Rules

2004 Cross Country Team

2004 LOS OSOS
CROSS COUNTRY PARENTS’ MEETING

1. INTRODUCTION OF COACHES
Our coaching philosophy and outlook for the 2004 season
2. ABOUT OUR PROGRAM
· Team Handbook
· Monday - Saturday practice schedule
· 2004 Meet Schedule
· Team Rules and Student Athlete Expectations
· Academic Eligibility Requirements
· Team News letter
· How we handle periods, Fatigue, Aches and Pains, and injuries
· Diet Essentials: Fluids, calcium, and iron
3. HOW YOU CAN HELP US
· We host our 4th Inland Empire Challenge, Oct. 9th:
· We need a large contigent of parents to help put the meet together.
· League meets
· Fruit for teams competing (bananas, oranges, etc.)
· We need 2-4 finish line helpers
· We need 3-4 traffic monitors (40 mins each group of three)
· We need as many of you as possible to help root our teams on!
· Summer Road races… Open to all runners all ages.
· We need drivers to help transport the team to these and to our Sat. runs.
· We need drivers to help transport the team to Mammoth

· Coaches Coach We need parents from each team (boys, girls) for the booster club and to help maintain communication from coaches to parents, and from parents to parents. Roster is available.

A Parent’s Guide to Cross Country

Congratulations! Your son or daughter has joined the Los Osos Cross Country Team

WHAT IS CROSS COUNTRY?
Cross country is a team running sport that takes place in the fall on a measured 3-mile loop over varied surfaces and terrain. Courses may be held on school campuses, dirt trails, park grounds, and sometimes on golf courses.

HOW CROSS COUNTRY IS SCORED
A cross country meet is scored by each team adding up the places of its top 5 finishers. As in golf, the low score wins. For example, a team that scores 26 points places ahead of a team that scores 29 points, as follows:

LOS OSOS --------------- ALTA LOMA
--------1 --------------------- 2
--------4 --------------------- 3
--------5 --------------------- 7
--------6 --------------------- 8
--------9 --------------------- 10
SCORE-- 25 -------------------- 30

(GRIZZLIES WIN!)

A team’s 6th and 7th finishers can also figure in the scoring if they place ahead of the other teams’ top 5 finishers. When that is the case, they become “pushers” by pushing up their opponents’ scores, as follows:

-----LOS OSOS ------------- Etiwanda
------- 2 --------------------- 1
------- 3 --------------------- 4
------- 6 --------------------- 5
------- 8 --------------------- 7
------- 9 (10, 11) ------------ 12
SCORE - 28 -------------------- 29

(LOS OSOS WINS!)

Only a team’s 6th and 7th finishers can be pushers, regardless of how many of its runners may finish ahead ahead of an opposing team’s top 5 finishers.


LEVELS OF COMPETITION/PARTICIPATION
Los Osos High School is a member of the Baseline League of the CIF Southern Section, Division I. Our league is comprised of the 4 Chaffey District Regular High Schools and Upland and Claremont High Schools. Our League meets will have 6 races in the following categories (usually 20-25 min. apart):

1 – BOYS’ frosh-soph
2 – GIRLS’ frosh-soph
3 -- GIRLS’ VARSITY
4 – BOYS’S VARSITY
5 - Girl's JV
6 - Boy's JV

All team members can participate in our league meets during the season. In invitational meets, we try to include as many runners as each race allows, and in the levels which the teams’ needs dictate.

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE SUCCESSFUL
More than anything else, success in Cross Country takes time…time to learn; time to train; time to sleep, rest and recover; before-school time; after-school time; weekend time; time away from family and friends; and time away from other interests. With the academic responsibilities of being a high school student, most student-athletes are busy all the time. The willingness to devote the time that success demands is called DEDICATION.

Being a member of the Los Osos Cross Country Team carries other expectations and responsibilities. Doing what is expected of every team member is called COMMITMENT. Attending team practices every day is one of the commitments we expect. Your son or daughter has received a packet of information outlining our school’s athletic Code of Conduct and academic eligibility requirements. Our goal is to development team loyalty and individual responsibility and accountability among all our team members. High school sports are a wonderful vehicle for personal growth. We hope that you as parents will appreciate this and support our goals.

