Parents

First let me thank you for supporting our team. Any and all ways that you can help with the items below would be great support to help our team succeed. Please review some of the tips and suggestions below on how you can help and get involved. If you ever have any questions or comments, please feel free to call or email me. Thanks and wish us luck for a great season!!

Coach Ayer

ayer.j@deptford.k12.nj.us or spartanxctrack@gmail.com

856-232-2713 x 4685 (school)

Sleep

In order for our runners to be refreshed and ready to undertake the grueling task of racing, ample sleep is needed. As you all know, if we left it up to teenagers to determine their own sleep schedule, they’d be up to 2 am every night. I’m not suggesting you set a bedtime necessarily, but it would help if you simply encourage them to get to sleep at reasonable times, especially on the nights before races. (And stay away from bedtime distractions like phones, etc.)

Diet

The same thing applies to diets as sleep. It would be a great value if you would help them watch what they eat. During the season, it would be preferable that they stay away from junk such as soda, chips, etc. It would be better for them to have a supply of fruit and grains to snack on such as bagels, granola bars, etc. Pasta dinners a couple nights before a race would help them supply the carbs they need for energy. And on race day, they would be better off not having too much juice, milk, or other things that would upset their stomachs. Light sandwiches, sport drinks, and such would be good race day food. And one of the most important parts of their diet is that they need to stay hydrated all the time. They should have plenty of water in their system.

Schoolwork

Monitoring their academics would help reduce stress on them and keep them mentally sound.

Shoes

If they have not already, runners should always have well-cushioned and comfortable running shoes. They are the only shoes designed to standup to the large amount of miles we put in. Also, runners are encouraged to buy their own racing flats/spikes if supplied ones don’t work for them (I have no girl spikes). I strongly suggest checking out the links section on this site to stores like the Running Company (RunningCo).

Meets

One of the easiest and best ways you can support the team is by coming to any of the meets (check schedule on home page). Come and just cheer them on. You can help if you’d like with split timing or simply taking pictures (I am always in need of lots of picture as I post and share a lot with the team). Also, if anyone who attends is interested in providing snacks such as orange slices or other foods, please let me know.

Spaghetti Dinners

One of the most exciting ways parents can get involved is by signing up to host spaghetti dinners. We look to have these the nights before our big Saturday meets to provide them with pasta and carbs. (We prefer not to hold them on school nights so we don’t set them up typically before regular dual meets). Any kind of pasta complimented by things such as salad or bread is a simple example. If you are interested in hosting one on the following nights, please contact me and let me know and we can arrange it to be held at school.

Laundry

Please also ask runners to keep up with their laundry. It kills me to see runners using uniforms that haven’t been washed in several meets. And their practice gear often gets even worse. Simple reminders to them to bring home clothing is sufficient in helping them with this.

Watches

Watches are a true runner’s best friend. We live and die by the minutes and seconds that tick by. If you can swing it, it would be useful for them to have a watch to use to keep track of length of runs or to time themselves in workouts. I have some they can borrow and use, but they’re not the best quality.

Fundraising

We are always looking for avenues to raise funds to cut costs of trips and end of year activities. If you want to spearhead any specific fundraising efforts, PLEASE feel free to participate. Currently, I am looking for cooperate sponsorship for the school as well as we have a team store of team merchandise available. Please feel welcome to invite any friends or family to buy gear from our store to support the team (link on team website). Each item puts a few dollars toward our program.