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Coaching Management TRACK & FIELD PRESEASON EDITION 2005 VOL. XIII, NO. 1 $5.00 Teaching Mental Skills Clearing Up Carb Confusion BUILDING MOMENTUM How to host a great home meet BUILDING MOMENTUM How to host a great home meet

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TRACK & FIELD PRESEASON EDITION 2005

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Page 1: Coaching Management 13.1

Coaching ManagementT R A C K & F I E L D P R E S E A S O N E D I T I O N 2 0 0 5

VOL. XIII, NO. 1 ■ $5.00

■ Teaching Mental Skills■ Clearing Up Carb Confusion

BUILDINGMOMENTUMHow to host a greathome meet

BUILDINGMOMENTUMHow to host a greathome meet

Page 2: Coaching Management 13.1

home f ie ld advantage to go

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Page 3: Coaching Management 13.1

CONTENTS Coaching ManagementTrack & Field EditionPreseason 2005

Vol. XIII, No. 1

COACHING MANAGEMENT 1

Advertising Sales AssociatesDiedra Harkenrider, (607) 257-6970, ext. 24Sheryl Shaffer, (607) 257-6970, ext. 21

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Mailing lists for Coaching Management Track & Fieldare provided by the Clell Wade Coaches Directory.

The Coaching Management Track & Field edition is pub-lished in January and September by MAG, Inc. and is dis-tributed free to college and high school coaches in theUnited States and Canada. Copyright © 2005 by MAG, Inc.All rights reserved. Text may not be reproduced in anymanner, in whole or in part, without the permission of thepublisher. Unsolicited materials will not be returned unlessaccompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.Coaching Management is printed by Banta PublicationsGroup, Kansas City, MO. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to: Coaching Management, P.O. Box 4806, Ithaca,N.Y. 14852.

Printed in the U.S.A.

Publisher Mark Goldberg

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Art AssistantDina Stander

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Special Projects Dave Wohlhueter

Editor-in-Chief Eleanor FrankelAssociate Editor Dennis ReadAssistant Editors R.J. AndersonKenny BerkowitzDavid HillGreg ScholandLaura SmithAdministrative AssistantSharon Barbell

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Prepress Manager Adam Berenstain

Prepress Assistant Jim Harper

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Asst. Production Manager Kristi Kempf

Production Assistant Jonni Campbell

Ad Materials Coordinator Mike Townsend

IT Manager Mark Nye

COVER STORY

Building Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Want to make your track and field program the talk of the town? Host a first-class home meet—in which fans, athletes, and officials are all focused on theright thing at the right time.

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

The Mental Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21How can you get your athletes to give maximum effort in every aspect of theirperformance? Consider the following mental (and life) skills program.

NUTRITION

Carbs: To Cut or Not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29That is the question many athletes are asking these days as everyone and their best friend seems to be losing weight on low-carb diets.

COVER PHOTO BY: JUSTIN KASE CONDER/FRESNO STATE MEDIA RELATIONS

LOCKER ROOMBulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2NCAA, USOC search for solutions toprogram cuts … Drawing young ath-letes to track and field … Cross-staterun benefits Florida hurricane victims… Sector size, event limits top list ofNFHS changes … NCAA moving to uni-sex steeplechase pits … New book hasadvice for female coaches.

Q&A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10The Ann Arbor Pioneer High Schoolgirls’ track team has finished first in itsregion 24 out of the past 25 years.Bryan Westfield has been at the helmfor all of those 25 years.

2 10 21

ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36TRACK SURFACES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

TEAM EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33STRENGTH & CONDITIONING AIDS . . . 35

MORE PRODUCTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38CATALOG SHOWCASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

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address the decline. The 16-member task force held itsfirst two meetings this pastsummer and is planning tomeet three more times beforeissuing a final report to theNCAA in September 2005.

“It’s an extraordinarily strongcommittee, and the sessionshave been great,” says Chair-man Jack Swarbrick, a partnerin the Indianapolis law firmBaker and Daniels and the for-mer chairman of the Indiana

NCAA, USOCSearch forSolutions to CutsIn the past two years, collegiatetrack and field teams havejoined wrestling, gymnastics,and swimming as Olympicsports with worrisome dropsin sponsorship. In response,the NCAA and USOC haveformed a joint task force to

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2 COACHING MANAGEMENT

been able to get the NCAAand USOC to come togetheron this problem,” says AndrewValmon, Head Track and FieldCoach at the University ofMaryland and a member of thetask force. “We can’t go tothe Olympics and competeagainst the rest of the worldif these two entities don’twork together.”

Like an earlier NCAA/USOCtask force, which lasted from1995 to 2000, the current com-mittee brings those responsiblefor U.S. Olympic effortstogether with collegiate ath-letic directors, coaches, andadministrators, who will presenttheir recommendations to theNCAA membership. Accord-ing to Swarbrick, the previoustask force succeeded in creat-ing conference-based grantsto hold specific events, butwas unable to produce sustain-ed, long-term improvementin the health of the collegiateprograms themselves.

“Temporary solutions aren’twhat we need,” says Swarbrick.“We need solutions that willmake it easier for these sportsto continue as collegiate pro-grams.

“I don’t think there’s one solu-tion, but I’m very optimisticthat we can identify a numberof things that can add to thevitality of these sports,” contin-ues Swarbrick. “The committeegives me great hope, both thatwe will produce some well-conceived ideas, and that itsmembers will be very effectiveadvocates for those ideas intheir communities.”

In another development at theNCAA, a proposal to reimburseschools for travel expenses forboth indoor and outdoor trackand field championships willbe considered during an up-coming meeting of the Division ITrack and Field Committee.Currently, schools can be reim-bursed for only one of the two,which in effect makes indoortrack and field the only nat-

Sports Corporation. “We’vestarted talking about every-thing that touches on the opp-ortunity to protect and growOlympic sports at the colle-giate level.

“We’ve cast a very wide net,”he continues. “We’re talkingabout marketing. We’re talkingabout funding. We’re talkingabout communicating thevalue of these programs in

ional championship for whichschools are not reimbursed.

The proposal will likely bevoted on by the committee inthe spring of 2005, and ifpassed, would be forwarded tothe Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet in Sep-tember 2005. If passed by thecabinet, the request wouldthen go to the PresidentsCouncil, which will finalize theNCAA’s 2006-07 budget inthe summer of 2006. The lasttime a similar proposal cameto a vote by the cabinet, in2003, it was narrowly defeated.

Drawing YoungAthletes to Trackand FieldFor some high school coaches,the first challenge of the sea-son is finding enough athletesto fill their rosters. HarveyBlonder, Head Coach atStoughton (Mass.) High School,a coach who often finds him-self in that group, decided totry a new approach to intro-ducing kids to track and field:Hold a fun, community-orien-ted track meet and invite stu-dents of all ages, teachers, andanybody else in town with anitch to run.

“This town has Little LeagueBaseball and youth soccer,but there isn’t anything toget kids into track. So that’swhat we’re really trying to dowith this meet,” says Blonder.“Whatever you can do toexpose younger kids to trackearly on is worthwhile. Whenthose kids get to high school,hopefully some of them willcome out for the team.”

Sixty competitors turned outfor the event, which was heldin late May, paying $10 eachto run. Blonder says the eventwas as well attended as aStoughton varsity track meet,and raised $600 that wenttoward the team’s end-of-the-year banquet. And more sig-nificantly, the meet

The United States Olympic Committee and the NCAA have formed ajoint task force to put the weight of both organizations behind the goalof shoring up college sponsorship of Olympic sports, including trackand field. Above, athletes battle it out during the 2004 Olympic Trials.

the college and university set-ting. We’re talking about howexisting rules and policies mightbe modified to help improvethe finances of those sports.We’ve tried to bring as manyideas as we can to the table.”

The task force began by iden-tifying endangered collegiatesports, including track and field,and plans to start addressingspecific solutions at its nextmeeting in January. “The mostpromising thing is that we’ve

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L O C K E R R O O Mbulletin board

runners came and registered,and there were a lot ofparents and teachers there tocheer the competitors on.”

The meet consisted of 100-,400-, and 800-meter runs, a300-meter hurdle race, a milerun, and a series of relay

4 COACHING MANAGEMENT

elementary schools, whoattempted to drum up inter-est among their students.

Blonder says the pre-racesign-up wasn’t a huge suc-cess—something that wor-ried his co-organizers. “Tendays before the event, oneof my assistants wanted tocancel because there wereso few pre-registered sign-ups,” he says. “But I had runsome meets in the summerand the same thing hap-pened in the first year ofthose events. And with allof those meets, the eventwas much more popularthe second year.

“So I was determined not tocancel it, even if it lookedlike we weren’t going to makeany money,” continues Blonder.“Luckily, the day of the meetwas a beautiful day, so a lot of

introduced 20 or so elemen-tary-age youngsters to thesport. Other participants whopaid to race included highschool and middle school-agekids as well as coaches,teachers, and members of thecommunity. Looking for a lit-tle post-season competition,there were even a few mem-bers of Blonder’s team whotook to the track to displaytheir skills.

Pre-race sign-ups were facili-tated by team members whopitched the idea to classmatesduring Stoughton High’s lunchperiod, and those who regis-tered early for the meet re-ceived T-shirts. Blonder adver-tised the event in the localnewspaper and had track teammembers post fliers in super-markets. Meet applicationswere also distributed toteachers from the middle and

Stoughton (Mass.) High School’s Anthony Steele and Shawn Leonardleap in tandem over the high hurdles during the school’s community trackmeet this spring. Head Coach Harvey Blonder organized the meet, open toall ages, with the goal of introducing future athletes to the sport.

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races. There were four or fiveheats for all of the races exceptfor the relays, the mile, andthe hurdle event. Competitorsin the 100-meter, 400-meter,and 800-meter runs weregrouped by age, and the milerunners were split into twogroups according to projectedtimes. As a special perk dur-ing the mile race, the kidsraced against the high schoolprincipal.

The 4x100-meter relay wasthe premier event for the highschool kids and was verycompetitive, says Blonder. Twomembers of the track teamwere allowed to recruit twoof their friends who aren’t onthe team to form a relay team,which had to consist of twogirls and two boys. Ribbonswere awarded to the top fin-ishers from each age groupand relay event winners tookhome T-shirts.

Blonder estimates that a quar-ter of the kids from his trackteam competed in the meet.“For some of the kids, theevent was two weeks afterthey’d last competed, andthey ran significant personalrecords—sometimes by threeor four seconds,” says Blonder.“Their training had stopped,they’d had some rest, andthere was no pressure. It wasgood for those kids to have apositive experience on thetrack.”

The meet, which Blonder saysran very smoothly, featured aStoughton assistant trackcoach as the starter and ath-letes from the team as timers.Track athletes also sold refresh-ments and helped with race-day registration.

“It took a lot of work—espe-cially in the pre-registrationstage. There are a lot easierways to raise money, but inthe end we made money andintroduced a few people tothe sport,” says Blonder. “Thefeedback was tremendous andwhen we do it again next

year, hopefully it will be easierto put together and evenmore successful. I think peoplewill remember how much funthis year’s was and it will beeasier to sell among teachers.We have a lot of support inthe community, and I thinkthey’ll come out again.”

FSU RunnersHand Off Fundsto Red CrossThe Florida State Universitymen’s and women’s crosscountry teams are made upof runners, but some peoplemay be tempted to thinkthey’re actually long-range meteorologistsor clairvoyants. Howelse to explain theirdecision, made notlong after returningto campus in August,to raise money forhurricane relief in aseason that wouldsee Florida hit byfour major tropicalevents?

The teams had nospecial insight intoweather trends amonth in advance,just good sense, saysHead Coach Bob Bra-man. After all, theseason’s first majorstorm, Frances, hadalready struck whenthe teams beganplanning their annualAcross the StateRelay, a 126-mile runacross the state’smidsection from theGulf of Mexico tothe Atlantic Ocean. Seeing acontinuing need for disasterrelief wasn’t exactly going outon a limb. “In Florida, a hurri-cane or a tropical storm ofsome strength hits just aboutevery year,” Braman says, “soit wasn’t like we had a partic-ular feeling that, ‘Oh, man,we’ve got to do somethingabout this disaster.’”

But the historic string of stormsand the ensuing national pub-licity has made collectingpledges easier. “After fourstorms, we’re finding a reallystrong receptiveness to whatwe’re doing,” Braman says.“And we’re trying to doubleour record. We’re shootingfor $10,000. I don’t know thatwe’re going to get there, butwe’re shooting for it.” About50 runners took part in thisyear’s relay, held Sept. 18.The total raised hadn’t beentallied by press time.

The Across the State Relaygrew out of Braman’s workmore than 20 years ago asfounder and president of the

Tampa Bay Runners Club. Fourultra-marathoners were runningthe width of the Sunshine Stateas a training exercise. Bramanthought that was impossibleuntil he looked more closelyat a map of the state and sawa manageable distance. Theclub took on the event as arelay, and Braman brought theidea with him when he began

coaching, first at the Universityof South Florida, then at FloridaState in the fall of 2000.

