Don’t run alone. • Proper conditioning (start early) • I have CPR and basic first aid training, plus lots of experience.

19. Other Acute Injuries • Hit by car, attacked by dog, attacked by person • How do we manage that risk? • Repetition of safety rules (RRCA) especially no headphones. • Run in groups (Don’t run alone) • Students often are out of sight of the coach: not like other sports. Your son needs a certain level of maturity to be safe. I need you to let me know if your son is not up to the challenge. • I need your help in reinforcing the rules.

20. Pasta Dinners • Need parents to host pre-race pasta dinners. Can team up with other families to share costs and workload. • 52 boys on team + 3 coaches who loves pasta. • Drinks (non carbonated), pasta and sauce, bread, salad, desserts. • Nothing too spicy. At least one vegetarian. • Teamwork!!! • Fridays before races: • 9/5, 9/12, 9/24, • We can also do a couple of other dates: before home FB games, if there is interest. • 9/19, 10/3, 10/10

21. Who Runs in Each Meet? • Based on time AND effort. • Never want a participant running on your varsity. • It is my right and responsibility to pick the line ups for each race. • Every day is a chance to convince Coach McAtee that you should run in a race. • There are folks on our team who will not compete in the first couple of meets: not in shape….didn’t do the summer training. Those guys will travel, do a training run at the meet and support the team. They will race when they are in shape to run well.

22. How do I put together the groups? • Testing based: time trials and races • Put guys together who have similar abilities based on results • Make adjustments from there • You have to be willing to run hard in the meets and time trials to get into the right group. You also have to be willing to stay with the group during training. • If you are with a group and the training is too easy….better be prepared to demonstrate your fitness in a time trail or race.

23. 9/6: Eye Opener • Saturday meet at Milliken Plant in Spartanburg • Leave school at 6:00am (tentative) • Top 10 will race in the International race at 8:30am • Everyone else will race at 10:30am in JV section • Some guys will do a training run: those guys can leave with own parents after the International race. • I will hand out an itinerary at training on about 9/4 and will also email it to parents.

24. 9/13: Furman Invitational • Saturday meet at Furman U. • Leave school around 9am • Varsity race at 10:45am • JV race at 12:15pm • Lunch on campus?

25. 9/24: Canned Food Drive • Wednesday meet at Hillcrest • Leave directly after school (possible early dismissal) • Some guys will run, but will not “race.” Tempo training run, where I give paces to hit. • Want to bring in a very respectable total weight in food: bring stuff that will help the hungry, but is also heavy! • Working on making this a school wide project so we can compete on the food side. See Billy and NHS for information.

26. 9/27: Low Country Inv. • Saturday meet. We will leave Friday morning after checking in with 1st period • Drive to John’s Island with a stop for lunch (buy your own) and run the course for warm-up. • Team will eat together at St. Christopher’s • Stay in cabins at St. Christopher’s on John’s Island. Must bring sleeping bag, pillow, towels, etc. • Get up early… small breakfast on bus • Race Varsity and JV. • Eat lunch(buy your own)

27. 9/27: LCI cont. • Afternoon on the beach at Folly (lifeguards on duty) • Dinner on the way back in Columbia (buy your own) • Arrive at school around 10pm or so • Need 6 chaperones: • Teachers in Greenville County are first choice • May need parents if we cannot come up with enough staff • Not going to fundraise: not enough time…most people don’t want to. • 70-80$ for dinner on Friday and lodging plus bus charges • Money for personal meal: lunch on Friday, lunch on Saturday, dinner on Saturday • Nobody is going to stay home because they don’t have the $$$: see me. • If you cant go, I need to know that now so I don’t pay for your room and meal and waste the cash.

28. 10/15: Region Champs • Wednesday meet at Dorman • Depart straight from school: possible early dismissal • Winning our region is often as hard as winning state • 1.Mauldin: 1/2/5 • 2. Riverside: 5/6/12 • 3. Wade Hampton: 3/3 • Dorman, Byrnes, Boiling Springs, Gaffney, Spartanburg: all State Meet teams • Good chance to learn the course that we will run for Upper State meet. • Dorman course is + 30 seconds for fast guys and + 45 for slower guys from a flat course

29. 10/25: Greenville County • Saturday meet at Hillcrest • Departure time: 7-8am depending on race time • May be a tempo run for some of our top guys • Very competitive on both Varsity and JV level. • Will be the last meet for guys that are not in the top 7-9 • Season goes by very fast. Cant miss training, cant afford to have bad workouts.

30. 11/1: AAAA Upper State • Saturday meet @ Dorman • Departure time TBA • Varsity 7 plus one alternate • 2-3 alternates will train for this meet, just in case • Must be in top 8 to advance as a team to State Meet. • 2010: 7th place (just missed as team, 2 individuals) • 2011: 10th place (fairly close as a team, no individuals) • 2012: 14th place (not close as a team, no individuals) • 2013: 15th place (not close as a team, Jack was 12th) • 17:47 average for top 5 made state last year • Need fan support: everyone should make plans to come watch!!!

31. 11/8: State Champs • Saturday meet with possible Friday departure • No hotel cost: school covers it • Food costs: Dinner on Friday, Lunch on Saturday. • Varsity 7 plus alternate

32. 11/20: Team Banquet • Starts at 6:30pm on Thursday night: JL Mann Commons Area • No cost for athletes. • 10$ for parents and guests, if they are eating. • Free for those that wish to watch.

33. Meet Transportation • We will take our own bus to meets. • Must ride the bus to meets with the team: County policy. • Can ride home with OWN parents or guardians under certain circumstances. • Special form: fill out and give to me at the meet as you are leaving. • I will have those forms at meets. • Don’t give me forms at the start of meet.

34. Greenvillecountyathletics.com • Boys XC page. • I am going to post information on this regularly. Not going to email packets….just links to the packets.

35. Scrunners.com • Good site for info on XC in our state. • Some content is subscription based, but much is not.

36. Pick Up from Training • I will email a schedule of times and places each week on Sunday evening. • Please carefully note the pick up times from each practice and do your best to be there on time or make sure your carpool person is there on time. If you are late, please text or call. • I can’t leave until your son is taken care of. • Remember that I have a 45 minute drive back to Clemson and I have kids to pick up too. • Pick up in the rear at the track on days when we are at JL Mann. NEVER drive in by the track when school is letting out. • Pick up at Old JL Mann on days when we are there.

37. Letter policy • Changes from last year: more in line with lettering in track • You can letter by: • Making top 8 for Upper State or State • Break your class record (listed on the letter policy) • Special consideration for Seniors

38. Jacket Orders • Orders are due by next Friday: 8/29 • Form is in the packet. • $57 check due payable to JL Mann • Can order jackets for parents and other family members at the same price.

39. 35$: food, shirt, entries, banquet • Covers food after races: chocolate milk, protein bar and banana. • People with food allergies need to see me…. We will do something special for them. • Also covers the t-shirt for student-athlete. • Additional cash goes toward entry fees. • Check payable to JL Mann… prefer no cash.

40. Extra t-shirts • 10$ per shirt • Must fill out an order form. • Good for parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.

41. One check per athlete • Everything discussed tonight is due next Friday: August, 29 • Please just write one check, payable to JL Mann, and write your son’s name on the memo line. Attach a sheet that itemizes what you are paying for, so I don’t need to do Algebra.

42. Questions, Comments, Concerns? • If we run into any problems during the season, please come see me so we can work through it. • I want this to be a positive and rewarding experience for every member of my team.