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*Cross Country*
What is Cross Country? Cross Country is a team running sport that takes place in the fall on a measured 1.8 –2 mile loop over varied surfaces and terrain. Many cross country meets are held on park grounds, school campuses, golf courses, or dirt trails. A cross country meet is scored by each team adding up the places of it’s 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: Benold Pflugerville 1 2 4 3 5 7 6 8 10 9 score 26 score 29 Benold is the winner!!!!
A team’s 6th and 7th finishers can also figure the scoring if there is a tie in the score of the top 5 finishers on the 2 teams. The 6th finisher’s score from each team is added to the team point tally. The team with the lowest score at that point wins. If still a tie, then the 7th finisher’s score is added in. All the runners on the team that do not finish in the top 7 on the team become “pushers” by pushing up their opponent’s scores by finishing ahead as many runners as possible. What to Expect As your aspiring young runner begins the first weeks 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. 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 or has not had a highly active summer, this may persist up to 2-3 weeks. They should communicate this with me. What to Eat A nutritious, well-balanced diet is essential for an athlete. Fatty and fried foods and carbonated drinks (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, etc…) should be avoided. On race day small portions of easily digested foods eaten at least 3 hours before competition are best, but water intake is never to be limited. Most athletes feel best when they race a little hungry. Getting homework completed early in the evening and plenty of rest do a world of good for an athlete’s mental state. How 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. With academic responsibilities of being a middle school student, most student-athletes are busy most of the time. The willingness to devote the time that success demands is called DEDICATION. Being a member of the Benold Middle School 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 I expect. Our goals are to have fun, learn to run, develop teamwork and self-discipline. Another commitment I expect is COMMUNICATION with me. If a problem or illness is going to force your son or daughter to miss practice or a meet, please call me in advance to let me know. Please don’t send a message through a friend or a teammate. Communicating helps me out so much.
Cross Country Workout Schedule
We will begin practicing at San Gabriel Park on Wednesday September 2. We will run beginning at 6:40 a.m. and will finish in time to be at school around 8:00a.m. You will need to be dropped off at the bus. It will be located across from the basketball courts. Remember to bring everything you need for school. We will follow the routine below for Monday – Thursday **Friday we run at Forbes MS Track using the same time frame 6:40 a.m. Drop off your child at San Gabriel Park · Runners come to park dressed for workout · Bring water to drink during workout · Bring your school “stuff” with you and put it on the bus
6:45 a.m. Workout begins. We will start on time so be there!!!
7:30 a.m. Get on the bus and return to Forbes/Benold
8th grade runners · Shower and dress for school · When the 8:20 a.m. bell rings, go to cafeteria to eat breakfast · Be sure you either purchase the school's or bring your own · Breakfast is important!!!
7th grade runners · Eat breakfast · Shower and dress for athletics class
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Page Last Updated 08/27/2008 |