At USF, the relay raised moneyfor the cross country program,but at Florida State, the teamssolicit pledges for charities.“Whenever you do somethingfor somebody else, it hasmore of a team-building ele-ment,” Braman says. “Overthe three previous years, we’veraised more than $5,000 forvarious United Way agenciesin the Tallahassee community.We’re bringing money intothe community because therunners hit up their high schoolcoaches, parents, employers,and grandparents back home.”

Not only do theteams cross thestate, but they alsomingle the Gulf ofMexico and AtlanticOcean. When theyreach DaytonaBeach on the Satur-day evening ofRelay weekend, theyempty a one-literbaton-like bottle ofGulf water into theAtlantic. Then theydive in and enjoythe ocean for a whilebefore sharing apizza dinner, spend-ing a night in a hotel,and driving homeSunday morning.

Braman says FSUholds down costs byusing university vans,providing breakfastbars and snacks forthe ride, letting run-ners get lunch ontheir own, and ask-

ing hoteliers for group rates.In addition to Saturday nightin Daytona Beach, they typi-cally spend the night beforethe relay in Yankeetown, asmall community on the Gulf.

Most of the route follows quietback roads, though traffic isincreasing year after year onsome stretches, Braman says.

Kenny Jesensky (left) and Matt Kalinski receivethe baton, a bottle of Gulf of Mexico water, dur-ing the Seminoles’ Across the State Relay. Theteam crossed the state of Florida in 12:44.

COACHING MANAGEMENT 5

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6 COACHING MANAGEMENT

A few drivers honk out offrustration with being sloweddown for a minute or two,but mostly it’s a low-key tripon the edge of the OcalaNational Forest. Runners oneach segment are paired bypace abilities so that startingand stopping and driver-switching locations and timescan be closely planned. Ittakes about 13 hours, finish-ing this year in 12:44.

“A bunch of guys run early, getin a van and drive ahead, grablunch, throw a Frisbee around,study, or listen to football onthe radio,” Braman says. “Laterin the day, most will run asecond leg that’s a mediumor easy run for them. They’retwo-a-day runners, anyway,so for them it’s just a normaltraining day.”

Sector Size, EventLimits Top List ofNFHS ChangesHigh school throwers mayneed to exhibit greater con-trol in 2004-05, thanks to theNational Federation of StateHigh School Associations’approval of a narrower throw-ing sector for the discus andshot put. That revision wasamong the rules changesmade at the annual Track andField Rules Committee meet-ing in June.

The new sector size, 34.92degrees, will join 40 degrees,60 degrees (for discus only),and 65.5 degrees (for shot putonly) as acceptable options forevents governed by NFHSrules. “The 34.92 sector isalready the standard in collegeand international competition,and now high schools will bepermitted to use it as well,”says Cynthia Doyle, NFHSAssistant Director and liaisonto track and field and crosscountry.

Doyle says in addition to en-couraging more controlled

fairness, no one should takepart in more than four events,”Doyle says. “That was alreadyour rule, and now we’re clearlyspecifying that every eventcounts.”

In another change, penaltieswere added to the rule whichprohibits athletes from warmingup for an event without coachsupervision. A first offenseresults in a warning, followedby disqualification from theevent for a second offense andremoval of the athlete fromthe meet for a third infraction.

“If meet officials and coachesare doing their jobs, supervi-sion shouldn’t be a problem,”says Strano. “Athletes cannow be disqualified for notfollowing that rule, and thatunderlines the fact that we’vegot to be thinking safety atall times.”

In addition to the rules changes,a point of emphasis advises

officials on best practices forutilizing in-shoe computer chipsto determine finishing timeand place in cross countryevents. “Particularly when onechip is used per runner insteadof two, meet managers shouldadvise coaches of how placewill be determined,” Doyleexplains. “The chip won’t al-ways cross the line at thesame moment the torso does,so in a close race, teams needto know how officials will bedeciding the winners.”

“Meet planners also need tothink about a back-up plan incase there are ever computerproblems,” adds Strano.“What happens if somethingcrashes, and you have a groupof kids who just ran 3.1 miles,but no one knows who finishedfirst, second, and third? Thisserves as a reminder that ifyou’re going to use the newtechnology, you need to makesure you’ve thought every-thing through.”

throws, the tighter sectormakes the measuring processeasier for officials. “And sincehigh school teams often com-pete at college venues, manyalready have access to the34.92 size,” she adds.

For throwers who will be com-peting with the new sector,the main impact will likely bean increase in the number ofout-of-bounds throws, socoaches should find out aheadof time which sectors will beused at the meets on theirschedules. “Especially for kidswho are just learning to throw,it will definitely be more diffi-cult to avoid fouls in the smallersector,” says Tamra Strano,Head Coach at Leavenworth(Kan.) High School and a mem-ber of the Rules Committee.“So a coach might want tofocus more on teaching con-trol and accuracy if they knowthey’re going to see thesmaller size.”

Another change clarifies thatathletes are limited to fourevents in a meet, includingboth track and field events. Thecommittee noted that somestates haven’t been countingfield events toward competi-tors’ totals. “We felt that foreducational purposes, student-athlete safety, and competitive

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The committee also updated uniform regulations,removing the requirement that participants wearshorts over one- or two-piece body suits. A completelist of high school rules changes for track and fieldand cross country is available at: www.nfhs.org.Click on “Sport & Rules Information.”

Among other NFHS rules changes for 2004-05, high schools will now have the option of using a 34.92-degree sector size for both shot put and discus. Harleton High School’s Jessica Wilson, above, won the girls’Class 1A shot put during the Texas state championships in May with a distance of 41 feet,11 inches.

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8 COACHING MANAGEMENT

L O C K E R R O O Mbulletin board

could count against a competi-tor as the event proceeds.

Finally, the committee speci-fied that qualifying meets mustrun trials and finals at thesame distances. The commit-tee had heard of instances inwhich some preliminaries wererun at 55 yards and finals at60, Podkaminer says.

New Book Is forFemale CoachesThis winter, women who coachwill have a new resource fordeveloping their careers: advicefrom other women who coach.And not just any women, butwomen whose names appearin halls of fame and on nationalchampionship trophies.

In her new book, She CanCoach!, Cecile Reynaud,

retired Head Volleyball Coachat Florida State University,creates a window into thelives, philosophies, and strate-gies of highly successfulfemale coaches. The book’s 20chapters, each written by adifferent coach, address anarray of topics from a femaleperspective, from coachingethics and motivating student-athletes to managing assistantcoaches and developing acoaching philosophy.

The idea of writing a book forwomen who coach occurredto Reynaud several years ago.When she retired in 2001 after26 years at Florida State, shedecided to make the idea areality. “As a coach, I wasalways looking for material toread,” says Reynaud, whosecareer victories placed heramong the top nine NCAADivision I volleyball coachesbefore her retirement. “Butalmost everything I read waswritten by male coaches. I sawa need for a book by womencoaches for women coaches.”

“This book is a resource forwomen coaches to see howtheir peers have responded toparticular issues,” adds TerryCrawford, Head Men’s andWomen’s Track and FieldCoach at California PolytechnicState University at San LuisObispo, who wrote a chapteron recruiting. “One of the chal-lenges that women coachesface is that we’re a minority inthe coaching ranks, and that’sone of the reasons that thebook came about.”

“I wanted to give youngcoaches a resource that says,‘This is how some of the topwomen have done it,’” saysReynaud. “I’m hoping this bookwill give women the informa-tion they need to achievemore success and more sanityin their coaching.”

Reynaud began by identifyingtopics to cover in the book.“They’re drawn from questionsI’ve heard consistently over

ment goes to the heat winnerand then to the best times fromall heats. The two-from-each-heat provision is drawn fromoutdoor track and takes intoaccount wind, but that’s irrele-vant for indoor events and sowas removed, Podkaminer says.

In another change, when ajump-off is necessary to settlea tie in vertical jumps, a com-petitor’s decision to withdrawfrom the jump-off will notaffect his or her participationin subsequent events or negatehis or her performance in theevent. In other words, a with-drawal from a jump-off won’tbe recorded as a “fail,” whichimplies an attempt, and which

NCAA Moving toUnisex Steeple-chase PitsThere will be no more women-only water pits in NCAAsteeplechase events and nomore short runways for the longjump and triple jump, thanksto work of the NCAA Trackand Field Rules Committee.

In its revisions for 2005, thecommittee deleted a sectionand diagram that allowedwomen an optional pit threeinches shorter than that usedby male steeplechasers. Italso specified that new hori-zontal-jump runways must beat least 40 meters long (131feet, three inches) from theedge nearest the pit of eachtakeoff board.

Otherwise, most of the com-mittee’s work involved clarify-ing a few hazy points andadjusting language to matchrules of USA Track and Fieldand the IAAF. “I don’t thinkthere are any major itemshere at all this time around,”says Bob Podkaminer, Secre-tary/Rules Editor for the Trackand Field Committee.

Of note, however, are a coupleof changes regarding prelimi-naries and heats. In assigninglanes in events without prelim-inaries, the games committeenow can draw on performancetimes from previous competi-tion. Previously, lanes were tobe assigned by drawing lots.The situation is rare exceptin some dual meets, saysPodkaminer.

For indoor meets, the commit-tee withdrew a provision spec-ifying that there must be atleast two competitors from aheat advancing in an event.Under the new rule, advance-

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Ida Nilsson of Northern Arizona University navigates the waterpit at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Women-onlywater pits were eliminated in NCAA rules changes for 2005.

Smaller changes, including a downloadable official rulebook, are available at: www2.ncaa.org/media_and_events/ncaa_publications/playing_ rules/.

Page 11: Coaching Management 13.1

COACHING MANAGEMENT 9

the years,” she says. “How doyou get kids motivated? Howdo you stay disciplined andteach your athletes discipline?How do you manage yourtime, deal with parents, andapproach recruiting? At everyclinic I’ve ever done, these arethe things women talk about.”

She wanted readers to heardirectly from successful femalecoaches in their own voices,so the next step was findingcoaches willing to write eachchapter. She found them athigh schools and colleges bothsmall and large.

While the book’s authors coachsports from field hockey torowing, Reynaud believes thecontent is easily transferablefrom hardwood to grass tothe track. As an example, shepoints to a chapter on teamcohesion by Sharon Pfluger,

Head Women’s LacrosseCoach at the NCAA Division IIICollege of New Jersey. “Herteam has won six consecutivenational championships, andthe key to those successes isher understanding of how to

treat a group of young womenas a team,” Reynaud says.“The principles she discussesare valuable for coaches ofany sport.”

The coaches who wrote wereextremely candid about theirexperiences, Reynaud adds.For example, University ofTexas Head Swimming CoachJill Sterkel writes about stressmanagement, and she doesn’tsugarcoat her own strugglewith the issue. “Sterkel basi-cally says, ‘I lived this. I had toget medication because I wasso stressed out. Let me tellyou what I did to lighten up,’”Reynaud says. “It’s amazingto learn from someone at thatlevel sharing that kind ofexperience.”

Although women are the book’sprimary audience, Reynaudbelieves it also offers insightfor male coaches. “There is nodoubt that this is a differentkind of coaching book, andthere are things in here you’dnever find in a book for men,”she says. “But particularly formen who work with female stu-dent-athletes, I think there is alot of wisdom here.”

“No matter how long you’vebeen in coaching, or whetheryou’re male or female, you arenever too old, too successful, ortoo experienced to learn fromothers,” says Crawford. “Andthat’s what this book offers: achance to learn from others,which is an important part ofgrowing in this profession.”

Cecile Reynaud’s book forfemale coaches includeschapters on everything fromself-discipline to recruiting.

The book can be ordered on the publisher’s Web siteat: www.humankinetics.com.

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Request No. 104

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Why do you think you’ve had so muchsuccess in the last 25 years?

Our athletes have bought into what wedo, and have committed themselves toan 11-month training regimen. Theydon’t necessarily have to be training fortrack all 11 months, but they have toremain conditioned athletes.

Here in Michigan, fall is the season forgirls’ basketball and winter is the seasonfor volleyball. Some of our young ladiesare basketball players who come to usduring the winter indoor track and fieldseason, and some of them are volleyballplayers who don’t join us until March. Butthey’re all conditioning in an organizedprogram for 11 months out of the year,lifting weights and doing cardiovasculartraining.

If they don’t play a fall or winter sport,they’re still not just hanging out at thepark. They’re working out. We run a con-ditioning program four days a week from3:30 to 5:00 during October, November,and December. It’s open to middleschoolers and high schoolers. We startedthis season’s program with about 60young ladies who are not involved in anyfall sports. It keeps young people fromgetting in trouble after school, and gives

them an opportunity to do somethingathletic. It’s helped kids in the programtremendously, whether they’re track andfield athletes or not.

What is your coaching philosophy?My coaching philosophy is pretty simple:You only get out of something what youput into it. If you condition your body 11

AQ& Bryan WestfieldAnn Arbor Pioneer High School

Pioneer (Mich.) High School’s Winter Taylor (center) crosses the finish line in first place asthe last leg of the 4x100-meter relay at the County Meet of Champions. Coach Westfieldhas made providing opportunities for girls a high priority in his program.

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When Bryan Westfield first started coaching atAnn Arbor Pioneer (Mich.) High School, therewere few opportunities for girls to compete incross country and track and field. Twenty-five

years later, his teams have becomethe dominant force in the state.

