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TRACK & FIELD

> Getting Through a Tough season> The Power of Breakfast

Circle No. 100

CoachesNetwork.com Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2012 1

ManagementCoaching

CONTENTS | TRACK & FIELD EDITION | POSTSEASON 2012 | VOL. XX, NO. 8

3 POSTSEASON BULLETIN BOARDNCAA D-I ups high school GPA requirement … Triathlon gains ground … Coaching at two schools … When your athlete is suspended … Hosting a twilight race … High school team shares track with college squad.

11Q&A EDRICK FLOREALThe former Olympic jumper talks about coaching at the highest level, changing an athlete’s technique, and hiring assistant coaches.

16COVERSTORY ALL IN FOCUSIn a sport where concentration and confidence can make or break an athlete, mental training should be a part of any team’s workouts.

21 COMPETITIVEEDGE THE POWER OF BREAKFASTThere are many reasons why your athletes should eat a healthy breakfast every day. Con-vincing them to do so is often the hard part.

26 LEADERSHIP WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGHA losing season can take its toll on even the most experienced coach. Here’s how to get through one.

Publisher Mark Goldberg

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

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Athletes and coaches know the importance of nutrition to sports performance, however, many nutrition myths linger on the Internet and appear in popular magazines. Here are the facts, based on decades of research on fueling and hydrating athletes to help you bust the myths for your players.

Myth: Fueling before training and competition doesn’t improve performance.

Fact: Eating before exercise improves performance when compared to exercising in the fasted state according the joint position stand of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine.1 Sports performance is driven from the inside out, so encouraging athletes to eat to support rigorous training, fuel competition and support recovery leads to high performance on and off the field of play.

Myth: Taking in large servings of protein will improve muscle recovery after training and competition.

Fact: When it comes to protein, more isn’t better. Research shows that a small amount of high quality protein stimulates muscle protein synthesis. About twenty grams of protein is sufficient to provide the maximum stimulus for muscle protein synthesis after exercise. Consuming more dietary protein will be used as fuel and not for additional muscle building.4 High quality protein, like whey protein, provides all of the essential amino acids. Protein combined with carbohydrate helps to stimulate muscle building.2,3

Myth: Taking in calories before, during and after training and competition will cause weight gain. Plus, they’ll cancel out what I burn while exercising.

Fact: A calorie is another word for energy and athletes need energy to fuel activity. The athlete is a high performance human machine that needs fuel to perform at his or her best. Just like your car, it won’t run when the fuel guage is on empty. The key to preventing weight gain is balancing the amount of food and fluids consumed throughout the day with the amount of exercise performed in the same period of time. Athletes have many choices to stay fueled and hydrated while maintaining weight, or even losing weight. For example, G2 delivers half the calories of Gatorade Thirst Quencher while providing the same electrolytes - for some athletes that is a good choice.

Myth: You lose only water when you sweat.

Fact: If that were true, sweat wouldn’t taste salty and athletes in the heat probably wouldn’t cramp so often. Sweat contains mainly sodium and chloride (salt) but also other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium. As sodium is lost through sweat, the body’s supply is diminished and muscles are more likely to cramp up.5 Compared with water, sports drinks keep the body hydrated much better because they contain electrolytes that help retain fluid and replenish what’s lost in sweat. Water does not.

Myth: Potassium is the most critical electrolyte for athletes.

Fact: Not true. Sodium is the primary electrolyte (mineral) required during and following sweaty exercise. In fact, it’s possible for some athletes to lose more than 10 grams of salt (sodium chloride) in just one day of hard training. Drinking a sports drink with sodium is important, because sodium helps maintain the physiological desire to drink, enhances fluid absorption and stimulates balance throughout the body.6 Look for a sports drink with at least 100 milligrams of sodium per eight ounces.

Myth: Drinking “energy drinks” is an easy way to get an energy boost before activity.

Fact: “Energy drinks” typically contain caffeine and high concentrations of carbohydrates. The high carbohydrate content of some energy drinks can have a negative impact on your stomach, causing nausea, bloating or diarrhea. Although some research shows a small amount of caffeine may improve your performance during endurance activities, a little goes a long way. Caffeine intake in excess of 200 mg can result in anxiety, nervousness, nausea, and the “jitters”7 (there are 50 mg of caffeine in a 12 oz cola and 125 mg in a 12 oz serving of coffee). Athletes should seek out energy sources from nutrients like carbohydrates to fuel working muscles.

