Meet # 12 (canceled) - Practice 4/30/19

To be upfront - I'm getting sick of other teams cancelling on us because they think the weather is "too cold/wet" for a track meet.

STOP being a team that looks at rain like this!

It's starting to feel like every time views weather like the picture to the left:

What they should be doing is preaching how great it is to compete even when the conditions aren't perfect.

We live in Wisconsin for goodness sake. The weather is ALWAYS crappy here. I personally don't remember a year where weather didn't play some negative role in our season. Wisconsin + Springtime = Poor/Inconsistent weather that will ALWAYS be an issue. Move to another state South of here if you're looking for better conditions...

START being a team that looks at rain like this!

What you and your team should be like is the picture to this picture to the left:

When we told our athletes that the meet was canceled they didn't cheer. They didn't show excitement at the thought of not having to go out in the rain. They scowled. They looked grumpy. They were upset.

I won't get too much into the culture coaches should be building or the importance of each and every track meet in this post; but I implore you to read another post I wrote about this topic. You can find it here: https://www.longandtriple.com/post/fight-for-your-right-to

On to our practice...

Our plan was simple. We were supposed to compete today. So, we set up everything to simulate a competition and held practice OUTDOORS.

The sprinters were put through a tough sprint workout - as though it was a meet.

The long/triple/high jumpers jumped.

The vaulters vaulted.

We competed even though other teams didn't want to. That's what track is all about - grit, determination, competition, and passion. This should never falter in the face of poor weather conditions...

The jumpers were told to leave their sweats on and to simply get one to two jumps. Each got 2-3 run throughs and then went to work.

For cold and windy conditions, for having sweats on, and for being at practice and not competing against another team, the athletes jumped very well! I was so proud of their focus and determination to compete as though they were at a meet.

This group is honestly special.

TOMORROW:

Now that we simulated a tough "meet day" the kids will have recovery on Wednesday. We'll do RPR, video breakdowns, etc. Looking forward to it!