The Pioneer girls’ outdoor trackteam has finished first in its region24 times, and the girls’ cross countryteam has finished first in its region14 times. Westfield was named theNFHS National Girls’ Track Coach ofthe Year in 2002.

Growing up in Detroit and Ann Arbor, Westfieldgraduated from Pioneer High School beforeattending Cornell University, where he ran the400-meter hurdles and played running backand cornerback on the football team. Followinga brief stint with the New York Giants as a

member of the scout team, Westfield returnedto Pioneer in 1965 and began organizing atrack and field club for middle school and highschool girls.

After the passage of Title IX, Pioneer createdinterscholastic girls’ track and cross countryteams, and in 1979, Westfield took over bothprograms, integrating them into his track club.His teams started winning that first year offormal competition, with both track and crosscountry teams capturing regional champion-ships. They have been winning ever since.

Along with working as a coach, Westfield teachesbiology at Pioneer and leads the school’s gospelchoir. In this interview, Westfield talks aboutthe importance of providing opportunities, fos-tering year-round conditioning, and preparinghis athletes for both winning and losing.

10 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Untitled-1 1 8/24/04 9:55:40 AM

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Untitled-1 1 8/24/04 9:55:40 AM

Request No. 105

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months out of the year, you’re going tobe a better athlete than you were whenyou started.

With each year comes more possibilitiesfor young people to be involved. In Pio-neer track and field, we don’t cut any-body from the team. The young ladiesearn letters by completing the season,not by earning points. If they start on dayone and stick with it through the statechampionships, then they earn a letter.And that’s motivation for a lot of people.

How do you balance a team that hassome star athletes and some peoplewho are just starting out?

We’re often criticized for it, but we usedual meets to let our younger, moreinexperienced athletes compete againstother schools. Because the dual meetshave no effect on whether we win theconference, they give our kids an oppor-tunity they wouldn’t have otherwise.When other coaches say, “We want torun against your best kids all the time,” Itell them, “Well, that’s not the way wedo business here. We want all our youngpeople to have an opportunity.”

We also split up our kids a lot. For ex-ample, on a Saturday, we might sendathletes to three different invitationals,giving everybody an opportunity tocompete somewhere. Our athletes knowthat regardless of their talent, they’regoing to be competing every Tuesdayand Saturday during the high schoolseason. By opening the doors of oppor-tunity, we can bring success to a lot ofthese kids. Then, toward the champion-ships, we concentrate primarily on thebetter athletes. But that’s just for the lastthree weeks of the season.

After winning so many championships,how do you help your athletes copewith the pressure of being favorites? We tell them that becoming a successful

athlete means learning how to lose almostas much as it means learning how to win.You’ve got to handle yourself with dignityat all times, because there are going to beups and downs, not only athletically but inall parts of your life. We prepare them toface the reality of coming up short, just aswe prepare them to win.

How do you help them cope withlosing? In practices, we purposely put our bestathletes in competition against folks whoare better than they are, just to make surethey don’t get big heads. For example,Candice Davis, who’s now a sophomoreat the University of Southern California,

was state champion in the 100 hurdlesduring her sophomore, junior, and senioryears. And each year, she set a new staterecord in the 100 hurdles. But we alsomade her run the 300-meter hurdles. Indual meets, we made her run on the Brelay teams, as opposed to always beingon the A team. We had her doing longjumps and high jumps. Sure, she couldhigh jump 5 feet from natural ability, butwe had kids who could jump 5’2” and5’3”. She was put in situations where shecouldn’t possibly take success for granted.

We do that with a lot of kids. We’ll takea good distance runner and have her runa leg on the 4 x 800-meter relay. Or we’lltake a kid who’s usually the anchor onthe 4 x 800, who’s used to always beingin front, and put her on the second leg,so that she’ll get the baton back in thepack and have to work to catch up. Wechallenge them to do events that they’renot proficient in.

How do you help athletes who arebeing recruited?At the end of their sophomore year, Isend out as many as 200 letters detailingwhat the athletes have achieved academ-ically and athletically to college coaches Iknow. Many coaches respond and send

me blank information sheets that I canthen turn over to kids. Then, during theirjunior year, when recruiting starts, I meetwith the young people and their familiesto explain the process.

I always make sure the athletes enroll inthe NCAA clearinghouse to get therecruiting process started, and I continueto be involved, but when the choice ofcolleges actually comes up and the ath-lete makes a commitment to go on thefive official visits, I back away and let theparents and athlete and college coachesdo their thing. I don’t want my biases toget in the way of what a kid and her fam-ily want to do.

How do you find athletes for yourprogram?I have announcements over the loud-speaker twice a week, encouraging peoplewho are not doing anything after schoolto come by—especially the kids who relyon public transportation to get home andkids who are just hanging around school.

Our local paper will tell people that wehave a track club conditioning program,and as a result of that, kids from the middleschools get involved, and kids from otherhigh schools will come over. I might havea middle school gym teacher who says,“I think this kid’s got some ability, butthey’ve got some problems in their family.I want to keep them busy after school sothey don’t get involved in trouble.”

We open it up that way, and we get a lotof kids. Of the 60 girls in this year’s pro-gram, abilities range from kids who can’twalk 100 meters to kids who are fairlydecent athletes. There’s no competition,so they don’t have to worry about beingembarrassed. It’s just general conditioning.

We also have a big sister-little sister pro-gram where the older students connectwith the younger ones and mentor themacademically and athletically. We letthe kids get to know each other first,and then our older kids pick a little sis-ter, and if that doesn’t work out, theyswap sisters, and find a way to mentoreach other.

What kind of goals do you set?We never look at team goals and we nevertalk about becoming state champions.Our goals are all about improving indivi-dual performance. We want young peopleto see where they were in October andcompare that to where they are in Juneand July. I ask the kids to write down their

12 COACHING MANAGEMENT

We also have a big sister-little sister program wherethe older students connect with the younger ones andmentor them academically and athletically. We let thekids get to know each other first, and then our olderkids pick a little sister, and if that doesn’t work out, theyswap sisters, and find a way to mentor each other.

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COACHING MANAGEMENT 13

goals, and some of them have nothing todo with track and field. They just write, “Iwant to lose weight,” or “I want to bemore disciplined.” I’ve read hundreds ofthem, and every one is different, and veryseldom do they say specifically, “I wantto run the hurdles in 13.6.”

What do you like about coaching girls? Well, I’ve got five daughters, and I enjoyworking with girls. I see them wanting tolearn, just because they’ve been deniedso much—not everyone in this particulargeneration, but certainly their mothersand grandmothers. My wife wanted to bean athlete, and was denied that oppor-tunity in high school. She and I talkedabout that when we were first married,and when our daughters were born,agreeing that if they ever wanted to beathletes, we wanted them to have thatopportunity.

I come from a family that has both blackand white members, and the 1967 Detroitriots, which were strictly about race,started in my old neighborhood. I have astrong spiritual base, and discrimination

Q A&ed against each other. I’m 61 now, and heand I both know we’re going to ease ourway out of here pretty soon. But I stillenjoy coaching tremendously. I look for-ward to practice every day, and I look

forward to biology classes every day. Ihaven’t gotten to the point where I don’tenjoy my job any more, but when thathappens, I’m out of here.

Please look for the next issue ofCoaching Management-Track & Fieldin your mailbox in September.

has always challenged that. I come fromthe Civil Rights Movement, so I’m alwaysinterested in helping folks, and lookingfor ways to help people who may havebeen denied opportunities in the past.

These women are eager to learn, to tryto better themselves, and to do thingsthat other people say they can’t do.

Does retirement ever cross your mind?I haven’t thought about it, but I’m sure Iwill. I’ve got an assistant named Kent Ber-nard, who was a bronze medalist in the1964 Olympics, and we’ve been friendssince our college days, when we compet-

I come from the Civil Rights Movement, so I’m alwaysinterested in helping folks, and looking for ways to helppeople who may have been denied opportunities inthe past. These women are eager to learn ... and to dothings that other people say they can’t do.

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14 COACHING MANAGEMENT

organization. However, when it comes toputting on successful, well-attendedmeets, the Final Countdown is just onepart of the equation. Along with musicthat encourages crowd participation,there is well-thought-out announcing,allowing fans to know exactly which ath-letes are competing and what marks theyare shooting for. And thanks to an orga-nized and efficient approach, the entiremeet is finished in the time it would taketo attend a football or baseball game.

From pre-meet organization and set-up to recruiting and training volunteers,the goal of every meet host is to providethe most athlete- and fan-friendly eventpossible—one that visiting teams lookforward to attending in years to come.For this article, Coaching Managementtalks to a handful of top high school andcollege coaches who have built reputa-tions for putting on successful meets.These coaches share ideas and advice forhosting meets both big and small. Along

OWNTIME IS THE ONEingredient that every trackand field coach knows cansour a good meet quickly. Itis the space between run-ning events when the fans’attention turns from the

track to their watches. Deprived ofaction, the crowd grows restless, won-dering when the meet will be finished.

At Fresno State University, however,the lulls between track events are oftenthe times fans look forward to the most.During breaks, the crowd’s attention isdrawn to the infield, where the fieldevents finals take place in a format calledthe Final Countdown. These match-upspit the top two competitors for each eventin head-to-head showdowns, accompa-nied by music designed to pump up thecrowd and inspire the athletes.

The Final Countdowns are a staple ofall Fresno State meets—events renownedfor their raucous crowds and efficient

DWant to make your track and fieldprogram the talk of the town? Host a first-class home meet—in which fans, athletes, and officialsare all focused on the right thingat the right time.

BUILDING

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boards, X number of pencils, X numberof tape measures, a rake, a shovel—gather all those materials together andplace them in a central location—weuse a milk crate—so right before theevent, we only have to pick up one pack-age that contains all of the equipmentrequired to run that event.”

Included with those materials is a listof the people assigned to work theevent. “We also photocopy the rules ofthe event out of the rule book and tapethem to the back of the clipboard,” headds. “The meet schedule also goes onthe clipboard. You want the folks whoare running each event to have all theinformation they need, so that theydon’t have to scramble around and findyou at the last minute.”

The next step is keeping the meetrunning quickly and efficiently. The keyis knowing your boundaries and not try-ing to host too large of a meet, whichcould overextend your resources. “We

COACHING MANAGEMENT 15

only host small meets,” says MarkGuthrie, Head Track and Field Coach atthe University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.“We’re looking more for quality compe-tition than enormous, all-day events. It’sobviously much easier to keep a smallmeet on time than it is a large meet.”

Even for a small meet, preparationshould begin well before the meet isscheduled to start. “We publish a tenta-tive time schedule weeks in advance,”says Guthrie. “Once we receive entries,we update the time schedule. That way,we know how many heats of each racewe’re going to have and how long eachrace will take from the start of one heatuntil the start of the next heat.”

By knowing the number of events,and how long each event will take,Guthrie is able to construct a fairly accu-rate schedule. And he always makes sure

R.J. Anderson is an Assistant Editor atCoaching Management.

the way, they share their philosophiesabout reducing downtime betweenevents, delegating duties, and fostering ahighly competitive atmosphere thatbrings attention to your home meets andyour program as a whole.

Getting OrganizedAs at Fresno State, Occidental Col-

lege meets are known for their fan-friendliness and innovative twists, butnone of that would be possible withouta more fundamental ingredient: carefulorganization. Regardless of the size ofthe meet, whether or not it succeedscomes down to pre-meet planning. ForTroy Engle, Men’s and Women’s HeadTrack and Field Coach at OccidentalCollege, proper preparation meansthorough utilization of checklists.

“I make a list for each of the events,”says Engle. “For example, for the longjump, I write down the things that needto be out and ready—X number of clip-

Fresno State has takenits home meets to anew level, ensuring agreat experience forathletes and fans alike.

COVER STORY

BY R.J. ANDERSON MOMENTUM

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he allows five extra minutes for removalof both the hurdles and steeplechasebarriers.

To keep meets from becomingmarathons, Fresno State has done awaywith heats at dual and three-way meets.“Each team gets three entries, and in thefield events they get four entries,” saysBob Fraley, Director of Track and Fieldat Fresno State University. “Because wehave both men and women, the throw-ing events can take up to three hours,but everything else takes around twohours and 20 minutes to run. The ath-letes get fired up because they only haveone chance to run in each event, andthe fans love the finality of head-to-headcompetition.”

Labor IdeasNo matter how well-planned, any

meet can bog down without enoughworkers. When host coaches are forcedto wear too many hats, resources arestretched, details are overlooked, andvisiting coaches are left scratching theirheads wondering whether attendingthe meet was a good idea.

There are a variety of ways to staff atrack meet, but in nearly every situation,the key is recruiting and rewarding vol-unteers. Your program may be able tofund a couple of paid officials, but inmost cases, the people who work theevents are moms and dads, communitymembers, and athletes and coachesfrom other teams at your school.

Engle has had success finding work-ers by recruiting within the school’s ath-letic department. “We’re lucky thatwe’ve had friends of our athletes volun-teer to help, and we’ve also been able toconvince other sports teams to helpout,” says Engle. “When we had ourconference championships here lastspring, the swimming coach was gra-cious enough to offer the help of herstudent-athletes and we were able to dosmall things for them like buy a coupleof pizzas,” Engle says.