Myth: Protein improves performance when it is ingested during exercise.

Fact: The most recent research shows that protein in a sports drink consumed during or before exercise does not provide any additional performance benefit. In addition, research suggests that adding protein to a sports drink can slow gastric emptying and produce a “chalky” taste, which may make it challenging for athletes to drink enough to stay hydrated.8 Especially when consumed with carbohydrate, it is better to consume protein after activity, because science has repeatedly shown that consuming protein close to the exercise bout, especially after exercise helps with muscle protein sysnthesis.9

References:1 Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and Athletic Performance. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109:509-527.2 Anderson LL, Tufekovic G, Zebis MK, Crameri RM. The effect of resistance training combined with timed ingestion of protein on muscle fiber size and muscle strength. Metabolism. 2005;54:151-156.3 Tipton KD, Elliott TA, Cree MG, Aarsland AA, Sanford AP, Wolfe RR. Stimulation of net muscle protein synthesis by whey protein ingestion before and after exercise. Am J Physiology. 2007;292:E71-E76.4 Moore DR, Robinson MJ, Fry JL, Tang JE, Glover EI, Wilkenson SB, Prior T, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;89:161-168.5 Bergeron MF. Heat cramps: Fluids and electrolyte challenges during tennis in the heat. J Sci Med Sport. 6:19-27, 2003.6 Maughan RJ and Murray R. Sports Drinks: Basic Science and Practical Aspects, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Chapters 7&8 , pp. 183-224, 2001. 7 Donovan JL and DeVane CL. A primer on caffeine pharmacology and its drug interactions in clinical psychopharmacology. Psychopharmacol Bull. 35:300-48, 20018 Maughan RJ, et al. Gastric emptying and fluid availability after ingestion of glucose and soy protein hydrolysate solution in man. Exp Physiol, 89:101-108, 2004.9 Burk A, Timpmann S, Medijainen L, Vahi M, Oopik V. Time-divided ingestion pattern of casein-based protein supplement stimulates an increase in fat-free body mass during resistance training in young untrained men. Nutr Research 2009;29:405-413.

GATORADE SPORTS SCIENCE INSTITUTESPORTS NUTRITION MYTHS AND FACTS Christine Rosenbloom, PhD, RD, CSSD

Sports Dietitian, Georgia State University Athletics, Atlanta, GA

AcAdemics

NCAA to Require Higher HS GPAs

When it comes to discussions about ncaa division i academic standards, the academic Progress rate (aPr) usually generates the most headlines. Flying under the radar, however, are new mandates for high schoolers looking to compete at the d-i level. beginning in 2016-17, these athletes will be required to post at least a 2.3 gPa in 16 high school core courses. Previously, the minimum was 2.0.

student-athletes with high school gPas between 2.0 and 2.3 will be required to take an academic redshirt year. this means they will be eligible to receive ath-letically related financial aid and practice with their team during their first year on campus, but won’t be allowed to partici-pate in any competitions or travel to away meets. athletes with gPas below 2.0 are considered nonqualifiers and cannot receive athletically related financial aid, practice, or compete during their fresh-man year.

in addition, incoming freshmen will have to meet test score requirements based on the ncaa’s sliding scale. For example, a student-athlete with the mini-mum 2.3 core-course gPa needs to score a combined 1080 on the sat math and ver-bal sections or 93 on the act (the sum of the scores in english, mathematics, read-ing, and science). an athlete who posts an 820 sat or 68 act, meanwhile, would need a 2.95 gPa.

all athletes must also complete 10 of the 16 core courses before the first semes-ter of their senior year. of the 10 courses, seven must be in english, math, or science.

to meet stricter academic demands and prepare athletes for college, some high school coaches are experimenting with new programs. at appomattox (va.) high school, head boys’ and girls’ coach anthony Franklin instituted an after-school study hall program when he was hired in winter 2010. the program is already paying dividends, as the indoor and outdoor teams posted 3.6 and 3.4 gPas, respectively, in 2011-12. both fig-ures are up from 3.2 in Franklin’s first year at the school.