Another commitment we expect is COMMUNICATION with our coaching staff. If a problem or illness is going to force your child to miss a practice or a meet, we expect him or her to tell us about it personally and in advance. (this does not mean relaying a message through a teammate or friend!) Many such problems can be solved when athletes communicate with us.

HOW YOU CAN HELP YOUR CHILD BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS
We have strongly encouraged our runners to be running all during the summer. As your aspiring young runner begins a new regimen of training, you may wonder what you should expect and how you can assist him or her as a parent in terms of recovery, eating, sleeping, and mental attitude. As a rule, we don’t recommend you change any aspect of your normal routine of home responsibilities, family meal planning, bedtime, and social guidelines. A normal consequence of beginning to train is muscle soreness, which will soon go away. If your son or daughter has not participated in sports before, this may persist up to 2 weeks. They should communicate this to us so we can adjust their training. Any athlete engaged in intensive training and competition can be subject to injury. We can prevent most injuries when our runners tell us about their aches and pains before they become disabling, so we can have them treated by our athletic trainers and/or your personal physician.

A nutritious, well-balanced diet is essential for and athlete. Especially on race days, fatty and fried foods, carbonated or acidic drinks should be avoided. Small portions of easily digested foods eaten at least 3 hours before competition are best, but water intake should never be limited. Most athletes feel best when they race a little hungry. You should see your runner gradually starting to eat more carbohydrates. A nutritional guide is included in your athlete’s handbook.

HOW TO BUY RUNNING SHOES
If possible, go to a store that deals primarily with running footwear and apparel. These stores have experienced runners as sales persons who can help you with the right fit for your athlete. Locally these stores are Chick’s and Sports Chalet, with Big Five as a 3rd choice if you already know what you are looking for. Running shoes should not have to be “broken in”. They should feel “RIGHT”, right from the beginning. If they are uncomfortable when you try them on, don’t buy them, no matter how good they look on you! There’s no getting around that running shoes can be very expensive. The best way to prolong the projected 300 to 500 mile life of a pair of running shoes is to wear them for running only, not as school dress or even for P.E. class (those not enrolled in athletics).

It is not necessary to purchase special running apparel. Loose fitting Tees and shorts are adequate for daily training and your athlete will be issued school uniforms. We do have a supply of warm-ups available and recommend that every one have a pair of sweats available to them at all times.

PREPARING TO WATCH YOUR FIRST CROSS COUNTRY MEET
When you arrive at the meet site, ask us to see a map of the course. First locate the start and finish, then try to scout central points where you can see as much of the race with as little moving around as possible. Many schools may share a uniform similar to ours so try to observe the differences while the teams are warming up before the start. Be aware that our league meets feature 4 races each about 25 min. long, and last a little over 1.5 hours. We will have informed your son or daughter about which race they are in beforehand. Some of our Saturday invitationals, however, have as many as 50 teams and a schedule of races that lasts all morning and much of the afternoon.. Again, your child will be informed beforehand of his or her racing time and division.

Do not expect the attention of your child once we get to the meet. The athletes need time to warm up on the course, be briefed by their coaches, and prepare for the race with their teammates. Many parents are initially surprised at the seriousness their son or daughter shows prior to and during a race. The intensity of competition may reveal a side of your young athlete’s personality you haven’t seen before.

During the race, you can move from point to point along the course to cheer the runners as they pass. Be careful, however, to stay off the runners’ path and out of their way. Rules also forbid running alongside a competitor to pace or encourage him or her.
At the finish of a race, the runners file through a finish chute. It’s OK to greet them then, but they may have to turn in a place card into their coach ASAP so scores can be tabulated. Our runners have other responsibilities after a race. We expect them to jog and cool-down as a team and actively support their teammates who have yet to race. Some runners are more spent than others after a race. Typical symptoms of their effort and fatigue are breathlessness, general weakness, rubbery legs, glassy eyes, salivating, and sometimes nausea. A mistake parents sometimes make is to take their sons or daughters off by themselves to try to take care of them. Please do not do this! Our coaches are experienced in dealing with these symptoms, trained in first-aid, and responsible for their care. To aid recovery, water is the best thing to drink immediately after a race.

Expect the possibility of some disappointment by your athlete after the race if his or her team did not win, and/or if he or she failed to achieve all goals. Athletes may need some emotional space afterward from both you and their coaches. Later on, they will need verbal support rather than criticism.

