Track season has taken off, that means the coaches have to schedule and plan their practices. The set up for the track practices are very critical because there is a certain way that the coaches train the students muscles to make them stronger.
At least ten coaches work with the Dragon tracksters to improve their skills. The coaches plan what training will be done by each grouping of athletes during the practices. Practices start off by gathering all the athletes to take attendance. After attendance, the warm up begins.
“We warm up as a team so that everyone warms up as a team,” Mr. Bryce Brunswig said. “It doesn’t matter what event everyone warms up as a team.”
After everyone does the warmup the athletes and coaches all meet in the middle of the field. The Coaches make announcements to the students about upcoming meets or practices.
“Each day, we begin with work on our running technique,” sprint coach Mr. Simon Wiedel said. “After that, we will either do a variation of tempo workouts or have the student-athletes running fast to simulate a meet.”
The mid distance and long distance runners separate into their groups and jog around the track. The throwers go and work on their throws.
“We use a variety of workouts that tailor to different track athletes,” Mrs. Emily Romans said. “depending on their events, strengths, and weaknesses.”
The workouts change daily if it’s a nice day the coaches make it a technique day, or if it is a colder day the coaches make the day a conditioning day.
“Sometimes we even do some mental exercises or breathing exercises,” Coach Brunswig said. “That is a big part of running the mental and breathing part of it.”
The workouts that the coaches construct help the students become stronger in whatever event they are doing. Although the workouts are sometimes very difficult, the coaches also make sure that the kids don’t strain their bodies and injure themselves.
“ The goal is to try to get everyone to progress and get better in whatever their race is,” Coach Brunswig said. “Iit is important for some people who might be trying to find out what their race is, especially if they are a freshman.”
During the practices the cCoaches encourage allGHS athletes to be the best that they can be. The cCoaches push the athletes to try harder and make sure that they can be in the best shape possible before they compete in the meets. Without the coaches track at GHS would not be possible; they do many things for the athletes and the team.