Running Club Monday - New time and location (Monday only)

We will be moving running club on Monday, Aug. 17 to the Wilson's home starting at 6:30 (address was sent through email). We will go an extra half hour as well (end at 8:30). Bring running equipment, swimsuit/towel if interested in swimming, and a snack to share with everyone. Families are welcome to hang out as well.

Wednesday we will return to 7:00-8:00 at the middle school, weather permitting.

If you need the address or have any questions, please email Coach Landry at matt.landry@spartaschools.org

Preseason Running Club Starts August 10

Good morning parents and athletes. We will begin our preseason running club on August 10 from 7-8pm. We will meet at the practice football field that is south of the football stadium and fieldhouse. Running club will then be every Monday and Wednesday up until the start of the season at the same time and place, though like last year I will probably add some dates for those who are interested. Therefore, preseason running club will be August 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26, 31, September 2, & 7 (Labor Day). This is voluntary, but encouraged.

WHY A PRESEASON RUNNING CLUB FOR ELEMENTARY & MIDDLE SCHOOLERS?
Our first meet is three days after our first official practice. The course we will be running is 2 miles long and three days is not enough time to prepare your athlete for a two mile race. In order for your athlete to be able to adequately compete in a two mile race, he/she needs to be able to comfortably run 3 miles at a moderate pace. We simply can't get your child into race shape in three days. We start the running club when we do so that we can have a month to get your kids comfortable running that long of a distance. We will start with baby steps (1/2 to 1 mile) and then I'll advance your athlete on based upon his/her individual conditioning level.

Our first meet is a grade level meet, so your athlete will only run against others in his/her grade. They award medals to the top 20 individuals in each race (separate races for each gender) and I'd love to see your child earn their first medal. Almost every team we run against came in severely out of shape last year and we came in with many of our athletes in running shape and we cleaned house in medals (I believe we earned at least 5 medals in each race last year and Christopher Landry, April Sousa, and Tommee Smith all won their races; none of which would have happened if these individuals didn't complete preseason running club or run on their own during August).

Please encourage your athlete to get out and start running here during the first week of August. Ideally, we want them to be running 4-5 times per week; slowly working their way up to being able to run 3 miles nonstop by the start of the season. I'll be able to work more with your athlete on getting faster if we can get the conditioning base taken care of here in August.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Coach Landry

Season Schedule, Signups, & Text Reminders

Hello everyone. First of all, if you haven't signed up yet, please see the link at the bottom of this post. Also, if you haven't signed up for the text alerts I send out, please see the instructions at the bottom of this post.

I finalized the season schedule this afternoon so I thought I'd post it:

1st running club date: Monday Aug 10 @ the middle school practice football field 7:00pm - 8:00pm (optional)
1st official practice: Wednesday Sep 8 @ 2:35pm - 4:15pm (required for 6th-8th graders) & 5th grade and under 3:45-4:45pm. We meet in the field between the soccer and baseball fields at the middle school.
1st competion/meet: Saturday Sep 12 @ Central Montcalm Hornet Grade Level Races (time is tbd)

MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM MEET SCHEDULE (7th & 8th Grade):

• Sat 9/12 @ Central Montcalm Hornet Run (Time - TBD)
• Sat 9/19 HOME Sparta Invitational (Time TBD)
• Tue 9/22 @ Allendale Conference Jamboree (1st race is 4:15pm)
• Thu 9/24 @ Fremont Invitational @ Branstrom Park (1st race is 5:30pm)
• Tue 9/29 @ Belding Conference Jamboree (1st race is 4:15pm)
• Tue 10/6 @ Cedar Springs Conference Jamboree (1st race is 4:15pm)
• Sat 10/10 @ Allegan Invitational (Time - TBD)
• Tue 10/13 @ Coopersville Conference Jamboree (1st race is 4:15pm)
• Sat 10/17 @ GRPS Elem & MS Invite @ Northeast Complex (1st race is 11:00am)
• Tue 10/20 HOME OK Blue Conference Meet (1st race is 4:15pm)