“a lot of times, kids forget that sports are extracurricular,” Franklin says. “i’ve always felt that if a student-athlete is in your program for two or three years and they are unable to go to college due to poor grades, some of the blame goes to you as the coach. the rules for my track teams are this: you have to have a 3.5 to be a captain, you have to have a 3.0 to be a co-captain, and if you fall below 2.5 at any point, you’re not allowed to run until you bring your grades back above 2.5.”

Franklin leads the study hall pro-gram, which operates three days per week, on monday, Wednesday, and thurs-day, before practice. all students on the team are required to attend, but he does allow students to meet with their individ-ual teachers during this time instead. the program has taken on a collaborative feel, with many of the athletes who already have a high gPa helping team-mates once they finish their own work.

“the key to the study hall program is that we not only give the students time to do homework, but we also teach them how to study,” says Franklin, who is a sub-

BULLETIN BOARDPOSTSeaSOn 2012

stitute teacher at appomattox. “When students get to college, they don’t do as much homework as in high school, but they have to know how to study, and many struggle with that. if you have 10 students who did homework the night before and you ask them if they studied last night, all 10 will raise their hand because they think that doing homework is studying. but that’s not studying.”

Franklin also encourages his student-athletes to take the sat during their sophomore year rather than waiting until they are juniors or seniors to make their first attempt. “this year we had several sophomores who achieved qualifying sat scores,” he says. “now they don’t have to worry about that or feel the pressure dur-ing their senior year.”

one of the reasons for the success of the study hall program, according to Franklin, is the support he’s received from appomattox administrators, which has

At Appomattox (Va.) High School, a new study hall program for the track and field team has boosted student-athletes’ GPAs. Above, the 4x100-meter girls’ relay team poses after winning the Virginia Class A state championship.

| | | | | |COnTenTS

3 Focusing on academics

4 On the horizon: triathlon

5 Challenging a suspension

6 One coach, two schools

8 Hosting a twilight meet

10 High school and college share track

Coachesnetwork.com Coaching Management POSTSeaSOn 2012 3

The NCAA sliding scale can be found at: www.eligibilitycenter.org under “Resources.”

Athletes and coaches know the importance of nutrition to sports performance, however, many nutrition myths linger on the Internet and appear in popular magazines. Here are the facts, based on decades of research on fueling and hydrating athletes to help you bust the myths for your players.

Myth: Fueling before training and competition doesn’t improve performance.

Fact: Eating before exercise improves performance when compared to exercising in the fasted state according the joint position stand of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada and the American College of Sports Medicine.1 Sports performance is driven from the inside out, so encouraging athletes to eat to support rigorous training, fuel competition and support recovery leads to high performance on and off the field of play.

Myth: Taking in large servings of protein will improve muscle recovery after training and competition.

Fact: When it comes to protein, more isn’t better. Research shows that a small amount of high quality protein stimulates muscle protein synthesis. About twenty grams of protein is sufficient to provide the maximum stimulus for muscle protein synthesis after exercise. Consuming more dietary protein will be used as fuel and not for additional muscle building.4 High quality protein, like whey protein, provides all of the essential amino acids. Protein combined with carbohydrate helps to stimulate muscle building.2,3

Myth: Taking in calories before, during and after training and competition will cause weight gain. Plus, they’ll cancel out what I burn while exercising.

Fact: A calorie is another word for energy and athletes need energy to fuel activity. The athlete is a high performance human machine that needs fuel to perform at his or her best. Just like your car, it won’t run when the fuel guage is on empty. The key to preventing weight gain is balancing the amount of food and fluids consumed throughout the day with the amount of exercise performed in the same period of time. Athletes have many choices to stay fueled and hydrated while maintaining weight, or even losing weight. For example, G2 delivers half the calories of Gatorade Thirst Quencher while providing the same electrolytes - for some athletes that is a good choice.

Myth: You lose only water when you sweat.

Fact: If that were true, sweat wouldn’t taste salty and athletes in the heat probably wouldn’t cramp so often. Sweat contains mainly sodium and chloride (salt) but also other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium. As sodium is lost through sweat, the body’s supply is diminished and muscles are more likely to cramp up.5 Compared with water, sports drinks keep the body hydrated much better because they contain electrolytes that help retain fluid and replenish what’s lost in sweat. Water does not.

Myth: Potassium is the most critical electrolyte for athletes.

