Monday, August 23, 2010

Zero!!??

About two weeks ago, a friend of mine, was wondering why the Cross Country Program at our school, seemed to be dying!
I discussed some of the experiences from my High School programs and College Program....both which were FANTASTIC, and SUCCESSFUL!!!

She called me last week, to inform me that there was ZERO new Freshman Cross Country Runners for this year....boy or girl!
ZERO!!!!

This was shocking!
How can not one single Freshman go out for Cross Country????

She also informed me that she has given my number to the head coach as a referral for someone who would help running with, coach, and recruit runners.....at the junior high level!
I am more than happy to help!
The fact that ZERO freshman are interested...scares me a bit!

I love running....I love racing....I love the team aspect...I love the competition!
All of which I believe are important for these kids to grasp early!
You can run your whole life!!!!
I want to pass this on...
How?

Do you have any tips of how to get the Junior High kids excited about running?
Do you know of a program that is good for beginning runners?


10 comments:

  1. The youth athletic programs my husband and I are associated with sponsor strength and conditioning clinics thoughout the summer in anticipation of Fall athletics... Maybe next year? Has the school year started there? Maybe they don't know about it yet? Go get 'em, coach!

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  2. Sounds like a great thing to get involved with. I don't really have any advice though I'm afraid, I absolutely hated running in highschool! Good luck, I hope to hear about it on the blog :-)

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  3. thats a bummer about the team. maybe more advertising or announcments @ school to get kids interested would help. make it more like a group get together than just an afterschool program. show them that it could be fun. have a little party (if you can) to generate some buzz about the team and how it will be loads of fun if they joined. kids are more prone to join if there are perks to joining. selfish brats...lol.

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  4. I thought of conditioning too. Our oldest just got finished with football conditioning for 5th-9th graders and this week football camp starts. if you could get a conditioning week, maybe that would spur interest. If anyone can do it, you can!! :-)

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  5. I think they came to the right person if they want to change things and make a difference!

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  6. This is shocking to me! My daughter's cross country team has a record enrollment this year. There are at least 25 new members...most of them want to stay in shape for other sports. They have a great group of kids:) Kay is already lucky to have several seniors who have taken her under their wings. Hopefully things will change and the cross country team will find new athletes to take on the adventure of running:)

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  7. This should be as much of a requirement as math and English but since it is not...
    There has to be a goal, some kind of a challenge at the end of the school year that kids will be working towards. Right now, I am not sure what but that could be followed by a reward in form of a trip, a moonlight party with a huge bonfire. Maybe if kids know about all this in advance they will sign up even if it is for the wrong reasons.

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  8. All I know is that these kids need to be exposed prior to junior high/middle school age. Our elementary school is really good about running, better than I was in elementary school. Our 1st graders run the quarter mile, 2nd grade does a half mile, 3rd - 3/4 mile, and then 4th and 5th run the mile. Plus, our wonderful gym teachers incourage those that they recognize to be more natural or enjoy running more to participate in other things. They put together a district elementary track meet every year. They also bussed a lot of our students (many who are refugees) to the Fargo Youth Run this year. I was there to see many of our students cross the finish line with smiles on their faces. They LOVEd it. :)

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  9. These are all such Fantastic ideas! Thank you!! =)

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  10. That is truly sad! I help coach the cross country team at our school and we have a somewhat good turnout, but I think it's just a matter of promotion and I know our coach isn't the best at getting the word out prior to when camp starts the end of June. I'd definitely get the middle schools involved by hosting some fun runs after school and getting the PE teachers involved in getting the word out. Flyers and postcards help a lot. Our coach puts on a fun-run for the middle schoolers at the end of the school year for all incoming freshmen and it does help get them interested!!

    You have such a heart of gold for wanting to do all you do!!

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