Once an away meet is over, if your son or daughter came on our bus, please do not take him or her home with you without first checking with the coaches. We are legally bound by state law for athletes’ safe transport to and from the meet. You need to know that high school athletes are not allowed to drive themselves to a meet, and afterward, we can release them only to you.

CROSS COUNTRY VOCABULARY
=====================Definition==========================

Clerk of the Course -------the individual to whom the runners check in
---------------------for starting assignments and race information prior to running the race.
Course----------------the marked and measured route of the race
Cool-down--------------a jogging/walking routine that allows the muscles to purge themselves of lactates and the body to gradually lower its temperature to normal.
Dual Meet-------------a meet between two teams
False Start-----------leaving the starting line before the gun sounds
Finish Chute----------a rope bordered funnel past the finish line that moves runners into their single file order of finish
Invitational meet-----a multi-team meet
Pace------------------running speed over a particular distance
Pack------------------a group of runners in close proximity
Personal Record-------(PR) best-ever performance on a given course
Racing Flats----------special, lightweight shoes designed for racing, rather than daily training
Starting Box----------designated area to which a team is assigned on the starting line
Surge-----------------a tactical increase in pace during the race
Top 7 ----------------the scoring members of a Cross Country team
Training Flats--------running shoes designed for long wear in daily training (called “flats” because they have no spiked bottoms)
Triangular meet--------a meet between three teams
Warm-up----------------a running and stretching routine that gradually warms up the body for intense running
Workout----------------a daily training session


LOS OSOS CROSS COUNTRY
Handbook


Welcome to Los Osos High School Cross Country. For most of you this will be your first time participating on a high school athletic team. We coaches want to make it one of the most memorable times of your lives; one that you will cherish for years to come. This doesn’t mean that the sport of Cross Country is easy. In fact it is one of the most grueling, demanding things you will ever do. You will have to endure hot and cold weather, hilly terrain, at times confusing courses, and adjust to ever changing training. Yet, you are here looking forward to the most challenging sport high school has to offer.

You are here because you are special. It takes a special person to get through everything we have mentioned above. You are here because you will be one of the few people to really understand that “pain is temporary, pride is forever”. The pain that you will endure while training and racing is temporary. The achievement and accomplishments you complete will be with you as long as you live. No one will take them away, nor diminish their value.

Included in this handbook are guides to training, nutrition, hydration, and the basics of running. Also we have included what it takes to letter varsity and junior varsity. Be sure to visit and bookmark our website on your web browser. www.kidssportsnet.com/running/losososcc

This handbook is not the end-all of everything you need to know to become an expert in your chosen sport. That we will leave to you. We coaches will always be available to you to answer your questions about anything unclear in this booklet and things that come up during the course of the season.

Be sure to make your parents aware of the information contained in this packet. Your parents are your most important ally in helping you attain the goals you will set up for yourself.

High school cross country is not a recreational sport. You cannot expect to treat it lightly and expect exceptional results when you compete. You will reap rewards commensurate with the efforts you put forth. Our sport requires dedication, commitment, and perseverance. Success is never easy. If success were easy, everyone would be successful. You have already shown that you are well on the road to success.

Lettering Standards

All letter winners, whether Varsity or Junior Varsity, will be members in good standing of the Boys’ or Girls’ team. This means:

They will consistently be at practices and competitions.
They will be prime examples of good sportsmanship, maintaining courtesy with their coaches, teammates, and competition.
They will maintain at least the minimum grade point average (GPA, 2.0) for athletic eligibility.
They will directly communicate with their coaches when a schedule conflict interferes with their ability to make a meet or practice.
We expect all prospective letter winners to compete in all of the league meets and in the league championship meet.

Varsity

In order to earn a Varsity Letter, the following standard (s) will apply:

· Average over the course of the competitive season among the top ten runners on your team.
· Be a Senior with a minimum of three consecutive seasons under guidelines in the first section of this page.
· Run at least twice, the Mt. SAC times listed below (or their equivalent)
Boys - 17:20 (17 minutes, 20 seconds) or under
Girls - under 20:00 minutes


Junior Varsity

Athletes who have not met the varsity criteria, but have demonstrated the qualities described in the top section of this page, will be eligible to earn their Junior Varsity letter.

All athletes will always remember that they represent Los Osos High School Cross Country, and will not do anything that will taint the image or reputation of our team, on the field or off.