“After the meet, all of our athletesmade it a point to find all the swimmerswho helped out and thank them, whichthe swimming coach told me reallymade a difference,” Engle continues.“In turn, we offer our help in hostingtheir home events.”

At the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, Guthrie takes things a step fur-ther by providing monetary rewards for

teams that help out at track and fieldmeets. “At this level, we hire a lead offi-cial for each event. Then we have, forexample, members of the football teamreturning the shot put, marking theshot, and writing down results,” saysGuthrie. “Teams are paid out of mybudget. The athletes themselves don’tget paid, but their team gets a sum ofmoney for working that event.”

Guthrie, author of Coaching Track &Field Successfully, says that when hecoached at the high school level, heleaned heavily on parents to help runhome meets. One system that workedparticularly well for Guthrie was form-ing a parents’ group and empoweringthat group to spearhead volunteerrecruiting efforts.

At the beginning of each seasonGuthrie hosted a pot luck dinner meet-ing for athletes and their parents. “Dur-ing that meeting, the president of theparents’ group would stand up and say,‘We’re hosting this many meets, and weneed workers,’ and we would then startassigning people,” says Guthrie.

“After we ate, we asked them to actu-ally perform a portion of their son ordaughter’s event,” he says. “We didn’tmake them run the mile, but they ran alittle bit, threw the shot, or jumped intothe high jump pit. It really helped themunderstand the sport as both a fan andprospective official.”

Once the season got underway, oneperson from the parents’ group was incharge of signing up other parents towork the meets. Guthrie provided eachparent with an instruction manual forrunning their event, which includedwhere they needed to report and a copyof the rules for the event. Then, beforeeach meet, he held a brief training ses-sion on how to run the event.

“It takes a little work for the headcoach to get parents organized andinformed,” says Guthrie. “But once wegot it going, it was pretty awesome.”

Brian Colding, the Head Boys’ Coachat West Chapel (Fla.) High School, alsoutilizes a parental work force, concen-trating most of the meet education whilethe action is taking place. “We ease peo-ple who want to help but aren’t veryexperienced into the process by havingthem work with volunteers who alreadyknow what’s going on,” says Colding.“I’ll say, ‘I’ve got somebody working thelong jump. Why don’t you go over and

COVER STORY

16 COACHING MANAGEMENT

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Request No. 107

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Request No. 108

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18 COACHING MANAGEMENT

COVER STORY

help rake the pit, mark the jumps, orread the tape?’”

Colding says he’s also not afraid toask visiting coaches for help when itcomes to staffing a home meet. “I usu-ally know most of them and what theirarea of expertise is,” he says. “So if thevisiting school has a really good polevaulting coach, I’ll put him or her incharge of the pole vault.”

For meets that limit the number ofentrants per event, Colding is quick to

find athletes from his team who aren’tparticipating that day and have themhelp out. He also enlists other sportcoaches at West Chapel to help offici-ate, and he has even talked the highschool principal—a former track coachat the school—into working as a starter.

Convincing coaches or volunteers towork an event is easier if you tell themhow long they’ll be needed. Engle sayshe learned a valuable lesson from a for-mer athlete who wanted to remain withthe program despite suffering a career-ending injury as a sophomore. “He

wanted to stay involved, so I asked himto help coordinate the volunteer labor,”says Engle. “Since then, he’s taken overand shown me that you can never betoo organized in that regard.

“I used to just wait, and as volunteersshowed up I’d say, ‘Okay, I need you togo over to the long jump and you to goover to the pole vault,’” he continues.“Now, this former athlete has it sched-uled so that we can say to our volun-teers, ‘We need you here at this time,

but we’re not going to keep you anylonger than this because we know thatthe long jump is only going to take twohours.’ He’s got a checklist put togetherand he knows who’s where. And ifsomebody doesn’t show up, he also hasa group of folks we can ask to fill in.”

Coaches agree that to keep comingback, volunteers need to feel appreciat-ed. “We try to ensure that runners getthe volunteers lunches and water attheir venue,” says Engle. “We want tomake them feel like they’ve got some-body taking care of them.

“We also try to do some other littlethings for our officials,” he continues.“For example, at the Occidental Invita-tional, we had about 35 officials. Theywere paid, but we also had key chainsengraved for about 3 or 4 dollars. I hadabout 50 or 60 of those made, then puteach one in a nice gift box and walkedaround and handed them out to offi-cials and said thank you.”

“I think it’s a matter of fostering rela-tionships, generating interest, being

organized, and showing peopleyou care,” says Guthrie. “And as acoaching friend of mine once toldme, ‘You can get anybody to dopretty much anything for a hat anda T-shirt.’”

Win the CrowdWith the meet’s basic organiza-

tion under control and athletes,volunteers, and visiting coachestaken care of, you can turn yourattention to truly making the expe-rience enjoyable for fans. The firststep is minimizing downtime, andthe next is finding creative ways tofill any gaps that remain.

“If you go to a football or basket-ball game, when there’s a timeout,cheerleaders and mascots keep thecrowd involved,” says Fraley. “Intrack and field, we generally don’thave that. So at our meets, we holdthe finals for the field eventsbetween the running events, anddraw the crowd’s attention to thosefinals.”

Fraley utilizes the Final Count-down, which pits the first- and sec-ond-place competitors for eachfield event against each other inhead-to-head, winner-take-all finale.If there are 12 competitors in a fieldevent, there are three preliminary

rounds. The top eight scorers advance toa fourth round. From there the top fouradvance to a fifth round, and the top twocompetitors move on to the finals.

“We play a song called ‘The FinalCountdown,’” says Fraley. “And theannouncer says, ‘On the runway, we’vegot the final two competitors in the finalcountdown. Jumping first is so-and-so insecond place and his mark is this, andthen jumping last is so and so, whosemark is this.’

“The DJ continues playing music—for the jumping events, we play ‘Jump’

hen organizing a meet, howcan you initiate media cover-age, and assure yourself ofboth pre- and post-eventcoverage? For Bob Fraley,Director of Track and Field

at Fresno State University, it means digginginto his budget and forcing media outlets totake notice.

“I buy time on the local ESPN talk radio sta-tion,” he says. “I’m able to specify that duringthe morning show—which is the prime listen-ing time for people stuck in traffic—I want acertain number of interviews with our athletesand our coaches.

“The local newspaper writers hear about ourevent on ESPN Radio, and it spurs theirinterest, as well as that of the public,” Fraleycontinues. “For example, for the Street Vaultpole vaulting event we put on in Clovis thisyear, we paid $500 for 120 commercials thatran for one week in August. During that time,people are listening to the national newsgetting updates about NFL training camps,and all of a sudden here’s this pole vaultcommercial. That’s why we get 7,000 to10,000 people in the streets of Old TownClovis to watch the event. People hear the

commercials and say, ‘This is on ESPN Radio,it must be worth something.’”

Being accessible—and proactive—is the keyto attracting and working with local mediaaccording to Mark Guthrie, Head Coach atthe University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, andauthor of Coaching Track & Field Success-fully. “When I first started, I was in a one-horse town in Wisconsin,” he says. “Theschool had 400 kids and did not have a track,so we didn’t host track meets. But we didhave a very successful cross country teamthat won three state titles.

“I wanted the local newspaper to cover us,so I wrote the articles myself,” he continues.“And my fiancée checked my writing forgrammatical issues and took pictures. Weturned the photos and the articles over tothe paper and they printed them.”

By letting the school know how the team didthe night before and when the next meet isthrough the school’s morning announcements,Guthrie was also able to publicize the pro-gram within the school. “Display cases alsowork well in that regard,” says Guthrie. “Andif the kids are having a good time, word ofmouth works really well.”

P U R S U I N G P U B L I C I T Y

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by Van Halen—and the announcer asksthe crowd to put their hands togetherto help push the jumpers,” adds Fraley.“It’s very dramatic.”

And often, so are the results. “Every-body in the stands is focusing on thesetwo jumpers, and good things usuallyhappen,” Fraley continues. “During thelong jump at last year’s Fresno Relays,one kid was at 22’4” and he ended upgoing over 23 feet. Then the kid who wasleading at 23’ went 24’2”—just becausethey had 1,000 people clapping and giv-ing them support. We’ve had peoplethrow the discus 20 feet further on theirlast throw because the music was on andthe entire crowd was behind them.”

Fraley says music constantly accompa-nies the action at Fresno State meets.“When a dramatic scene is taking placein a movie, there’s music playing in thebackground. It dramatizes the moment,”says Fraley. “The same thing happensduring our meets.”

Fraley’s wife, Elaine, presides overthe musical selections while sitting in abooth located next to the finish lineand is careful not to interfere with thestarts of running events. She also doesnot take requests from athletes lookingto get a boost from their favorite song.“We tell the athletes the music is thereto get the fans going,” Fraley says.

Fresno State athletes are, however,expected to engage the fans. “We tellthem, ‘When you step on that runway,and the announcer calls the crowd’sattention to you, take your hands andstart clapping them over your head. Assoon as you make the bar, react to thecrowd,’” says Fraley. “And when youcome off of that pit, if there’s anotherathlete there, give him or her a high five.

“The key is forming an emotionalconnection between the fans and theathlete,” he adds. “In the jumps, in thepole vault, and in the throwing eventswe want athletes to make the fansbelieve that they would not have hadthat performance without them.”

Engaging AnnouncingBeyond playing music and filling

downtime, fan involvement can be en-hanced by a knowledgeable P.A. announ-cer. “A good announcer keeps the meetmoving and makes it more interesting,”says Engle. “Although it’s labor-intensive,we’ve found that adding two or threepeople as spotters for the announcer

helps a lot. They can feed informationabout what’s going on at the differentvenues and keep the flow going.”

Engle is lucky to have Dixon Farmer,one of the most respected track and fieldannouncers in the country, as his athlet-ic director. Farmer has worked at manytop meets, including the Melrose Games,and the USA Track & Field NationalChampionships. One thing that makesFarmer exceptional, says Engle, is that hedoes his homework.

“He researches by asking coachesquestions at a brief coaches meeting 10minutes before the first event,” says Engle.“He says to the coaches, ‘Give me thenames of three or four of your kids you

think might do well today and tell me alittle bit about them.’

“The first couple of times we did it,some of the coaches thought it was a bitof a pain,” continues Engle. “Until sud-denly, over the P.A., the announcer isdescribing their athletes, saying, ‘Here’sJoe Smith, who was last year’s confer-ence champ at 200 meters. He’s asophomore from wherever.’ The kidsfeel great, and the coaches realize thatit’s certainly time well spent. Smallthings like that can make a big differ-ence in the quality of the meet.”

Guthrie also likes his announcer toprovide some play-by-play. “In longerraces, a good announcer can call it a lit-tle bit like a horse race,” he says. “Theannouncer can say who the leaders are,if they’re on national qualifying pace, ora pace to break the track record. And ifthey do break a record, you certainly letthe crowd know.”

Since fans love record performances,Guthrie will often set the stadium score-board at a record for a particular event,and then run it down once the gun goesoff. “If a runner hits the finish line andthere’s still time on the clock, everyoneknows they’ve set a record—it could bea state record, a facility record, or ameet record,” he says. “The spectatorsreally get into it. They’re watching the

clock saying, ‘Oh, you’ve got 10 secondsto get there!’”

And don’t forget that fans like toknow what’s going on in the fieldevents. Even before the final roundGuthrie places performance indicators,in both metric and English, at everyfield event so fans sitting in the crowdknow who is leading.

ReflectionSo how do you know when your

meets are a success? For Engle, the endof each meet is the ideal time to evalu-ate his efforts.

“I poll the visiting coaches at the endof every competition,” says Engle. “I

walk around and say, ‘Thanks for com-ing, call me on Monday and let meknow if there are things you think wecan do better.’ I think by the end of themeet people have a good sense of whatworked and what didn’t.

“In the days after a meet I really goout of my way to pick the coaches’brains, whether it’s at a lunch or by giv-ing them a telephone call,” he adds.“Some of our best ideas have come fromvisiting coaches and visiting athletes.”

While hosting a track and field meetis no easy task, when done right, it canbe a boon to your athletes, your fans,and your program. Along with makinglife easier for your student-athletes,competing at home meets allows theirfans—a base made up primarily of fam-ily and friends from school—an oppor-tunity to watch them compete. And atrack filled with competing athletes isan ideal tool for recruiting yourschool’s younger athletes.

“No matter what your situation is,you can find a way to make a meet spe-cial,” says Guthrie. “And I think you canrun a really nice meet with four or fiveteams—you don’t need 10, 20, or 30teams. If you’re willing to put in thetime and let other people review whatyou’ve done, eventually you can have apretty well-oiled machine.” ■

COVER STORY

COACHING MANAGEMENT 19

“I poll the visiting coaches at the end of every competition.I walk around and say, ‘Thanks for coming, call me on Mondayand let me know if there are things you think we can dobetter.’ By the end of a meet, people have a good sense ofwhat worked and what didn’t. Some of our best ideas havecome from visiting coaches and athletes.”

Page 22: Coaching Management 13.1

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Page 23: Coaching Management 13.1

problem, not a physical one. If you canteach your athletes to recognize this,corrections become more permanent.