FUTURE RUNNERS CLUB MEET SCHEDULE (6th Grade & Under):
 FYI - 6th graders will practice daily with the middle school team at the same time
        - 5th grade and under will practice on Mon, Wed, and Thu from 3:45-4:45pm
          (no practice on Tuesdays or Fridays for 5th grade and under runners)

• Sat 9/12 @ Central Montcalm Hornet Run (Time - TBD)
• Sat 9/19 HOME Sparta Invitational (Time TBD)
• Thu 9/24 @ Fremont Invitational @ Branstrom Park (5th grade and under need own transportation)
• Sat 10/10 @ Allegan Invitational (Time - TBD)
• Sat 10/17 @ GRPS Elem & MS Invite @ Northeast Complex (1st race is 11:00am)
• Tue 10/20 HOME OK Blue Conference Meet (1st race is 4:15pm)
• MORE MAY BE ADDED LATER IN THE SEASON

As always, if you have questions please contact Coach Landry (matt.landry@spartaschools.org)

FROM A PREVIOUS POST:
Please complete the following form if you have interest in possibly joining the 2015 cross country teams OR the Future Spartan Runners Club.

SIGN UP FORM

Additionally, if you have texting ability, please subscribe to our texting service that Coach Landry will use for sending out team info. If you've done this in the past, please do it again as I've setup a new group:

Sparta Middle School Cross Country AND Future Spartan Runners Club Signups

Please complete the following form if you have interest in possibly joining the 2015 cross country teams OR the Future Spartan Runners Club.

SIGN UP FORM

Additionally, if you have texting ability, please subscribe to our texting service that Coach Landry will use for sending out team info. If you've done this in the past, please do it again as I've setup a new group:

Signups for 2015 Cross Country

Please complete the following form if you have interest in possibly joining the 2015 cross country teams.

SIGN UP FORM

Additionally, if you have texting ability, please subscribe to our texting service that Coach Landry will use for sending out team info. If you've done this in the past, please do it again as I've setup a new group:

Today's meet v Comstock Park is cancelled

Practice will be after school until 4:00pm.

Meet at Coopersville Postponed

Today's meet at Coopersville is cancelled and being reschedule for a date that is to be determined. Practice is cancelled as well. Distance runners should try to get a 2.5 mile run in today. Dress for the weather for Tuesday's practice.

Early Season Information

Dear Track Parents:

We once again thank you for sharing your son(s) and daughter(s) with us and letting them participate as a member of our 2015 Sparta Middle School Track & Field team. We think this experience will be beneficial for him or her, but there are several things you can do to help us make this an even better experience:

1.    SATURDAY APRIL 18 MEET –TRI-LEVEL MEET (girls at home; boys at Coopersville)

a.   This is a limited entrant’s meet; therefore not everybody will be competing in this meet. Attendance for people who are not competing is not required. Boys only - if you are not competing, then you can not ride the bus with us for this meet, but you are welcome to come cheer your teammates on with a parent/guardian.

b.   Boys Only - Bus leaves at 9:00am. Please have your child there a few minutes early. We should be home before 6:00pm (most likely earlier). The cost to attend is $5 per spectator and concessions will be available. If you need to leave before the end of the meet, please sign out your athlete and proceed to enjoy our weekend J

c.   The meet begins at 11:00 with field events and the running events will begin at 12:00

d.   Girls Only - Be at the track by 10:15am. The meet should be over by no later than 5:00pm.

2.    FIRST DUAL MEET IS MONDAY APRIL 20 – HOME @ COOPERSVILLE 4:15

a.   Every academically eligible athlete will be participating in at least one event at this meet.

3.    Practice ends now as early as 4:00 pm. Please pick your athlete up in front of Spartan Stadium at this time daily. Now that the athletes know our warm up routine, we are getting practice done more quickly J Most days one of us coaches will be here until 4:30 to work on specific events.