Fact: Not true. Sodium is the primary electrolyte (mineral) required during and following sweaty exercise. In fact, it’s possible for some athletes to lose more than 10 grams of salt (sodium chloride) in just one day of hard training. Drinking a sports drink with sodium is important, because sodium helps maintain the physiological desire to drink, enhances fluid absorption and stimulates balance throughout the body.6 Look for a sports drink with at least 100 milligrams of sodium per eight ounces.

Myth: Drinking “energy drinks” is an easy way to get an energy boost before activity.

Fact: “Energy drinks” typically contain caffeine and high concentrations of carbohydrates. The high carbohydrate content of some energy drinks can have a negative impact on your stomach, causing nausea, bloating or diarrhea. Although some research shows a small amount of caffeine may improve your performance during endurance activities, a little goes a long way. Caffeine intake in excess of 200 mg can result in anxiety, nervousness, nausea, and the “jitters”7 (there are 50 mg of caffeine in a 12 oz cola and 125 mg in a 12 oz serving of coffee). Athletes should seek out energy sources from nutrients like carbohydrates to fuel working muscles.

Myth: Protein improves performance when it is ingested during exercise.

Fact: The most recent research shows that protein in a sports drink consumed during or before exercise does not provide any additional performance benefit. In addition, research suggests that adding protein to a sports drink can slow gastric emptying and produce a “chalky” taste, which may make it challenging for athletes to drink enough to stay hydrated.8 Especially when consumed with carbohydrate, it is better to consume protein after activity, because science has repeatedly shown that consuming protein close to the exercise bout, especially after exercise helps with muscle protein sysnthesis.9

References:1 Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and Athletic Performance. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009;109:509-527.2 Anderson LL, Tufekovic G, Zebis MK, Crameri RM. The effect of resistance training combined with timed ingestion of protein on muscle fiber size and muscle strength. Metabolism. 2005;54:151-156.3 Tipton KD, Elliott TA, Cree MG, Aarsland AA, Sanford AP, Wolfe RR. Stimulation of net muscle protein synthesis by whey protein ingestion before and after exercise. Am J Physiology. 2007;292:E71-E76.4 Moore DR, Robinson MJ, Fry JL, Tang JE, Glover EI, Wilkenson SB, Prior T, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;89:161-168.5 Bergeron MF. Heat cramps: Fluids and electrolyte challenges during tennis in the heat. J Sci Med Sport. 6:19-27, 2003.6 Maughan RJ and Murray R. Sports Drinks: Basic Science and Practical Aspects, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Chapters 7&8 , pp. 183-224, 2001. 7 Donovan JL and DeVane CL. A primer on caffeine pharmacology and its drug interactions in clinical psychopharmacology. Psychopharmacol Bull. 35:300-48, 20018 Maughan RJ, et al. Gastric emptying and fluid availability after ingestion of glucose and soy protein hydrolysate solution in man. Exp Physiol, 89:101-108, 2004.9 Burk A, Timpmann S, Medijainen L, Vahi M, Oopik V. Time-divided ingestion pattern of casein-based protein supplement stimulates an increase in fat-free body mass during resistance training in young untrained men. Nutr Research 2009;29:405-413.

GATORADE SPORTS SCIENCE INSTITUTESPORTS NUTRITION MYTHS AND FACTS Christine Rosenbloom, PhD, RD, CSSD

Sports Dietitian, Georgia State University Athletics, Atlanta, GA

4 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2012 CoachesNetwork.com

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Castro says the sport’s increasing pop-ularity is part of the reason Marymount, which does not have a track and field team, added triathlon as a varsity sport for 2012-13. “When the school looked at this sport as an option, it saw great growth potential and diversity in the type of student-athletes triathlon brings to

helped the track and field athletes take the program more seriously. “When I came up with this, our principal, assistant principal, and athletic director backed me 100 percent,” Franklin says. “The principal will sometimes come in to the study hall and talk to my captains about leadership, and the athletic director stops by from time to time so he can meet with the ath-letes and see how everything is going.”

The goal for 2012-13 is for each of Appomattox’s track teams to have a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or better. To Frank-lin, reaching such a goal would be better than any state title.

“I want everybody to be eligible to go to college,” he says. “If they don’t want to go, that’s their decision, but it’s not going to be because they have bad grades. I told them at our banquet this year, ‘I love to win. But if you give me a choice between winning a state title and going to college, I’ll choose college every time.’ What’s the use of having a state championship trophy if you can’t read it?”

New TreNds

Triathlon Gains Ground

In APrIl, ovEr 1,500 CoMPETITorS FroM CluB ProGrAMS AT MorE ThAn 130 SChoolS PArTICIPATEd In ThE 2012 uSA TrIAThlon CollEGIATE nATIonAl ChAMPIonShIP. Two years earlier, repre-sentatives from uSA Triathlon began mak-ing a case for the sport to become an nCAA emerging sport for women. The popularity of college triathlon is obviously growing, so what does this mean for track and field coaches?

Zane Castro, who was recently named head Coach of Men’s and Wom-en’s Cross Country and Triathlon at Mary-mount university, believes making triath-lon an nCAA sport would be a benefit for athletes and coaches alike. “As a coach I am always looking for ways to make an athlete’s experience as enjoyable and ben-eficial as possible, and triathlon presents another option for success,” he says. “A cross country or track coach might look at an athlete and realize that while she may have a role on the track team, she is never going to be a great runner and probably won’t compete after college. As a triath-lete, she can compete during her four years of college and be better prepared for the next level after college.

“There can also be opportunities for triathletes to help the track or cross coun-try programs in the distance events,” he continues. “And triathlon itself can pro-vide some cross training benefits for track team members.”

Championship is held in April, but dyrek says that’s largely because of the logistical challenges club teams face getting orga-nized at the start of each school year. “We are working with the nCAA and talking to athletic directors about what season makes the most sense,” he says. “however, there’s still a lot of flexibility with the proposal.”

Castro would prefer to see college triathlon remain a spring sport. “This way the triathletes who need development in their running can do cross country in fall and those who need time in the water can swim in the winter,” he says. “Plus they can go right from the spring triath-lon collegiate season into the national events in the summer.”

Although uSAT has held its own col-legiate nationals for 15 years, dyrek

Stanford University’s Marissa Ferrante transitions from the swim to the bike leg on her way to wining the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships last spring. USAT is pushing to make triathlon an NCAA emerging sport for women.

campus,” he says. “Many different ath-letes can succeed in triathlon, and they’re typically very driven Type-A personalities who also have good grades.”

uSA Triathlon has been working on the emerging sport push for a couple of years. Thus far, six nCAA schools have signed letters saying they are interested in adding triathlon as a sport, and once that number reaches 10, the nCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will review the idea. The committee then would decide wheth-er to forward the proposal for votes by each of the three nCAA divisions to deter-mine whether they will accept triathlon as an emerging sport. If the proposal is adopted, schools would be able to count triathlon toward nCAA scholarship and sports sponsorship requirements. The clock would also start on a 10-year win-dow for the sport to gain full champion-ship status by having at least 40 schools offer it.

“College triathlon is one of our fast-est growing areas,” says Jeff dyrek, national Events director for uSA Triath-lon, the sport’s national governing body. “The interest is already there on the cam-

puses. We’re just looking to formalize things by adding the nCAA stamp of approval.”

The current proposal places triathlon in the fall on the nCAA calendar, which would allow triathletes to also compete for their schools’ swimming and track and field teams. The uSAT Collegiate national

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believes making triathlon an NCAA sport would help the U.S. produce better results in international competitions. “Part of the purpose is to create a better pipeline for our elite athletes,” he says. “Typically the top athletes that we have our eyes on through the junior ranks get to their college years and compete in track, cross country, or swimming. Even if they come back to triathlon after college, they’ve lost those four or five years of development and have a hard time catching up.

“Making triathlon an NCAA sport would give these athletes an opportunity to get an education while continuing to compete and develop,” Dyrek continues. “Then hopefully after college they’ll be better prepared to progress to the next level.”

With an eye on developing elite ath-letes, the current plan is for NCAA triath-lon events to consist of a 1,000-meter swim, 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) bike race, and 6,000-meter run. This is longer than the sprint events used at the junior lev-els, but shorter than the Olympic stan-dards (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run), which are also used at the USAT Colle-giate Nationals.

“We’re looking for a progression in distances so after these athletes finish col-lege, they’ll be ready to step up to the Olympic distance,” Dyrek says. “It also addresses concerns about fitting training into the 20-hour weekly limit. But we’re still discussing what the right distance is.”

