Meet new friends. Meet old friends. Learn new stuff. Come to the clinic!
As we crest the apex of July and “descend” toward the start of another school year, many (hopefully all!) of you are making plans for the cross country season. Some of you are finding it difficult to wait until the start of official practice on August 15—you can only read Jack Daniels’ Running Formula so many times; you’ve committed the rankings lists on Colorado Track XC to memory; your kids are faithfully adhering to your summer training program; you’ve logged some miles yourself and are eager to strut around the course.
But still, you’re eager to get going. For real.
For me, the annual CHSCA coaches’ clinics are the official beginning of the cross country (and track, later in the school year) season. This year’s event is again at the Red Lion Hotel in Aurora, Friday-Saturday, July 29-30. And this year’s list of speakers and topics should tide your coaching appetites through the rest of the off-season!
In addition, you can satisfy your CHSAA rules’ requirement for 2011-12, nominate a deserving coach for one of several annual CHSCA awards, and give input on the state of cross country in Colorado at the regional representatives meeting.
On Friday, Alan Versaw will give what is sure to be one of the most innovative presentations seen at the clinic in some time: “The Effects of Barometric Pressure on Distance Running.” As many of you know, Alan is a math/statistics genius and has turned his keen eye toward this heretofore undiagnosed factor in distance running. Alan let me preview his slideshow last week and I have lots of questions for him.
On Saturday, Alan will share his thoughts on “Planning for the Postseason,” which I can only presume will be a complete opening of the playbook, detailing how he gets his kids to run so darn well at the end of the year.
If you didn’t notice in 2010-11, Rob Parish is back in Colorado, after a two-year sabbatical overseas, and ready to create havoc in the 4A ranks again. His Battle Mountain teams were a force in the middle of the last decade, winning boys’ and girls’ state titles and culminating with a dominating boys’ performance in 2007 that left them well within striking distance of Portland Meadows and NXN. Rob will share some of his thoughts about building a running program in the mountains in his presentation, “Cross Country at 8100 feet.” I’ll be scouting Rob closely during this one …
The next spot on Friday is reserved for the King of Colorado Cross Country, Chris Suppes. He’s going to give his considerable insight on the topic of “Bringing Freshman Girls into Your Program.” The second half of his hour will be an open-mic, roundtable discussion where you can ask questions not only of Chris, but of any of the other great coaches in attendance. This should produce a lot of interesting and helpful info, given Colorado might be the best girls’ distance running state, per capita, in the U.S.! If you missed Chris speak at last year’s clinic, don’t make the same mistake this year; when you hear him, you’ll understand why his teams are so good every year.
The last two sessions Friday will be the province of Dr. Richey Hansen, who is:
1. The head coach at Peak to Peak HS
2. A D.C. at his own High Altitude Spine and Sport in Boulder
3. A consultant to many of the top professional runners in the Boulder area.
Dr. Hansen will first talk about ways to prevent common injuries in your runners, then, if you happen to screw up and get your runner injured, how to have them rehab and cross-train themselves back to the starting line. You may have heard Richey speak in past clinics with Jay Johnson, with whom Richey works closely. Given the fact I’ve nearly broken all my most talented runners, I’m sure I’ll pick up some helpful pointers here.
After Alan speaks Saturday morning, Steve Heffernan of Free State HS in Lawrence, KS, and site director for the Kansas State meet, will share his thoughts about hosting a state meet at a permanent site, Rim Rock Farm. Rim Rock has gained national recognition as a cross country-only course, and hosted the 1998 NCAA Division I championship. As this is the end of the two-year cycle at Arapahoe County Fairgrounds and bids are being formulated for the future, Steve will be a great resource to bounce ideas off of. And the by the way, he was my high school coach as well, so he has to be pretty smart.
After Steve, we’ll hear from Greg Weich of Broomfield. If you’ve forgotten (and how could you?), Greg was the architect of legendary teams at Smoky Hill and mentor to such titans as the Kaltenbach sisters, Brent Vaughn and others. Now, he’s quickly turning Broomfield into a very dangerous team; of course they’re in our conference! Greg is going to talk about “Training the Elite Runner,” so you can go and make one of your own Brent Vaughns.
Lastly, Mark Roberts of Lyons, along with his trusty sidekicks Jeff Boele and Kevin Akers, will share some of his secrets in building a top-notch program. If you haven’t competed against Mark’s teams or had the pleasure of attending one of his meets, let me assure you that no one has his act together more than Mark and his Lions. There is nothing “small-time” about this small-school program.
Bookending the clinic presentations will be a rules meeting Friday at 11:00 AM and the regional rep meeting Saturday afternoon. Let me make a special note about the regional rep meeting: I have been attending it for the past seven years since taking over at Thompson Valley, and the attendees are usually the same, die-hard cross country coaches. We’d love to have your input and energy (that’s not a knock on the die-hards, mind you)!
As always, CHSCA will provide hospitality Friday evening after Richey’s last session and there will be the usual array of great vendors showing off all the latest and best gear for your team. Also, I got confirmation that Steve Breninger of Roosevelt, who’s had a rocky 2011 to say the least, will be back at the clinic; it will be great to see him back on his feet and ready for another season.
Hope to see you next week in Aurora. If not, I guess my kids and I will just have the upper hand on your teams with all the great info I pick up from these great coaches …
For more clinic information, please visit www.colohsca.org.