4.   In order to help prevent injuries, your athlete must wear a pair of running shoes to each and every practice. Many athletes are still wearing basketball shoes or cross trainers and these can cause injuries over the course of a season. We highly recommend a lighter running shoe and the best places to purchase these are at The Runnery at Alpine and 6 Mile (10% discount to Sparta athletes), Kohl’s, & Dunham’s. We also recommend track spikes for meets, but place a higher priority on use of true running shoes. They also make field event specific footwear if you are interested (primarily for shot put throwers).

5    TRACK YOUR ATHLETE’S PROGRESS ONCE THE SEASON STARTS AT WWW.ATHLETIC.NET

a.        You can track your child’s progress this year at the above website. We have posted all the times, distances, heights, etc. that we have on the site, as well as last year’s results. To navigate the site, go to the search bar in the upper right portion of the screen and type in Sparta, and Sparta MS Spartans - Sparta, MI Home  should be a choice. Once you click on this, now you can find all of our results. Play around and check out the neat things on the website.  

     

6.   Sparta Track & Field has its own website at www.gosparta.com.  Included in this site are results from each meet and a section for meet pictures. If you take pictures at our meets, we would appreciate you uploading them to the website. Email Coach Landry if you’d like to learn how to directly upload your pics to www.gosparta.com. You can also find gosparta on Facebook.

Practice Cancelled Mar. 27

Both boys and girls middle school track practice is cancelled today, Friday March 27. Enjoy your weekend and we'll see you on the track Monday.

Also, we need about 10-12 volunteers to stick around and help at the high school meet on Monday. We primarily need people to help rake out pits, measure distances, record times/distances, etc. If your middle school runner is interested in helping out, we'll get them well fed for their efforts. Please let a coach know if you or your athlete can help out on Monday.

Signup Time!

Please complete the following signup form for the 2015 SMS Track/Field Team:

SIGN UP FORM

Here's some quick info to help get prepared for the first day of practice on March 24, as well as some basic information about the season:

2015 SPARTA MIDDLE SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD QUICK INFORMATION SHEET:

• FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE → TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015

* 2:35 – 4:15 (RIDES HOME ARE TO PICK YOU UP AT THE TRACK)

* Dress appropriately based upon the weather!!!

NORMAL PRACTICE TIME: 2:35 – 4:15 (meet at the track)

• THINGS THAT MUST BE COMPLETED BEFORE 1ST MEET:
• PHYSICAL (forms available in h.s. & m.s. office or from coaches)
• must be completed ASAP
• STAY ACADEMICALLY ELIGIBLE
• PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
• ATHLETIC PARTICIPATION FEE ($75)
• If you’ve already been in a school sport, then this is taken care of
• Waived if on free/reduced lunch (please contact your coach)

• FIRST INVITATIONAL: SAT APRIL 18, 2015
• BOYS @ COOPERSVILLE TRILEVEL MEET
• GIRLS @ HOME
• FIRST DUAL MEET: MON APRIL 20, 2015 @ COOPERSVILLE

Running Club Cancelled for This Week

Sorry for the confusion with all of this, but we are cancelling running club for both today and for Friday. The wind chill at the end of the school day is supposed to be at or below 0 (and Coach Buckner and I have a meeting at 3:00 now), and we have a number of runners in the play so Friday isn't a good option either. We will start next week Tuesday now and the weather forcast at this point is looking much better for next week.

Running club is cancelled for 3/3/15

No running club today due to inclement weather. We'll try it again tomorrow. Please dress in layers; if weather allows we will be running outside even if its cold.

Track Season is Almost Here & Running Club

Good evening everyone. Track season starts Tuesday, March 24 afterschool. More information will be sent once us coaches sort it all out. 

Running club will be starting tomorrow afterschool until 3:30pm. We will be meeting in Senorita Buckner's classroom and going from there. All 6-8th graders who are not currently in SMS basketball or SMS wrestling are welcome to join us. We will be having running club on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday until the start of the season.

If weather is an issue (which tomorrow is not looking promising), we will make sure announcements are made at school and I will send an email out stating the cancellation.  

If you have specific track questions, I'll take them but I may not be able to give you a reply yet as there are four of us coaches and we still have some things to sort out. Have a good night.