ANNOUNCEMENTS
This page will serve as a feed for announcements. These will usually just be copied for the FB Group page, so no need to check both. Newest announcements will be at the top.
Week of Practice 8/21-8/25
With the current forecast for the week being what it is, we really have no choice but to practice inside. (Morning practice was considered, just logistically not a good idea we decided). We will keep our current practice time and athletes will still be picked up at 4:30 by the activity entrance. On Monday they can drop their things off in Coach Koppes' room per usual. There will be announcement at some point as to where we will be in the building or Rec Center..that's still TBD.
I plan to do a lot of strength conditioning, flexibility/mobility work (we will have a yoga instructor from Orange Sky with us on Tuesday!) and as much running as we can effectively do inside. I'm confident we can still build our strength, speed, and endurance as well as mental toughness even if we're in the air conditioning. Hopefully we can go outside at some point during the week.
However, one option we are considering if we're forced to stay inside all week is allowing some of our more skilled/experienced runners to do workouts on their own in the morning. Stay tuned for details on that, but at least for the start of the week (Monday/Tuesday) we will do regular practice with all runners together indoors.
Happy Cross Country Season Eve!
We get started bright and early tomorrow at 6:30 AM at Anneberg park (I think a message on ParentSquare said 6:45, that is incorrect). We will meet at the turf soccer field in the middle of the park to do our dynamic warmup. We finish promptly at 7:45, maybe a bit before. Please try to pick up on time (same place as dropoff) so coaches can get to their professional development activities at school. Or tell your kids to leave the practice area and go play at the playground until you can get there.
To participate in practice, all athletes must have a completed physical. We have a list of all participants who have completed registration on registermyathlete.com. Students who have not yet completed all this may watch practice or run on their own. They are not allowed to participate officially with us until physicals, etc., are complete.
Also make sure your runner comes with a water bottle!
Excited to get started and see them all tomorrow!
2023 AMS Cross Country T-SHIRTS!!!
Below is the order form for t-shirts for this year! I will hand this out at practice on Monday, too. The shirts will be light grey/silver dri-fit material (same shirt style as last year). I recommend ordering a size down, they run big! There are youth sizes.
Orders are due to Kelsie (ACB Designs) by Monday night. That's a quick turnaround, but allows us to get the shirts in time for our first meet. You can place your order direct via email/text to ACB Designs. There is a Venmo payment option. You can also take your check and/or cash to Melissa Triana in the office later next week and she will get the money to ACB Designs, but fill out and submit your order form digitally to ACB by Monday night!
*Shirts are completely optional. Students will be issued a uniform they can wear and a hoodie (which they will probably never need ). Kids typically wear their uni to school on meet days, which is fine. Many will wear the team shirt over their jersey, but no one will look out of place if they don't have one and just wear the jersey. (You can wear any type of shirt under the jersey if you want). If purchasing a shirt is a financial hardship for your family, please let me know.
Tuesday Sept. 13 Clay Center Inv. 4:00 PM Clay Center MS
2:00 pm Dismissal
2:15 Load Bus
Fort Riley Middle School Meet Info 9/8
FRMS Cross Country Informational Letter 2022(1).pdf
WAMEGO MEET INFO
FIRST MEET COMING UP!
Also, NO PRACTICE today or Monday...if you're healthy, please get out and run some over the 4-day break. If you are hurt, REST!
I'm posting meet info for Wamego below. Athletes are dismissed at 2:00 and should be on the bus by 2:15 on Tuesday. They should be dressed out in their uniform, shoes, etc., when they get on the bus.
7th girl run @4:00 pm, 7th boys @4:35, 8th girls @5:10, 8th Boys @5:45
The meet is at Wamego Middle school. Check the link for more details.
All runners should bring water, something to eat (healthy, light snack for before/after race…8th grade guys especially have a long gap between lunch and running). It’s gonna be hot…keep hydrating through the weekend.
There will be a signout sheet for any parents who want to take kids home with them. We will send out a Remind to let you know when to pick your runner up from school when we return.
Not all runners are going to this meet. If they are injured or still unable to run 2 miles without excessive stops to walk, they will stay home. There will not be practice for them on Tuesday.
AUGUST 2022
8/28
Cross country updates
Sorry this is a little longer but I wanted to cover several things!
First, a big THANK YOU to all parents for prompt pickup after practice. That’s been going great, although it seems we are going right up to 4:30 everyday and that probably won’t change so to keep you from having to wait too long, no need to show up earlier than 4:30.
This upcoming Tuesday we’re going to do an official 2 mile time trial at AMS. If there’s any day when we would really want perfect attendance at practice, this is it! We’ll treat it like a meet and go through our pre-meet routine and practice lining up, starting, etc. Right now, I plan to take anyone who can run 2 miles with minimal/no walking to our first meet at Wamego. If we have to cut numbers due to bus availability, we will probably do that based on the results of our time trial.
MOST IMPORTANTLY…this is the time of year when we always have a lot of nagging aches/injuries pop up, start missing a few more kiddos at practice, etc. It’s a tough stretch–it’s hot, we’re still more than a week from our first meet, and it probably feels like all we do is run and workout (which is pretty much true!) It’s a grind. The hardest part of my job is trying to decide whether an athlete is actually hurt or just hurting. We want to keep them safe and healthy for the long run (literally) but sometimes we just need them to push through some of the aches and soreness as best they can. My normal rule is if it hurts too much to run with your normal running motion, you need to stop. But if you aren’t able to run at practice, you also aren’t able to run at meets. I suggested to anyone dealing with some pain to try to take the whole weekend off from anything too physical and just rest and ice aching areas as needed. Lots of kids have ankle/foot pain…we’ve shown them some exercises to help with that but feel free to assist them with your own expertise or ask the Internet for some things they can do.
It’s a hard balance. I’ve coached kids who pushed through pain when they shouldn’t have and I’ve done that personally, too (I tell them the last time my body actually felt good/normal while running was in 2014, but I don’t let that stop me!) so we have to be careful. But one thing I love about our sport is it requires and rewards grit and determination. Our goal is to be able to embrace some discomfort and get a little tougher physically and mentally–that’s going to help us in all areas of our lives, not just sports.
As parents, you know your child’s pain threshold/medical issues better than us. Sometimes the stories/symptoms we hear may also not be the same thing you’re hearing. :) Definitely communicate with us if you have specific concerns (several of you have…thank you).
Overall, we’ve had a really good two weeks of practice and I think we’ll be really to compete well both as individuals and as teams when we start next week.
If you are a recent addition to our XC family, there’s lots of good info on the website (https://sites.google.com/site/anthonymsxc/home?authuser=1) and there is a Remind (https://www.remind.com/classes/43dc68/) we would like everyone to join for quick communication (primarily to let you know when we get back to AMS from meets). The needed class code is @43dc68
Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!
8/16
Great first day of practice yesterday. Everybody had water bottles, (almost) everybody has their physical, etc., turned in, and everybody got a ride home!
We're back at again today, 7 pm, AMS Tennis courts.
I will hand out an order form for XC t-shirts today. These order forms are DUE FRIDAY. That is a quick turnaround but we want to get them ordered and made as quick as possible so people can actually have them to wear for meet days! I'm attaching the order form and design here. It will be purple dri-fit material with lavender font/graphics. It's .
There is no obligation to buy a shirt. Students will often just wear their uniform to school on those days, so if you don't get a shirt you won't stand out or anything.
8/14
Happy First Day of Practice Eve! We will meet on the AMS tennis courts @ 7 pm tomorrow evening. Practice will be done at 8:15. We will go over our start of practice routine, attendance, some team policies, etc., do our dynamic warmup and form running drills, run an easy campus mile (sidewalk around AMS campus), cool down stretch and go home.
Runners need to have physical forms, etc., submitted to AMS/registermyathlete before they can participate in practice. All runners should wear appropriate clothing/shoes for practice. THEY MUST BRING A WATER BOTTLE and they are welcome to bring a towel for stretching on the tennis courts if they want. I would suggest around a 20 oz water bottle. Typically athletes don't carry the bottle with them while they run, but early on and especially hot days we may allow them to do that. We will take plenty of water breaks, but there is no need to have a 64 oz jug at practice (unless that's all you have, then that's fine!) It looks pretty warm tomorrow, really nice Tuesday, and decent the rest of the week. Remind your runners to hydrate during the day and don't eat or drink too much right before practice.
Drop off/Pick up will be in the northwest AMS parking lot, behind the school by the activity entrance.
*PARENT MEETING 8/11 at 6 PM at AMS
If you cannot attend, here is a vid of last year's parent meeting over zoom. I don't think that much has changed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq0qTklrN0E&t=444s
2021 Announcements
We will have an end-of-season team party and uniform check-in at AMS next Thursday after school in the lunch room. We'll do some team awards, hand out medals from our home meet now that we have them, and eat some snacks. If you are able and willing to provide treats for this celebration, I will create a sign-up sheet and put that up soon.
We plan to be done by 4 pm. Please make sure your student has a (clean) uniform to turn in--shorts, jersey, hoodie, and bag. Thanks so much!!
Snack sign-up for the end of season party on Thursday is linked here. (If you sign-up and end up unable to bring something, it's not a big deal, this will just give people an idea of what things will already be provided, etc).
Snack items can be sent to school with your student (they can drop them off in the office) or you may drop them by at 3:20 or so on Thursday.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12shK4IF53DLv-rwJw4MFp-pcGUk16yj3K9vKwt2IOZg/edit?usp=sharing
What a finish to the season! Both 7th and 8th grade boys took first place, the 8th grade girls were third, and the 7th grade girls were 5th. TONS of personal bests on a tough course. Great job to all and a big thanks to all the parents, family, and friends who came out to support!
LEAGUE RESULTS:
2021 Start-of-Season Announcements
(Cross country athletes need to go this course/watch video but don't need to do impact testing).