As a result, practices are more effi-cient—athletes end up learning morein a shorter period of time. And theyare more effective during competition.I’ve used the program with teams atmany different levels—youth, highschool, and college—and I’ve watchedthese squads consistently give the mosteffort they can, have fun, and performbetter than anyone thought possible.

IN MOST ATHLETIC PROGRAMS, coaching is more of an art thana science. Every coach has his or her own strategies, style, and methodsof motivation. The common understanding is that there is no “one rightway” to coach a team.

But there is one area of coaching that could benefit from more scienceand less art: teaching athletes the mental skills necessary to succeed insports. To fully reach their potential, athletes need to be taught how to“think to win” in a structured way.

COACHING MANAGEMENT 21

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

Many mistakes made by athletes aremental mistakes. When your sprintercomes out of the blocks slowly, it’s notbecause he is not strong enough to geta great start, but because some mentallapse caused him to not execute at thatpoint in time. When an athlete is notconcentrating or giving maximumeffort during practice, it is a mental

Mitch Lyons is an Assistant Coach for Men’sBasketball at Lasell College. He is also thePresident of GetPsychedSports.org, Inc., anonprofit corporation based in Newton, Mass.

Through research and trial and errorwith my own teams, I’ve developed aprogram for teaching the mental side ofsports that I’d like to share with othercoaches. Its premise is actually prettysimple: If you teach athletes how to beaware of their thinking process andremain positive in all that they do, theirperformance will improve.

How can you get your athletes to give maximumeffort in every aspect of their performance?

Consider the following mental (and life) skills program.BY MITCH LYONS

The Mental Edge

Page 24: Coaching Management 13.1

Here’s the best part: You will also beteaching skills that will help your stu-dent-athletes succeed in life. Teachingathletes how to think inside and outsidethe classroom setting and to be positiveeven when faced with a pervasive nega-tivism in our society can help them beleaders as adults.

The Game of LifeThe program I describe in this arti-

cle aims to make athletes winners bothon and off the track or field. Most ofyou probably already subscribe to thisideal. We all want to win, but any goodcoach also thrives on seeing an awkwardfreshman mature into a confi-dent senior leader.

And we certainly aren’t thefirst generation of coaches tothink this way. For example,today, we take the concept ofteamwork for granted, but 100years ago it was a new idea. Backin 1906, Luther Halsey Gulick,the first Physical Activity Direc-tor for New York City, startedhigh schools operating sportsprograms (for boys) because, inhis words, “Through the loyaltyand self-sacrifice developed inteam games, we are laying thefoundations for wider loyaltyand a more discerning self-devo-tion to the great national idealson which democracy rests.”

Gulick was amazingly success-ful. Today, not only do athletesand members of educational institutionsunderstand “loyalty to the whole,” butentire communities support their hometeams with abandon. We regularly pep-per our speech with sports metaphorsbecause the teamwork lessons in sportsare clearly what we experience in oureveryday lives.

Gulick’s vision also included teach-ing morals through sports. And whilemost coaches would agree with the ideathat we should be teaching life skills onour teams, this concept has provenmore difficult. One hundred years later,we still don’t have a standard methodfor teaching these types of lessons. Wepoint out right from wrong duringteachable moments, and we hold ourathletes accountable to a code of con-duct, but I think we can do more. I thinkwe can teach life skills—through mentalskills training—in a systematic way. I

think the time is ripe to fulfill Gulick’sideal of using sport to shape society.

Studies in sports psychology say thatperformance can be improved throughbuilding an athlete’s self-worth. Ourprogram combines self-talk, goal-setting,visualization techniques, and a positiveenvironment to help athletes enhancetheir performance in any sport.

These same mental skills helptoday’s young people find the rightpath and succeed in life. My belief isthat low self-worth contributes to manyof our adolescents’ problems (violence,addictions, eating disorders). We mustteach young people how to find success

by building their own feelings of valuein our society. If our society’s negativeattitudes promote feelings of hopeless-ness, we must teach young people howto create a positive atmosphere inwhich people flourish and are empow-ered. Mental skills training fills thoseneeds for your team, your school, andour society as a whole.

The ProgramA main tenet of the program, and of

sports psychology, is that people whoengage in positive thinking and feelgood about themselves will probablyperform better in anything they do. Butwhat is not so obvious is that self-worthand positive thinking need to be taught.Helping your teammates, focusing, andeven working hard are all skills. Theymay seem like simple skills to adults, butto youngsters they can be difficult.

Thus, we need to teach them, just as weteach sport-specific skills.

Here are the six major skills we teachin the program:

■ Give maximum physical effortbecause when we do we feel good aboutourselves.

■ Be positive with ourselves and withothers because people perform betterand learn faster in a positive environ-ment.

■ Set written goals because they pro-mote preparedness, which leads to feel-ing confident.

■ Be task-oriented and not outcome-oriented, because our own performance

is all we can control and success ismore likely when we think aboutthe details than when we focus onthe final product.

■ Visualize performing bodymotions successfully outside ofpractice.

■ Meditate to learn how tochange harmful thoughts intohelpful ones.

You may already talk aboutthese things, but are your ath-letes getting the message? Isthere a text that they follow? Arethey absolutely certain what theyare trying to accomplish throughsports? Do all members of yourteam understand the concepts?

On the teams I coach oradvise, the program starts with a90-minute workshop where weintroduce the principles of the

curriculum. Athletes are also given a textto read and are tested on it with a shortopen-book quiz. By reading and writingabout the skills, the athletes betterunderstand their meaning and impor-tance. We then apply those skills at everypractice and competition, without fail.We push ourselves as coaches the way weask athletes to push themselves.

Of the six major skills, the three weconcentrate on most are effort, goals,and creating a positive environment. Wework as a team on these areas and alsoask each athlete to think about themindividually. In the following sections,I’ll elaborate on these three points.

Maximum Physical EffortGiving maximum physical effort is a

mental skill, not an emotional event.While emotion may aid us, we mustmake the conscious choice to give all

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

22 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Setting daily goals helpsthe athletes transition topractice time. By handingin their goal books asthey come into practice,athletes think abouttheir sport before theybegin to practice andare able to clear theirminds of whatever theyhave been doing.

Page 25: Coaching Management 13.1

the effort we can muster for as long aswe can sustain it. The following pointsare what we tell our athletes and showthem in writing:

Accept that each practice is a com-petition in itself. The challenge is, “Howlong can I keep up my maximum physi-cal effort?”

Identify maximum physical effort asif it were a separate goal so that youknow how it feels kinesthetically, how itfeels emotionally, and what it looks likevisually. Identify maximum effort inpractice when it is happening so youknow what it is.

Demand that you make a choicewhether to give all you have—or not.Don’t kid yourself with your answer.

Expect consequences for bad choic-es that do not fit the identity of theteam. Each person on the team hasbeen asked to give something they havecomplete control over: their effort.

Ask, before each training interval,“What am I thinking about?” (Answer:My level of effort.) When the effort levelsags, ask, “What am I thinking about?”Sometimes we just forget to give maxi-mum physical effort as our thoughts goelsewhere, especially during particularlydifficult training.

Rate your effort after each trainingdrill, individually and as a team, untilmaximum effort is the rule, not theexception.

Stop and reflect on how confidentand prepared you feel when you work ashard as you can all practice, every prac-tice. Stop to reflect on how good youfeel as a person after you’ve worked ashard as you can.

Notice each physical letdown andconsciously try to reduce the number ofletdowns.

Support teammates, whether you areon or off the track. During meets, ath-letes who are not competing shouldhelp those who are to achieve the levelof effort everyone practices daily.

Naturally, athletes who spend thetime and have the commitment towardmaximum effort in every practice willperform better in competitions. Butmore importantly, each member of theteam learns how to raise his or her self-worth. They feel more confident andprepared and have learned that hardwork has more dividends than just fastertimes or longer throws. They respectthemselves.

Writing GoalsSetting written goals is another way

to gain self-worth. Before practice everyday, each athlete must write down threegoals to be worked on that day. Whyshould you insist that athletes constructwritten goals?

1. Scientific evidence shows that set-ting goals, with a coach’s feedback,improves athletes’ performance.

2. When athletes write down the littlethings they have to do to improve, they

remember them better and make moreprogress.

3. Setting daily goals helps athletestransition to practice time. By handingin their goal books as they come to prac-tice, athletes think about their sportbefore they begin to practice and cleartheir minds of whatever they have justbeen doing.

4. The discipline required to run a400-meter interval all the way through isthe same type of discipline required to

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24 COACHING MANAGEMENT

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

bring written goals every day. I havefound that if you inform kids of what isexpected of them, they see parallelsbetween what they do off the track andwhat they can accomplish on it. Ascoaches, we establish disciplinein a number of ways, and goal-setting can be one of them.

The type of goals set is veryimportant. Goals should bechallenging, yet realistic. Theyshould be performance-relat-ed, specific, and quantifiable.And they should be short-term, as we want success everyday so athletes can see theirown progress.

For example, a goal of “run-ning with less wasted bodymotion” is not specific enough.Instead, the coach should workwith the athlete to discoverhow to achieve that goal in a moredetailed way. If the athlete is allowingher arms to extend too far outside herbody, then that should be the focus. Abetter goal for this athlete could be,

“Think arms in every single time I’mrunning.”

Giving feedback on goals is alsoimportant. After the players drop offtheir goal books and start warming up,

I, as an assistant coach, make the timeto read their goals, make comments,and try to remember their goals duringpractice so I can see how they aredoing.

Creating a Positive EnvironmentBeing positive all the time is not

easy—for coaches or athletes. Thus, theprogram actively teaches the mental skillof being positive and demands that

coaches model it. Here is whatwe do to make a positive envi-ronment a constant:

■ We make sure all ath-letes understand and acceptthat people learn faster andperform better in a positiveenvironment.

■ We make sure athletesunderstand that it is a skill tobe actively positive. We agreeto practice this skill every timewe meet and model it for eachother.

■ We notice and correctnegative behavior as soon asit happens in ourselves and

others. We make sure it is corrected in apositive way, such as, “I understand yourfrustration, but stay positive.” Toencourage this, we notice impatience,sarcasm, negative tone, rolled eyes, and

For those of you thinking thisall takes too much time, I cantell you from experience thatbecause athletes learn fasterin a positive, hard-working,goal-oriented environment, theamount you can fit into prac-tice increases and the qualityof the practice improves.

Untitled-2 1 12/1/04 11:07:39 AM

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COACHING MANAGEMENT 25

other body language in ourselves andothers—then we say something about it.

■ We frequently ask ourselves andothers, “What are we thinking about?”to determine if we are having negativethoughts that hurt our performance.Everyone practices replacing negativethoughts with positive ones.

■ We encourage loud and frequentsupport from those not participating ata certain time. Everyone practices beingvocal in their support of others.

■ We actively attempt and encourageothers to see the good in people, get-ting past old differences for their ownhappiness and the unity of the team.

■ We teach and model that construc-tive criticism from others is instruction—it is not about you as a person, but aboutyour performance. We recognize defen-siveness and practice changing it.

■ We acknowledge as a group thatthose not in the travel squad have the

most difficult job on the team. Ascoaches, we must take the time to teachthem how to be positive without theself-worth gained from competing. Forexample, have them work on replacingnegative thoughts (“Why am I not com-peting?”) with helpful thoughts (“Howcould we make that baton pass morequickly?”)

Too Much Time?For those of you thinking this all

takes too much time, I can tell you fromexperience that because athletes learnfaster in a positive, hard-working, goal-oriented environment, the amount youcan fit into a practice increases. Moreimportantly, the quality of the practiceimproves.

What you will find over time is that youare not using more words, just differentones. You can concentrate your critiqueson the cause of the error instead of the

result, making corrections more perma-nent. And because the athletes aregrounded in the material, they willrespond to your coaching much morequickly.

But, beyond this program helpingyour athletes on the track or field, it canhelp create a society that Luther HalseyGulick began to talk about a centuryago, adding in what we now know aboutthe mind-body connection. If we stan-dardize coaching to include practicingthe skill of being positive, millions ofyoung people will become adults whoknow the power of positive thinking.

Ten years from now, the athletes youhave on your team today will notremember their personal bests. Theymay not even remember your name.But if you teach them to be aware ofhow their thoughts affect their perfor-mance, they will remember that lessonin everything they do. ■

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

To request a copy of the curriculum offered by GetPsychedSports.org, the author can be contacted [email protected]. The group’s Web address is: www.getpsychedsports.org.

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ow many times have youheard the saying “makeyour slow sprinters your

hurdlers”? This is a good ideaif you want slow hurdlers. Abetter option is to search yourhorizontal jumps squad for yournext great hurdler. Horizontaljumpers and hurdlers havemuch more in common than asprinter and hurdler. TheChinese have been doing thisfor some time now. Li Tongstarted as a long & high jumperand he went on to become aNCAA champion, and to run13.26 in the 110mHH. The cur-rent Olympic champion in the110mHH started out as a longjumper before making themove to the high hurdles.

The horizontal jumps havesome of the same movementsthat you will see in the hurdleevents. In the horizontal jumpsan athlete must be able toshorten their last stride beforetake-off and generate a forcefulstep off the ground. This actionis similar to the drive step intothe hurdle. A good hurdler willnot be able to take 3 full stridesin between the hurdles. Theathlete will have to learn how toshorten their final stride and stillstay quick and powerfulthrough the hurdle. If you havea horizontal jumper who is verygood with the last two stridesof the jump phase you arealready on your way to anabove average hurdler.

The controlled speed on therunway is also similar to what ahurdler must maintain inbetween the hurdles. Hurdlingis a speed event, but it also is aquickness event. A hurdler who

can run a 30m Fly (30m Fly willdetermine top speed) in 3.00seconds is traveling at 10meters per second. Thisequates out to around an 11.0– 11.2 second 100 meter. Eventhat speed is faster than whathe will be able to run inbetween the hurdles. If a hur-dler was to average 1 secondbetween hurdles (which is worldrecord pace) his top speed is9.14 meters per second. Thisshows that the running inbetween hurdles is a controlled

speed. This is similar to whatyou will see from a horizontaljumper on the runway.

These are just a few of themany similarities between the

horizontal jumps and the hur-dles. So the next time you arelooking for your league champi-on hurdler head for the LongJump pit.

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or decades, sports nutri-tionists have been preach-ing the same message: Tofuel working muscles, ath-letes need to get themajority of their caloriesfrom carbohydrates.

Lately, though, carbo-hydrates’ reputation hastaken a hit as a new mes-

sage has been gaining volume: Carbo-hydrates make you fat.

No one can blame student-athletesfor being confused, but what do theyreally need to know about finding theoptimal nutritional balance? And howcan you help them separate out themessages that pose risks to their healthand performance?

Debunking MythsHoards of American dieters are tak-

ing carb-bashing to heart, gobbling up

10 million copies of low-carb guruDr. Robert Atkins’s New Diet Rev-olution since its release in1992. Models and celebri-ties continue to add them-selves to the list of thoseattributing their million-dollar physiques to cut-ting carbs, and a dizzyingarray of “low-carb” prod-ucts compete for space onsupermarket shelves.

So should athletes lookingto lose a little weight considerlow-carb diets? Sports nutritionistshave a clear answer: no, never.

Gale Welter, Nutrition Counselor forthe University of Arizona athletic depart-ment, explains: “Very-low-carbohydratediets were designed for people who arevery overweight and have insulin resis-tance. Student-athletes, even ones whowant to lose weight, are incredibly

unlikely to have insulin resis-tance. Their glucose up-

take is going to be fan-tastic, just by virtue of

their high activitylevel. These dietswere not designedfor a population ofcollege athletes.”

But student-ath-letes are certainly

not immune to themarketing. “Student-

athletes see their peers los-ing weight fast on low-carb

plans, and they want to try them, too,”says Matt Radelet, Associate AthleticTrainer at Arizona. “Along with wantingto lose weight to perform at their best,there are powerful social pressures to

COACHING MANAGEMENT 29

Laura Smith is an Assistant Editor atCoaching Management.

NUTRITION

That is the question many athletes are asking these days aseveryone and their best friend seems to be losing weighton low-carb diets.

Carbs: To Cut or Not?

FBY LAURA SMITH

Page 32: Coaching Management 13.1

look a certain way, especially for womenin this age group, and that can add up todrastic dieting.

“Over the past year or so, it’s becometough to combat the messages they’regetting,” he continues, “but it’s criticalthat we educate athletes about the risks.”

Those risks can be both short andlong term. A diet that shortchanges ath-letes on carbs saps their muscles ofneeded glycogen, compromises theirperformance, and can lead to healthproblems.

“Carbohydrates are the primarysource of fuel for working muscles,” Wel-ter explains. “Athletes eating low-carb

diets are taking away their primary fueland making their bodies jump throughadditional hoops. They’re at greater riskfor losing lean mass. I tell them, ‘Sure,you may lose some weight—you’ll losesome water and some muscle—weightyou didn’t want to lose.’”

“A very-low-carb diet is not going togive them the energy they need, sothey’re not going to make the strengthgains they need to perform at theirbest,” agrees Suzanne Nelson Steen,Director of Sports Nutrition for theUniversity of Washington athleticdepartment. “By limiting their carbohy-drates, they’ll limit their glycogen

stores, which will limit their ability toexercise at a high intensity. And if theycan’t train at a high intensity, they won’tbe able to perform at a high intensity.In addition, they’ll be more prone toinjury because they’re fatigued.”

The long-term health consequencesare just as damaging. “The biggest dan-ger is that if you’re eating all protein,you’re cutting out foods like bagels,bananas, and breads,” says Nancy Clark,Nutrition Counselor at SportsMedicineAssociates in Brookline, Mass., andauthor of the best-selling Nancy Clark’sSports Nutrition Guidebook. “This meansyou’re not getting enough fiber or can-cer preventing phytochemicals. Everymajor medical association recommendsfruits and vegetables and whole grains aspart of a healthy diet—and those con-tain carbs. To eliminate them is counterto a plethora of health wisdom.”

Caroline Hodges, MS, RD, NutritionCounselor at the Elmira (N.Y.) NutritionClinic, who works with Cornell Universi-ty student-athletes, finds that eating-dis-ordered athletes can be particularlysusceptible to the low-carb message.“Athletes with an underlying eating dis-order are the most likely to want toseverely restrict carbs, and that is a hugeconcern,” she says. “Eating-disorderpatients are typically very sensitive toserotonin level changes, and becauseserotonin is a byproduct of carbohydratemetabolism, a low-carbohydrate intakedepletes the serotonin levels in thebrain. With lower serotonin, these ath-letes become more depressed and moreobsessed, and that makes their eatingdisorder worse.”

Most sports nutritionists recommendathletes follow a diet that takes 65 per-cent of its calories from carbohydrates,although they sometimes advise going abit lower for athletes whose aerobic out-put is low. Leslie Bonci, Director ofSports Nutrition at the University of Pitts-burgh Medical Center, suggests that tohelp athletes put this percentage intopractical terms, athletes might visualizetheir plate as divided into thirds. “Theprotein should fit on one third, while therest of the plate should be covered withcarbohydrate-containing grains, fruits,and vegetables,” she says.

Smart CarbsBut what can you do when an athlete

is set on trying out a low-carb diet? The

H E A L T H Y W E I G H T L O S S

NUTRITION

30 COACHING MANAGEMENT

ne of the best ways to steer weight-conscious athletes away fromdiets dangerously low in carbohydrates is to offer tips for a healthyalternative plan. First, it’s important to encourage them to restrictweight-loss efforts to the off-season.

“The first thing I tell them is, ‘Don’t try to lose weight during yourseason, or you will end up decreasing your performance,’” says Uni-

versity of Arizona Nutrition Counselor Gale Welter. “It’s a difficult message toget across, because during their season is exactly when they are under pressureto improve, and they think that they can do that by losing weight. But to loseweight, they have to create an energy deficit, and that really risks decreasingtheir performance.”

Then, instead of restricting carbs, Welter offers other suggestions. “I tell themto get very tight with the quality of the foods they’re eating, reduce theircalories, and depending on their sport, consider increasing the aerobic workthey’re doing,” she says. “Athletes in power sports who want to lose fat maythink they’re getting a lot of exercise, but they may actually need to get morecardio output going.”

Welter also cautions against trying to lose weight too quickly. “If an athletechronically over-restricts their calories, the body can over-ride it for a while andget the work done,” she explains. “But they will eventually fall apart, becausethey can never fully recover until they re-fuel themselves.”

Encouraging athletes to consider their body composition rather than their weightis another way to promote healthy eating. “Body comping is always my prefer-ence, instead of looking at a number on the scale,” says Caroline Hodges,Nutrition Counselor at the Elmira (N.Y.) Nutrition Clinic. “It can be very helpfulwith athletes who think they need to lose weight, because it gives them accu-rate information about exactly where they are.”

Often, a closer look can reveal that an athlete’s weight is fine as is. “If an athletebelieves they should lose weight, I first ask them, ‘Okay, why do you need todo that?’” says University of Arizona Associate Athletic Trainer Matt Radelet.“‘Are you saying that because your performance has dropped off and you thinkthere is a connection? Or are you just saying that because you’ve gained a fewpounds over the season?’ If we can’t make a connection between performanceand the need for weight loss, we have to seriously ask why they think theyneed to lose weight.”

O

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best approach is to ask them to firstexamine the type of carbohydrates theyare consuming.

Many college-age students consume alot of empty calories. If athletes can rec-ognize which of their carbohydrates arecoming from refined sugars and replacethem with healthier carbs, both weightloss and increased energy will follow.

“When we tell athletes ‘high carb,’they tend to hear ‘high sugar,’” NelsonSteen says. “I think the best message is,‘It’s important to eat sufficient carbohy-drates, but you’ve got to think about thekinds of carbohydrates you’re eating.’”

“Student-athletes tend to get an over-whelming amount of sugar in theirdiets,” Clark agrees. “It’s important thatwe educate them about the fact thatcarbs come in many different categories,and they aren’t all created equal. Youhave fruits and vegetables and wholegrains, which are very health-promoting.Then you have Twizzlers and Big Gulpsodas, which is the logical category foran athlete to limit.”

Even foods that don’t appear sugar-laden can be replaced with more nutri-tious carbohydrates. “They may not beeating chips and cookies, but they maybe living on white bread, bagels, andcereal,” says Welter. “If that’s the case,they probably don’t realize how manycalories they’re taking in, and that couldbe the source of the unwanted weight.

“Cutting back on simple sugars willfacilitate weight loss without sacrificingenergy, so I advise them to make somesubstitutions,” she continues. “Instead oftwo big bowls of cereal, how about wholewheat toast with peanut butter and a cupof yogurt or some scrambled eggs? Thetraditional bagel with cream cheesepacks 500 calories. Instead, they can

have a piece of fruit and yogurt, a sliceof whole wheat bread, and a soft-boiledegg for fewer calories than that onebagel. They’re always amazed when Ipoint that out.”

Timing Is EverythingIt’s not only the quantity and quality

of carbohydrates that matter for student-athletes. Timing is another key piece ofthe puzzle. In order to fuel themselvesfor their activity and then recover, ath-letes need to be eating carbohydratesthroughout the day.

“With their crazy schedules, that issuecan become even more important thannumbers and percentages,” NelsonSteen says. “I tell our student-athletesthey need to be grazing. It’s reallyimportant to help them build frequentmeals and snacks into their busy sched-ules because they’re constantly goingthrough the cycle of getting fuel to exer-cise and then recovering from exercise.”

Along with eating carbs throughoutthe day, nutritionists have suggestions

for what to consume during the timeimmediately surrounding practice. Pre-exercise, athletes need foods high in car-bohydrates along with some protein,Welter says, and during practice, she sug-gests a small amount of a high-carb food.

Post-workout meals and snacksshould contain about 6 grams of pro-tein, along with about 35 grams of car-bohydrate, Nelson Steen says. “It’s alsoimportant for them to eat their post-workout carbs within 15 or 30 minutes,because there is an enzyme active intheir bodies at that time that encouragesglycogen repletion,” she explains.

Educating Your AthletesGetting your athletes to understand

the science and not believe the hype canbe done through workshops, handouts,and individual counseling. The key ismaking the information easy and conve-nient.

“I try to give my athletes very practicalstrategies,” Nelson Steen says. “I givethem recipes and quick, easy ways theycan get fuel so they can feel better dur-ing practice and make the strengthgains they need.”

Knowing what’s in your school’s cafe-teria can be another great way to help stu-dent-athletes choose healthy carbsthroughout the day. “I have listings offoods that are in every dining hall and eat-ing area,” says Nelson Steen, “so we cantalk about what their actual choices are.”

Even if your educational efforts can-not include guidance from on-staffnutritionists, you can still inform yourathletes with a simple message. “It’s allabout balance,” Nelson Steen says. “Thenext extreme diet they come across maylook attractive, but it’s up to us to armthem with the information to choosereasonable behaviors that are going tobe best for their health and their per-formance.” ■

This article originally appeared in Coach-ing Management’s sister publication,Training & Conditioning.

NUTRITION

COACHING MANAGEMENT 31

At the University of Arizona, Nutrition Counselor Gale Welter helps her athletesmake good food choices through handouts she posts on her department’s Website. Topics include “Fast Food Best Bets,” “Pack & Go Foods,” “Power

Switches,” “Eating Out,” and “Healthy Weight Loss Tips.” They can be found at:

www.health.Arizona.edu > click on Online Library > click on Nutrition > click on Sports Nutrition

H A N D O U T S

Timing is another key piece of the puzzle.In order to fuel themselves for their activityand then recover, athletes need to beeating carbohydrates throughout the day.“I tell our student-athletes they need tobe grazing,” says Nelson Steen. “It’s reallyimportant to help them build frequentmeals and snacks into their busy schedulesbecause they’re constantly going throughthe cycle of getting fuel to exercise andthen recovering from exercise.”

Page 34: Coaching Management 13.1

Conica

Circle No. 201

Guide to Track Surfaces

Conicawww.conica.com773-327-0720See ad on page 7

SURFACES:

CONIPUR SW (indoor andoutdoor)Materials: Polyurethane basemat with embedded EPDM sur-face Spike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

CONIPUR SP (indoor and outdoor)Materials: Polyurethane basemat with structural spray surfaceSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

CONIPUR MX (indoor and outdoor)Materials: Polyurethane full-pourwith embedded EPDM surfaceSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

As the world leader in the supply of polyurethane components forsports surfacing systems, Conica has multiple IAAF approvals, andits indoor and outdoor Class A track systems meet ASTM F2157-02 requirements. Conica materials are 100-percent free of mercury.

Recent Installations:

East Kentwood High School, Cutlerville, MI (see photo); DouglasPark, Regina, SK, Canada; Washington High School, Kansas City,KS; Upper Perkiomen High School, Pennsburg, PA; St. Joseph’sAcademy, Brownsville, TX

Beynon Sports Surfaces

Circle No. 203

Beynon Sports Surfaceswww.beynonsportssurfaces.com410-272-2045See ad on page 13

SURFACES:

BSS-2000 (indoor and outdoor)Materials: EPDM rubber gran-ules, red butyl rubber, aliphat-ic coatingSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

BSS-1000 (indoor and outdoor)Materials: EPDM rubber gran-ules, SBR rubberSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

BSS-300 (outdoor)Materials: Polyurethane andEPDM rubber granulesSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

Beynon Sports Surfaces is the premier manufacturer andinstaller of synthetic athletic surfacing. Beynon’s track systemscan take a beating from training, events, weather, and just aboutanything that can walk or roll, and spring back with the resiliencerequired for world-class competition.

Recent Installations:

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (see photo);Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA; University of Wisconsin,Madison, WI; Missouri Southern State College, Joplin, MO;University of Richmond, Richmond, VA

Sportsline, Inc.

Circle No. 200

Sportsline, Inc.www.sportslineinc.com, www.turfinstall.com610-960-6691See ad on page 33

SURFACES:Plexitrac (outdoor)Materials: Latex Spike resistant: YesLength of warranty: three tofive years

See Conica’s section on thispage for more quality surfacesthat Sportsline installs, includ-ing Conipur SP and ConipurSW.

Sportsline has been installing sports surfaces since 1987 andhas never changed ownership. The company’s owners work on-site to ensure quality surface applications for every track, withproper thickness and tolerances. Expert technicians are alsomade available on-site from various manufacturers of liquids andrubbers. Sportsline works with top-quality surfacing products,including Plexitrac and the Conipur line of surfaces from Conica.

Recent Installations:

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (see photo); UpperPerkiomen High School, Pennsburg, PA; Delco ChristianAcademy, Newtown Square, PA; Archmere Academy, Wilmington,DE; Exeter High School, Reading, PA

32 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Hellas Construction, Inc.

Circle No. 202

Hellas Construction, Inc.www.hellasconstruction.com512-250-2910See ad inside back cover

SURFACES:

Sport Track™ 1000 (outdoor)Materials: Polyurethane andEPDM granules, SBR rubberbase layerSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

Sport Track™ 200 (indoor andoutdoor)Materials: Polyurethane andEPDM rubber granulesSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: five years

Seal-Flex (outdoor)Materials: Rubber and latexSpike resistant: YesLength of warranty: three years

Hellas Construction installs ultra-responsive track systems forperformance and durability. With perfection in design, engineer-ing, and construction, every Hellas track is a winner.

Recent Installations:

New Chicopee High School, Chicopee, MA (see photo);Sprayberry High School, Marietta, GA; McClave High School,McClave, CO; Park City High School, Park City, UT; AustinIndependent School District, Austin, TX

Page 35: Coaching Management 13.1

COACHING MANAGEMENT 33

Team Equipment

Cho-Pat800-221-1601WWW.CHO-PAT.COM

Cho-Pat’s patented Dual Action KneeStrap provides an extra level of relief for

painful and weakenedknees. It applies pres-sure to the tendonbelow the knee toreduce patellar sublux-ation and improvetracking and elevation.It also puts pressureon the tendon abovethe knee to provide

added support and stability. The DualAction Knee Strap allows full mobility.

Circle No. 205

Dekan Athletic Equipment Corp.800-332-7740WWW.DEKANATHLETIC.COM

Dekan Athletic Equipment offers a widevariety of quality products suitable for anytrack and field program, including pits,vault poles, hurdles, standards, discus,and shots. The company also has a broadselection of track accessories, such asstopwatches, waterproof and tear-resistantnumbers, starters’ guns and blanks, fieldtents, starting blocks, distance markers,and much more. Dekan also offers anassortment of strength and fitness equip-ment, including dumbbells, medicine balls,weight plates, and plyoboxes.

Circle No. 206

Dynamic Team Sports800-437-6223WWW.DYNAMICTEAMSPORTS.COM

Dynamic Team Sports has introduced itsElite Series line of custom uniforms fortrack and field. The Elite line offers anunlimited number of color combinations to

choose from. Teamnames, logos, andnumbers are dyeddirectly into the fabric.This eliminates theadded weight ofembroidery, and thefading, peeling, andcracking of stickysilkscreens. Dynamicguarantees never todiscontinue your uni-

form, so replacements are alwaysavailable. For more information, contactyour team uniform supplier.

Circle No. 207

Dynamic Team Sportsoffers a revolutionaryline of customuniforms called theElite Series. The EliteSeries is uniquebecause of one specialfeature: All theartwork, logos, andnumbers are sublimat-

ed into the garment’s lightweight andbreathable fabric. This eliminates theneed for heavy, sticky silkscreens that canpeel, crack, and fade over time. With anendless array of color combinations, Eliteuniforms are customized for your team.This means a world of possibilities forteams with unusual colors.

Circle No. 208

Check out www.AthleticBid.com to contact these companies.

TRACKLINEPolyurethane IAAF Approved SurfacesLatex Track SurfacesField Event Equipment

TURFLINENEW and Improved Synthetic SurfacesTurf Installations & RepairsSand and/or Rubber Granule Infillsand Brushing FibersElastic Subbases & Shock Pads

TENNISLINENew Court Design & ConstructionCourt ResurfacingLighting & FencingCertified Tennis Court Builder on Staff

www.sportslineinc.com www.turfinstall.com

(610) 526-9476 • P.O.Box 389 • Villanova, PA 19085

Track Field Events surfaces installed by Sportsline, Inc.at Franklin Field stadium in Philadelphia for the 2005 Penn Relays.

Request No. 117

Page 36: Coaching Management 13.1

34 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Team Equipment

Aluminum Athletic Equipment800-523-5471WWW.AAESPORTS.COM

Many schools and universities are facedwith crossover practices, where two ormore teams must share a facility for

practice.This createstwoproblems:trackathletes andjoggersbeing hit by

stray balls from the infield; and teamswasting practice time either searchingfor, or avoiding tripping on, loose balls.Aluminum Athletic Equipment offers thefollowing solution: the HBS BallStopperSystem—available in self-standing andground sleeve models to accommodateboth synthetic and natural turf fields.Model HBS-1 (shown) is comprised ofheavy-wall aluminum uprights installedinto ground sleeves. The synthetic treat-ed netting has permanently attachedgalvanized steel cables (top andbottom). Visit AAE Online—your onlinesource for outdoor sports equipment,goals, bleachers, benches, and acces-sories.

Circle No. 209

Electric City Printing800-277-1920WWW.ECPRINT.COM

For over 25 years, Electric CityPrinting has focused on leading therace industry to new heights, supplying

com-peti-tionnum-bers,print

media, and race supplies to over 60percent of the industry. The companytakes its responsibility to ensure thesuccess of your event seriously. ECPrint’s support team is poised to han-dle all your needs for printing, market-ing, design, and event consultation. Letthe company save you time with its cus-tomized packaging and shippingoptions, or by coordinating all the sup-plies for a multi-location event.

Circle No. 210

Marathon Printing, Inc.800-255-4120WWW.MARATHONPRINTING.COM

Marathon Printing, Inc. specializes innumbers for all kinds of special events.Its goal is to provide on-time delivery of

the highest-quality cus-tom andstock bibsavailable.Marathonprints allnumbers in-house, giv-

ing the company total control for easycustomization of your bibs. If you needreferences, just contact Marathon. Thecompany supplies numbers for some ofthe largest and most popular events inthe world, and would be glad to talkwith you about your event.

Circle No. 211

Oakworks, Inc. 800-558-8850WWW.OAKWORKS.COM

The Boss is a great treatment tabledesigned specifically for ATCs. Its light-

weightdesignand pro-tectivecarryingcasemake it

easily transportable from training roomsto sidelines. The unique aluminumunderstructure is tough enough to sup-port 600 lbs. (UL weight-load rating),and the sealed seams and removablefield feet make the Boss ideal for usein rain or shine. With its easy heightadjustments, the Boss is the ergonomicanswer for every ATC.

Circle No. 212

Because the game isn’t played in thelocker room, you need the OakworksPortable Taping Table. It’s the only

portabletable on themarket withanadjustableheight.Weighingonly 35 lbs.,the table

folds flat for easy storage and transporta-tion. Features like a marine-grade plastic

top, an adjustable height range of 32 to42 inches, a UL weight rating of 500 lbs.,and a durable carrying case maximize itseffectiveness for every ATC.

Circle No. 213

Sports-Fab, Inc.800-342-6350WWW.SPORTSFAB.COM

Sports-Fab’s new HCL Hurdle Cart ismade especially for “L” style hurdles. Itfeatures custom widths, six-wheel

construction,solid rubbertires, and steelhubs, and itturns on itsown radius.The cart holdsup to 12 hur-dles. It's con-structed of

heavy steel, and has a zinc-plated openfront. Sports-Fab also makes the famousHCX hanging cart that holds up to 16rocker style hurdles. Use both carts foreasier storage and transportation.

Circle No. 214

Springco800-333-7781WWW.VSATHLETICS.COM

Give your throwers the same discusOlympians use. The Denfi discus fromSpringco was thrown by all medalists

(men and women) at the 2004 OlympicGames in Athens. It’s scientificallydesigned to outperform any other dis-cus on the market. There are four dif-ferent models to suit any thrower’sability and any throwing conditions.

Circle No. 215

Make your sprint and jump marks offi-cial with the help of Springco’s

CompactWindGauge, thesmallestand best-selling legalwind gaugein theworld. It’svery easy

to set up and use. This product is amust for championship meets.

Circle No. 216

34 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Page 37: Coaching Management 13.1

Strength & Conditioning

Gatorade800-88GATORWWW.GATORADE.COM

Gatorade® Thirst Quencher’s optimal for-mula contains electrolytes andcarbohydrates. It is based on more than 30

years of sci-entificresearch andtesting.Nothing rehy-drates,replenishes,and refuels

better than Gatorade Thirst Quencher—noteven water. REHYDRATE—Gatorade hasthe flavor to keep your athletes drinking,and a six-percent carbohydrate solutionthat’s optimal for speeding fluids back intotheir systems. No fluid is absorbed fasterthan Gatorade. REPLENISH—If yourathletes don’t replace the electrolytes theylose when they sweat, they risk becomingdehydrated, which can take them out of thegame. By putting electrolytes back,Gatorade helps athletes drink more, retainfluids, and maintain fluid balance.REFUEL—Unlike water, Gatorade has theright amount of carbohydrates (14 gramsper eight ounces) to give your athletes’working muscles more energy to help themfight fatigue and keep their mental edge.

Circle No. 217

Jump Stretch, Inc.800-344-3539WWW.JUMPSTRETCH.COM

The goal at Jump Stretch is to provideequipment that simulates actual gameconditions to improve performance. Mostsports require short bursts of explosivepower, so the company promotes anaero-

bic training.Squats andsquatthrusts per-formed withFlexBands®

provide a safe and highly-effective methodfor improving explosiveness. Jump Stretchhas been helping pro, college, and highschool teams improve vertical jump,speed, and power since 1980.

Circle No. 218

OPTP800-367-7393WWW.OPTP.COM

The Athlete’s Ball, by Rick Jemmett, PT,provides a cutting-edge, research-basedexercise approach for athletes at all levels.

The book outlinesa comprehensiveapproach to physi-cal conditioningknown asIntegrativeTraining. This typeof training simulta-neouslyincorporates bal-

ance and strength exercises to helpathletes perform at higher levels andreduce their risk of injury.

Circle No. 219

In The Essentials of Medicine BallTraining, Juan Carlos Santana, CSCS,demonstrates over 100 medicine ballexercises with progressions and anemphasis on the importance of correct

form. ThisDVD is full ofpractical infor-mation, andwill inspireathletic train-ers, coaches,and rehabspecialists to

incorporate medicine ball training into theirexisting programs for maximized results.

Circle No. 220

Power Systems800-321-6975WWW.POWER-SYSTEMS.COM

Develop explosive lower-body strength toimprove start and acceleration with thePower Sled by Power Systems. Perform

resistance training withyour choice of a waistbelt or shoulderharness—no partner isnecessary. For evenmore versatility, the sledcan be pushed using thehandles on the back.The waist belt is greatfor forward, backward,and lateral running drills.

Additional weight can be added to increasedifficulty and challenge acceleration. Thewaist belt is adjustable from 30 to 42 inch-es and the XXL belt adjusts from 40 to 48inches. The shoulder harness option fits achest of up to 56 inches. The Power Sledis made of strong welded steel.

