How to run a big track and field team
As track coaches, we’re often understaffed even though
we have a huge number of kids and range of events to coach.
This year I have my largest group ever – over 55 sprinters
and just me to coach them.
And since this is just my second year with the team, I don’t
have any truly ‘experienced’ athletes who have grown up with
my system. So there is much to teach and learn.
If you’ve been reading, watching or listening to any of
my messages lately, you’ve heard me talk about studying
the patterns from Situation A and applying them to
Situation B.
And that’s just what I’ve been doing this winter.
You see, I’m the co-owner of a rapidly growing business.
And it’s more work than I ever imagined. Since the
track season started I’ve been going nonstop pretty much
14-15 hours per day.
I wish I was exaggerating that number for affect, but I’m
not.
Now I have a tendency to be a micro-manager. Right or
wrong, I don’t like people messing with what I’m doing
because I feel I can do a better job if I do it myself.
*Especially* when it comes to coaching.
But my new schedule doesn’t allow that.
So I’ve dramatically changed the way I run my sprint
group so it mirrors the way things are run in a successful
business.
And it’s all predicated on the fact that my program design
strategy and process is simple, flexible, objective *and*
planned out ahead of time.
If you don’t know exactly what you want to accomplish,
in what order and *why*, then everything I’m about to
say is distinctly impossible.
(If you’ve ever read Michael Gerber’s ‘E-Myth’, then this
will sound familiar)
So here is what you need to do:
Step 1. Establish your goals and objectives in advance
You don’t need to know that you want to do 8 x 200 @ 82%
three Tuesdays from now. But you do need to know what
training phase you’ll be in so you know what training
qualities need to be addressed. That way you can just
fill in the blanks instead of guessing.
Of course this requires knowing exactly what the training
phases are, what qualities need to be trained, in what
order and *why*…
Step 2. Teach your captains and upperclassmen how to coach
You have to create team leaders/assistant coaches
and the best place to start is with your captains and trustworthy upperclassmen.
I don’t have time to walk people through every speed drill
every time we do them. The same goes with half hurdle
trail legs, starting blocks, run-run-jumps and burpees.
I expect my team leaders to learn them (so I teach them
specifically) so they can teach the rest of the team how
to do it. From there I can easily move from group to
group and spot check the kids to make sure things are
going right.
First I teach the individuals, then I manage the practice.
And I’m very confident that my athletes could actually
do a better job teaching most skills than most track
coaches out there at the developmental levels.
This approach teaches the leaders responsibility,
authority and helps them learn the skills better.
Because you get better at performing a skill when you
have to explain it, demonstrate it and correct it.
Of course you already know that because you would
*never* expect an athlete to perform a skill without
showing them how to do it first…
Would you?
So instead of getting stuck teaching blocks for the 947th
time and ignoring hurdles, long jump and the 400 workout
going on around the track, I can slide from group to
group and give *everyone* attention.
Because I:
Step 3: Manage the team, don’t micromanage the team
Yesterday I had an intensive tempo workout, special
endurance 2 workout, beginner hurdlers, ‘advanced’
hurdlers, starting blocks, weight room and GS circuits
going on at different times in different places.
That’s impossible for one person to do and do well. But
not when you shift your perspective. Instead of trying
to do it all I:
- put two injured athletes in charge of running the
instensive tempo workout (which was, of course, organized
in advance so they didn’t get confused and screw it up).
- ran the special endurance 2 workout and worked with
the ‘advanced’ hurdlers (and spot checked the tempo
workout)
- had upperclassmen teach/review blocks (and I just came
by to make sure there were no major problems. There weren’t
because the kids were taught well…)
- had team leaders run the circuit workout and experienced
athletes went into the weight room.
Because I teach everything correctly and make kids give
and interpret feedback while learning, they’re actually
quite good at teaching and spotting errors.
In themselves and others.
Because I organize things on a daily, weekly, monthly
and season wide basis, I can quickly put groups together
in an organized fashion instead of running around like
a chicken with my head cut off.
And I can manage a group of 50+ kids and get everyone
the attention they need…by myself.
And still have every athlete run lifetime bests in every
event…every season.
But it starts with a solid foundation. A foundation built
on knowing exactly where, when, what, why and how I
want to structure my program design. Otherwise what I
do would be impossible.
So if you want to make the impossible possible, it starts
here:
Complete Program Design for Sprinters
This program is *exactly* what you’re looking for.
You’re less than 3 minutes away from gaining an
entirely new persective on how to put together a
highly effective training program for your sprinters.
I organize everything for you and even give you all
the workouts you need for an entire season – from warmup
to cooldown, from 55-400 meters.
Program Design for Track and Field Sprinters
