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: