Stay healthy and strong. Rest Well this Break–Resist the temptation to pull that all-nighter playing RoCraft or World of Duty online with your buddies. Binge that new TV show, sure, but do it during the day and early evening. Consistent sleep sleep patterns have a huge positive effect on your progress as an athlete. Make Healthy Nutritional Choices– In addition to the obvious importance of making healthy choices with regard to alcohol, nicotine, and other illicit substances, go out of your way to stay well-hydrated and eat healthier foods. Try to shop around the edges of the grocery store. Get more vegetables and fruits into your diet. If it seems like it comes from a farm and will expire soon, it's probably better for you than if it seems like it came from a factory. Get stronger. Or at least, maintain your fitness. Those who can be at the school for practices (M-F, 8:49 to 10:30am), it'll be worth your time to get both the workout and the small-group technique instruction. If you can't be at practice, some ideas are below, but most importantly, be active. Distance Crew & Dashers– If you can, each day you should get out and do 10-15min at conversation pace, then do our mobilities routine and the sprint drills. Do a few (3 or 4) striders (powerful strides, tall and strong for about 20 seconds). And finish with the SAM (strength and mobility) routine. Have more time and energy? On a couple of the days, before you SAM do a longer run at conversation pace. If you still want more, send an email to Coach Sponsler and he'll help you out. Sprinters, Hurdlers, Jumpers, Vaulters, Throwers– Do push ups and some core work each day. This can include leg lifts, crunches, and planks of all sorts. Do our sprint drills. Teach someone else the drills we do. Then, do five or so ins-and-outs: use about five seconds to build up to full speed, then you'll go five seconds at full speed, take your foot off the gas and coast to a stop in about five more seconds. Get nerdy about your events. As you scroll through the social media or whatever, remember that there are some really good (and really bad) content creators out there. Just because it looks good and they sell their ideas well doesn't mean it fits with how we do things. That being said, look for ways to study up on your events, get training ideas, and look for technical cues that may be helpful. If you have questions or just want to share, email a link to Coach Sponsler. Here are some of our favorites: Pole Vault– Shawn Francis/Team Hoot Shot/Discus– two sources: Arete Throws Nation, and Elite Throws Coaching Distance/Dash– Coach Jay Johnson Sprints– Latif Thomas, Vince Anderson Hurdles– The Hurdle Academy/Steve McGill and Hector Cotto Most of these folks have a strong presence on YouTube and their web sites. Some are also on Instagram and Twitter and other socials. Return from Spring Break rested and refreshed. April and May will go by in a flash. Start strong, finish stronger. Here's the link to this year's BSN Store for both the boys and girls teams (this one tends to take much longer to receive orders, so we'll be offering another store, specific for the boys team).
https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/hpg1hNzSKB What do I need for practice? Dress for success: bring workout clothes appropriate for the weather and your events. Everyone needs basic trainers (aka running shoes), but event-specific shoes like spikes and throwing shoes are also recommended. Bring a towel, a water bottle, and a positive attitude.
Where do I change my clothes? Though we use the track barn as our meeting space, our assigned locker room is the one used by the football and wrestling teams during the fall and winter seasons. What if the weather is bad? First, to quote a tough old Swede, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes." But the reality is, when necessary for the sake of safety and training quality we can adapt our practice plans for indoors. So, athletes should be ready for every possibility. How does practice begin? At 2:49pm at the Track Barn on the south end of the track. After a brief meeting we proceed to the track and infield for a rough team warm up. Training groups are then directed to their respective coaches and locations to continue their warm ups and workouts. How and when does practice end? When the day's training is done you'll checkout with Coach Sponsler. This will happen at 4:30pm at the latest. After that, coaches are usually ready to stick around until about 5pm for athletes who want to work more on technique (usually throwers or vaulters). What days are practices? Practice is Monday through Friday. Here are two notable exceptions: 1) distance runners have Saturday morning group runs (Coach Sponsler will talk about this with the distance crew), and 2) not everyone competes in every meet, so except for the JV invite at Jackson we won't hold practice if we have an away meet. Do we practice over spring break? Yes. Spring break practices start in the Commons and will run from 8:49am to about 10:30am. Check the team guidelines and expectations for how to handle it if you'll be out of town. We typically have about 1/3 of the team at the workouts. Training goes quickly and it's a good opportunity to work on technique. Philosophy
Competition can bring out the best in us, so we look for opportunities to compete against ourselves and each other. We train with intensity and focus. The goal is to grow toward being the best versions of ourselves. We take competition seriously, but we aren’t afraid to laugh and have fun along the way. Equipment Athletes need appropriate training shoes, as well as sweats, towels and water bottles. Event specific shoes are available from sporting goods stores and catalogs, sometimes at reasonable prices. Distance runners especially need to find a good shoe guru (at a store like Playmakers, in East Lansing). Sprinters need spikes for practice and for meets. We compete in practice as often as possible. It is important to show up each day prepared to train and compete in good and bad weather, indoors or outdoors. Uniforms School-provided jersey and running shorts are available for athletes, and can also be purchased and kept. At meets, athletes are to wear sweats, warm ups or other appropriate clothing that is either school colors or neutral. T-shirts, shorts, or sweats worn to meets must not resemble other schools’ colors. Any exposed undergarments (compression shorts, etc.) must be black. Headbands must be white. Brand logos cannot be visible. Athletic Handbook Each athlete shall have an Athletic Handbook made available to him. Signing the participation agreement indicates both the parent and athlete have read and understand the handbook and agree to abide by its rules. An athlete is not allowed to compete in a contest until this form has been signed and submitted. Academics There is a reason the word student comes first in student-athlete. Coaches will monitor grades and are ready to provide resources for athletes who need academic help. Athletic Trainer Jennifer Benedict , ATC, is our full-time certified athletic trainer. Even if their families prefer to seek medical attention elsewhere, injured athletes will work with Jenn and the coaches to work toward being cleared for competition. Her number at WHS is (517) 841-8264. If Jenn cannot be reached in the training room, she can be contacted at (313) 590-0081 or [email protected]. Communication “I’d rather know and be annoyed than wonder and assume the worst.” ...With most concerns, it’s best to have an open conversation with the coaches. Athletes with frustrations or other concerns should talk to your event coach and talk to Coach Sponsler. Parents with frustrations or concerns should also talk to Coach Sponsler first, and if this doesn't settle things, athletes and parents are asked to then take concerns to the athletic director and work their way up from there. Spring Break & Other Pre-Planned Absences Training has a cumulative effect. For this reason, we practice during the week of spring break. An athlete who must miss practice (due to a family trip, driver’s education, or other unavoidable conflict) will be excused if he presents a note signed by a parent, before missing practice. A parent email to Coach Sponsler will also be accepted. Practice Attendance Depending on the circumstances, absences for academic or medical purposes are excused upon the presentation of a note signed by an appropriate authority (doctor, teacher, or parent). Communication with the coach beforehand is key to this process. No matter what the reason, athletes who miss practice the day before a meet will not be allowed to compete in that meet. But again, with appropriate prior communication the nature of that practice session is at the discretion of the coach. Athletes unable to train due to injury or other reasons will still attend team meetings and practices. Rehab appointments are considered practice, but the athlete still needs to check in with Coach each day. Meet Attendance We have a big, deep, competitive team, but everyone should be ready to compete at every meet. However, most meets have limits based on qualifying standards, the number of entries per school, and how much room there is on the bus. Athletes not competing at away meets don’t have to go (and there’s likely no room on the bus). Home Meets With rare exceptions, athletes are required to stay at home meets for the duration of the competition, even if they are not competing in any events. Also, we cannot run our home meets without volunteer assistance. We appreciate the volunteers, especially parents, who help us run each home track and field meet. Please sign up to assist. Transportation Policy Unless previously arranged or announced, athletes must ride the school transportation to and from away meets. Team Banquet We will hold an end-of-season celebration and send-off for individual state finals qualifiers. Team members are required to attend, and family and friends are invited. Western Athletic Booster Club The WABC has been extremely generous to the track and field programs. The group meets the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. For more information, call the athletic office at 841-8250. Western Runners Club The WRC exists to support the local youth running community as well as our school’s track and cross country teams. For Updates, Results and Other Information Get on the mailing list for weekly updates by emailing Coach Sponsler at [email protected]. Also, check regularly at 270tnf.weebly.com. Indoor season not over yet for Veneziano, Singleton They trained in the halls, in the weight room, out on the trails, and in pole barns miles and miles away from home.
They competed, at indoor track meets and at powerlifting competitions, and for some, the indoor season is not yet done. After clearing 6'-4" and placing fourth at the Michigan Indoor Track Series state championship meet, junior Josh Veneziano will travel this weekend to Boston for the New Balance Indoor Nationals. Next weekend fellow junior Cooper Singleton will be in Virginia Beach to run the 800m dash at the Adidas Track Nationals. He qualified by running in the low 1:57s earlier during the indoor season. Last weekend sophomore Brennan Faber placed 5th in his weight class at the Michigan High School Power Lifting Association's State Championship meet. He set new personal records when he lifted a total of 1,255 pounds in three events (squat 450lb, bench 285, deadlift 520). Western's Anna McDonald also placed fifth in her division by squatting 225lbs, benching 125lbs, and deadlifting 285lbs for a total of 635 pounds. At the end of the school day athletes go to their school lockers to get their track bags, stop at a water fountain to fill their water bottles, and head to a locker room to get dressed for practice. Boys and girls varsity locker rooms are available for t&f athletes to use.