Circle No. 221

The Step Hurdle Ladder from PowerSystems is a multi-purpose ladder that canbe used for plyometrics, high-knee drills,forward and lateral drills, and more. Withsix adjustable cross slats and built-in

adjustable hurdles, this ladder is a PowerSystems exclusive. The slats can be posi-tioned at any distance and the hurdles

snap quickly intoplace at eight or12 inches inheight. The hur-dles fold downfor storage andthe entire unitstacks easily fortransport,secured with a

locking pin. The Step Hurdle Ladder can beused indoors or out, and comes with aninstruction guide and a carry bag. The lad-der measures 15’ long x 20” wide.

Circle No. 222

Xvest800-697-5658WWW.THEXVEST.COM

“I have found the Xvest to be an excellenttool for providing overloads in plyometric,strength training, conditioning, and rehabili-

tation programs. The fitand adaptability are excel-lent. The Xvest allows free-dom of movement anddoesn’t interfere with anyof the agility, bounding, orrunning programs that Iwrite for a wide variety ofathletes, collegiate andprofessional. The Xvesthas proven itself in my

programs. Thank you for all your efforts andhelp in improving my capability as astrength and conditioning specialist.”—Donald A. Chu, PhD, PT, ATC, CSCS,author of Jumping Into Plyometrics.

Circle No. 223

Xvest has a new weight configuration, andit’s heavy: 84 pounds of heavy. The newXvest, known as the Fire Fighter model,

was developed espe-cially for fire fightersand their rigorous train-ing. It has the samebasic design as theoriginal Xvest, but ithas a new internalweight configurationthat allows for 84pounds of weight.Because of the abilityto adjust weight like

the original Xvest, everyone from bodybuilders to military personnel is buyingthem. For more information on all the Xvestmodels, call the company or visit its Website.

Circle No. 224

COACHING MANAGEMENT 35

Page 38: Coaching Management 13.1

AchillesTendonStrapThis patenteddevice will reducestress upon theAchilles Tendonand provide effec-tive relief frompain and discomfort associated withAchilles Tendonitis. Sizes: Sm - Med - Lrg

DualActionKnee StrapPatented deviceoffers an extralevel of pain reliefand protectionfrom knee degeneration and overuse syndromes.Stabilizes and strengthens the jointwhile allowing full mobility. Sizes: Sm - XL

KneeStrapCho-Pat’sOriginal KneeStrap is designedto alleviate certainknee discomfortsdue to overusesyndromes, arthritis, and other forms ofdegeneration. Nearly two million sold!Sizes: XS - XXL

www.cho-pat.com 1-800-221-1601

Great Ideas For Athletes...

Request No. 118

36 COACHING MANAGEMENT

A D V E R T I S E R S D I R E C T O R YCIRCLE COMPANY PAGENO. NO.

110. . . Austin Plastics & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23109. . . Barry University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20106. . . Beynon Sports Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13124. . . Blue Star Sportswear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37107. . . California Raisins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16108. . . California Raisins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17118. . . Cho-Pat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36103. . . Conica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7120. . . Dekan Athletic Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39105. . . Dynamic Team Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11121. . . Electric City Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39113. . . eFundraising.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25101. . . Gatorade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3114. . . Goldner Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25122. . . Hellas Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC119. . . Jump Stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38123. . . M-F Athletic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC111. . . Marathon Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24100. . . Oakworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC104. . . OPTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9112. . . Sports-Fab, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24117. . . Sportsline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33115. . . Springco Athetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27116. . . Vertimax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28102. . . Xvest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

P R O D U C T S D I R E C T O R YCIRCLE COMPANY PAGENO. NO.

209. . . AAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34225. . . Austin Plastics & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38226. . . Barry University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38203. . . Beynon Sports Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32227. . . California Raisins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38205. . . Cho-Pat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33201. . . Conica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32206. . . Dekan Athletic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33231. . . Dick Pond Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40208. . . Dynamic Team Sports (custom uniforms) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33207. . . Dynamic Team Sports (Elite Series) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33210. . . Electric City Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34228. . . eFundraising.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39217. . . Gatorade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35229. . . Goldner Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39202. . . Hellas Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32218. . . Jump Stretch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35230. . . M-F Athletic (bumper sticker) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39232. . . M-F Athletic (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40211. . . Marathon Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34213. . . Oakworks (Portable Taping Table). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34212. . . Oakworks (The Boss) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34220. . . OPTP (Medicine Ball Training) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35219. . . OPTP (The Athlete’s Ball) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35233. . . Power Systems (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40221. . . Power Systems (Power Sled) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35222. . . Power Systems (Step Hurdle Ladder). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35214. . . Sports-Fab, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34200. . . Sportsline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32216. . . Springco (Compact Wind Gauge) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34215. . . Springco (Denfi discus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34223. . . Xvest (Don Chu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35224. . . Xvest (Fire Fighter model) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Page 39: Coaching Management 13.1

BLUE STARBLUE STARSPOR TSWEAR

Special

$10Printed 1 color, 1 location

Quantity of 12

blue star 131.indd 1 12/20/04 11:56:38 AM

Request No. 124

Page 40: Coaching Management 13.1

More Products

Austin Plastics & Supply, Inc.800-290-1025WWW.ATHLETICRECORDBOARDS.COM

Athletic record boards from Austin Plasticsare an effective tool for motivating your ath-letes to do their best. The boards are easyto install, made of durable plastic, and

available inmany differentcolors. Theycome in threestandard sizes:38” x 48”, 45”x 80”, and 72”x 120”.Engravedrecord name-plates areavailable, oryou can print

your own using perforated card stock sup-plied by the company. Record boards areavailable for all sports, and custom boardsare also available.

Circle No. 225

Barry University800-756-6000WWW.BARRY.EDU/HPLS

Barry University’s MS program inMovement Science offers a variety ofspecializations to prepare you for afuture in athletic training, biomechan-

ics, exer-cisescience,or sportand exer-cise psy-chology.

You can also choose the new generaloption, which allows you to customizeyour MS program with classes from allfour specializations. Whichever special-ization best meets your needs, you willbenefit from state-of-the-art laboratoryand research facilities, internationally-respected faculty, and Barry’s idealSouth Florida location, which offers

access to challenging opportunities forgraduate clinical placements. Calltoday to learn more.

Circle No. 226

California Raisin MarketingBoard

559-248-0287WWW.CALRAISINS.ORG

Naturally sweet California raisins are agreat source of energy. Recentresearch indicates that raisins help

athletesmaintain asteady levelof energyfor sportsand otheractivities,makingthem anexcellentchoice for

38 COACHING MANAGEMENT

Check out www.AthleticBid.com to contact these companies.

What can you really DOwith giant rubber bands?!What can you really DO

with giant rubber bands?!Run Faster Jump Higher Play Lower

Reduce Injuries Add Resistance to Machine Lifts

Improve Endurance Increase Flexibility

The Best-Kept Secret in Pro SportsUsed by the Giants, Jaguars, Raiders, Ravens, Angels,

Padres, Red Sox, and many more!

Flex Bands have been improving athletic performance since 1980.

Jump Stretch, Inc.1230 N. Meridian Rd. Youngstown, OH 44509www.jumpstretch.com 1-800-344-3539 Fax: 1-330-793-8719

Stay Ahead of Your Competitionwith Flex Bands!

Stay Ahead of Your Competitionwith Flex Bands!

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Page 41: Coaching Management 13.1

More Products

your training and conditioningneeds. California raisins also rankamong the top antioxidant-rich foodsbecause they contain important phy-tochemicals and minerals, includingiron and potassium. Fat and choles-terol free, California raisins are easi-ly portable and available year-round.They’re the healthy energy choicethat meets your needs.

Circle No. 227

eFundraising866-825-2921WWW.EFUNDRAISING.COM

Try eFundraising’s On-lineFundraising Program, a new way toraise money quickly and easily. With

your free,personal-ized Website,completewith amagazinestore,your sup-porterscan pur-

chase magazine subscriptions on-line and 40 percent of eachpurchase amount will go back toyour group. Simply enter the siteand send e-mails to friends and fam-ily across America, inviting them tovisit your on-line store and buy,renew, or extend their magazinesubscriptions to help support yourgroup. They’ll save up to 85 percentoff the newsstand price on over 650magazine titles while you earn 40-percent profit.

Circle No. 228

Goldner Associates, Inc.800-251-2656WWW.GOLDNERASSOCIATES.COM

Goldner Associates has been a lead-ing supplier of medals, pins, andpatches for 40 years. The companycan create custom designs in any

size orshape,andstockitemsare

also available. Looking for an itemwith your team logo? As a top-50distributor, Goldner offers a full lineof promotional products, includingteam caps and T-shirts, trophiesand awards, fundraising items, give-aways, and much more.

Circle No. 229

M-F Athletic Co.800-556-7464WWW.MFATHLETIC.COM

The “It’s In Our Blood” auto bumpersticker is now available to all trackparticipants and coaches, courtesy

of M-F Athletic. This year’s bumpersticker is a real conversation piece,and is sure to cause smiles andfavorable comments. For your freebumper sticker, call M-F Athletic orvisit the company Web site.

Circle No. 230

COACHING MANAGEMENT 39

Trust what time hasendorsed for all yourTrack & Field needs.

* Knowledgeable Staff* Quality Products

* Fast Delivery ofDiscounted GillProducts

We are a companystarted by teachersand coaches; youcan trust us with yourTrack program.

Dekan Athletic Equip. Corp.1820 Wallace AvenueSuite 124St. Charles, IL 60174630-587-9333630-587-5519 (fax)www.dekanathletic.com

RunYour one source supply for competition print media

ELECTRIC CITY PRINTING CO. • BOX 1920 ANDERSON, SC 29622 • (800) 277-1920 • (864) 224-6331

Runwith it!

Event PrintEvent Print

• Bib Numbers• Ski Numbers• Cycle Numbers• Finish Line Aids• Course Marking Aids• Brochures• T-Shirts• Premiums

Specializing in everything your event needs to hit the ground running!

introduces...

1-800-277-1920www.ecprint.com

ec mouse

2005

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Check out www.AthleticBid.com to contact these companies.

FUNDRAISING

NUTRITION

PRACTICE & COMPETITION SHOES

SOFTWARE & VIDEO EQUIPMENT

TEAM EQUIPMENT

TRAINING & CONDITIONING AIDS

UNIFORMS & APPAREL

IN THE SEPTEMBER 2005 ISSUE:

Page 42: Coaching Management 13.1

Catalog Showcase

Dick Pond Athletics, Inc.630-665-3316WWW.DICKPONDATHLETICS.COM

Dick Pond Athletics is America’s oldest run-ning specialty company. It sets the industrystandard for fast, reliable delivery of track

and cross countryshoes, apparel, andaccessories.Products in the DickPond cataloginclude trainingshoes, racing andfield event shoes,team apparel, andaccessories for alllevels of runners. All

major brands are available, and the compa-ny offers both current models and closeoutspecials. Your order will be shipped within24 hours.

Circle No. 231

M-F Athletic Co.800-556-7464WWW.MFATHLETIC.COM

The 2005 edition of M-F’s Everything Track& Field catalog has been expanded to 80pages. It includes all track and field essen-

tials, such asvaulting polesand javelins,throwing imple-ments, hurdles,pits, and somuch more. Thecatalog alsoincludes specialsections of hard-to-find specialtyitems, such as

measuring tapes, cages, benches, bleach-ers, uniforms, running shoes, runways, andtents. This four-color catalog is neatly cate-gorized for easy reference. Get your copy bycalling M-F Athletic or visiting the companyWeb site.

Circle No. 232

Power Systems, Inc.800-321-6975WWW.POWER-SYSTEMS.COM

Since 1986, Power Systems has been a lead-ing supplier of sports performance, fitness,and rehabilitation products and programming.

The company pridesitself on being theone resource for allyour training needs.The 2005 cataloghas a new look, withbetter graphics andphotos. It includessections on corestrength, medicine

balls, speed, plyometrics, agility, strengthequipment, strength accessories, and fitnessassessment. The catalog features hundredsof new products and dozens of products avail-able exclusively from Power Systems. Thecompany has even lowered some of itsprices, enabling the customer to get premiumproducts for less. Call or visit the companyWeb site for your free copy.

Circle No. 233

40 COACHING MANAGEMENT

The Most Innovative On-Line Buyer’s Guide

for Athletic Organizations

A t h l e t i c b i d . c o m

See for yourself why more than 13,000unique users each month rely on

View the complete product lines of companies listed. View catalog pages or spec sheets from many of the top companies.Read a profile or description of select companies. Send an e-mail directly to a supplier or make a request to be contacted by a company representative. Request catalog and sales literature from companies.

AthleticBid.com is a free service to help buyers at schools and athletic

organizations contact manycompanies in the most efficientfashion to request product specs

and pricing information.

It used to take hours to contactdozens of companies to research

products and plan purchases.

But by using AthleticBid.com,it now only takes minutes.

AthbidhalfpgH.indd 1 10/25/04 1:58:26 PM

Page 43: Coaching Management 13.1

Request No. 122

Page 44: Coaching Management 13.1

Call for our 2005 Track & Field Catalog.

800-556-7464

M-F ATHLETIC COMPANYP.O. Box 8090 Cranston, RI 02920-0090Toll-Free 800-556-7464 Fax: 800-682-6950

M-F ATH LETIC

Our Annual Bumper Sticker isFREE for the asking.

Our 45th Year Serving the Track & Field Needs of High Schools and Colleges.

the

for SuperSource

Request No. 123