Girls need to be at the south end of the visitor-side bleachers by 2:45pm. Boys need to be in the Track Barn south of the track by 2:49pm. When practice plans need to be adjusted due to the weather, the girls will start in the mat room and the boys begin in the competition gym. On such days the routines will stay the same, but the locations and activities will be adjusted. Regardless of what the weather looks like at 7am, we live in Michigan. Athletes should bring clothes for any and every possibility. Also, everyone needs a towel and a water bottle. When choosing shoes, all athletes should have trainers, AKA traditional "running" shoes. Event-specific shoes like spikes and throwing shoes are also recommended. Spikes especially. Click HERE for a good website you can surf to see what we're talking about. On a normal day we'll start with check-ins and announcements, we'll take attendance, and be on the track at 3pm. Each team has their own start-of practice routines that may include build-ups, leg swings, and jumping jacks. Each team does a sort of cheer to bring some focus to the day's training. After that the teams break into event groups. Starting from the time we leave our team meetings we often play music, and maybe even hold a dance-off, to set a light but focused mood. At Western High School we have two teams (girls, boys) but one program. With some event groups the boys and girls train alongside one another during this part of practice. Also, some event groups work together depending on that day's training theme. For instance. throwers train with the sprinters on maximum velocity days, but they'll either go to the weight room or work on shot put and discus technique on sprint capacity days. Practice end times vary, but will never be later than 4:30pm. Still, coaches are around until 5pm for athletes who want or need more technique work or instruction. Important: at the end of each practice day, each athlete needs to "check out" with their team's head coach. This gives the coach a chance to get a feel for what progress was made that day and to give any end-of-day reminders. It also gives the athlete a chance to ask questions. Normally we try to avoid flooding your inbox, but it seems the note below didn't make it to everyone. (Please reply to this if you'd like us to make any adjustments to the mailing list.)
Some Additional News Last week Thomas Daly's time in the 10m fly placed him in the 22 MPH Club. The M.I.T.S. state finals were held this past weekend. Sophomore Josh Veneziano cleared a PR 6'-2" in the high jump and brought home the 6th place medal. In the middle school division of the 1600m Ryan Good ran a speedy 5:11.94. Well done gentlemen! Last week's update: Western Track and Field At the bottom of this note you'll find some dates and times. And an attachment with the season calendar. Today's update has a lot of words, but you might consider this part of our T&F Manifesto: Fast • Intense • Fun This fits both how we train and how much time it takes for each day's practice. Let me try to say this well. We ask athletes for their full and complete focus during workouts. Highest intensity possible. Go hard. All out. Full tilt boogie. Leave it all on the track (or the field). Then we rest. Go home. Take a nap. Do your homework. Eat healthy. Get 8-9 hours of sleep. Come back refreshed and ready to go again. And we say things like, "Never let today's workout ruin tomorrow's." and "We work hard, and we laugh hard." Distance guys learn about running and pacing and endurance. But also, "You don't get fast by going slow." "Cats don't jog." Sprinters don't really run much, either. They sprint. Every event in this sport is about rhythm, coordination, and power. Power can be explosive like the shot put or aerobic like the 3200m. And competition? Fugetaboutit. "Compete like your existence depends on it, but don't take yourself too seriously." "Work hard, laugh hard." Compete as often as possible, in as many ways as possible. Against ourselves. Against our teammates. Nearly every day. And then we compete against opponents from other schools. Watch out now! We rise to become the best versions of ourselves. Stronger. Faster. Competitive. Tougher. We have learned toughness comes from resilience, confidence, commitment, control, and the ability to comfortably confront challenges. That's a lot of C-words. But it's how we work to be tough, WESTERN TOUGH. WHS Track & Field is not: long, slow, dreary... Exhaustion and physical failure are not the goal. This is not "conditioning" in the old-fashioned, tear-you-down-and-rebuild-you-like-Robocop-or-a-supersoldier sense of things. This isn't Junction Boys. "Speed kills. Power devours." You can't be fast or powerful when you are exhausted. Practice starts March 14. 2:49 to 4:30pm Meet in the Track Barn. Come correct. Not sure what that means? Ask. Until then, Speedwork Tues/Thurs after school. Meet in Room 206 (Sprinters' Delight, but good for all y'all). Mon/Wed, 4:30pm Running workouts with Coach Lewis (Mid-distance interval-type work). Both types of workout last an hour or less. Thank you for reading this, and for recruiting your friends and teammates to join us and get fast and powerful. |
@westernTnFThis is the Front Page to the newsfeed for Western High School's track and field teams. Here you will find news, views, and announcements pertaining to our track teams as well as interesting news and notes from the sport at large. Archives
March 2023
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