Teachable MoMenTs

Fighting For A Second Chance

WhEN ErIC FUTCh, A TOP rUNNEr AT PENN WOOD hIGh SChOOl IN lANSD-OWNE, PA., WAS SUSPENDED FrOM ThE FINAl EvENT at the Pennsylvania Inter-scholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Dis-trict One Championships—which also barred him from participating in the upcoming state meet—his head coach, lenny Jordan, and school administrators had a tough decision to make: fight the ruling or use it as a teaching experience. They chose to do both.

The suspension resulted from a run-in Futch had with meet officials before the 4x400-meter relay. According to the offi-cial PIAA disqualification form, which was

BULLETIN BOARD

obtained by The Delaware County Daily Times, Futch was hanging out in an awards tent and refused to leave the area after being asked to by meet officials. Futch was then approached by Meet Director harry lewis about the situation, but did not acknowledge lewis and walked past him. At that point, he was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct. Per PIAA rules, any athlete penalized for

unsportsmanlike conduct is not permitted to compete in the next scheduled event of the same level of competition.

According to the Daily Times, Penn Wood Athletic Director rap Curry weighed whether to let the ruling stand

“The big takeaway for my athletes is that you have to watch your attitude ... Eric was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and then responded without thinking.”

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Anthony Rivera gives new meaning to the term “double duty.” For the last eight years, he has been the throws coach at Mountain View (Calif.) High School and for the last three years he has also filled the same position at nearby St. Francis (Calif.) High School.

Rivera started coaching the throwers at Mountain View in 2004, then in 2010 heard that St. Francis was looking for someone to coach its boys’ and girls’ throwers. Rivera applied and was quickly hired for the job. He also decided not to relinquish his duties at Mountain View.

Despite splitting his allegiances and time between the two schools—often working from 2:30 in the afternoon until 8:00 at night—Rivera has gotten the most out of his athletes. This past year, the top distances for boys’ and girls’ shot put and discus in California’s Central Coast Sec-tion belonged to athletes at the two schools.

One For Two

CM: Why did you choose to work at two schools simultaneously?

RiVeRA: There were two rea-sons. One, my former high school coach is the Head Coach at St. Francis, and i wanted to help him out. Two, i believe there aren’t a lot of knowledgeable throws coaches out there, especially for high school athletes. Working at both places allows me to coach additional throwers and help them develop their skills.

What are the benefits to the situation?Working at two schools has made me a bet-

ter coach, especially when it comes to drilling down proper technique and communicating it to the student-athletes. Because i work with more throwers than most coaches do, i see a wider range of ability levels. One minute i’m coming up with a drill for a senior who has been throwing for four years, and the next, i’m thinking about what i can do with a freshman who is just get-ting into the sport.

Additionally, if i see a similar problem crop-ping up in the throwers at both schools, i know there’s a problem with how i’m teaching some-thing. That tells me i need to take a step back and re-think how i’m explaining things and make a change.

Do the athletes ever wonder where your loyalties lie?

i’ve always viewed track and field as a sport that emphasizes camaraderie, especially in the throwing community, and i try to pass that on to all of the athletes i work with. i also attend both schools’ meets evenly—although sometimes there are conflicts. For example, this year both schools had their league championship meets on the same day and since St. Francis was hosting theirs, i attended that one.

But even if i can’t be at a meet, i make sure those athletes know i’m still supporting them. i encourage their parents to give me a call if the athlete is struggling during a meet, and if i need to talk to that athlete in between events, i will.

Rivera coached St. Francis discus thrower Cody Bickham to a first place finish at California’s Central Coast Section Championships and a seventh place spot at states.

ANThONy rivErA


as a learning opportunity for Futch or go to bat for him. But as more details from the meet trickled out, he decided to back the athlete.

On Monday and Tuesday of the fol-lowing week, Penn Wood made two unsuccessful appeals. Then on Wednes-day, a Daily Times reporter penned an article that brought more details of the incident to light. There were questions about how meet and district officials handled the situation, as well as doubt whether proper protocol was followed in suspending Futch.

On Thursday, Jordan, Futch, and Cur-ry once more made their case to the PIAA Board of Directors, who this time voted 21-1 in favor of Futch. Jordan, Futch, and a few teammates who came to the hear-ing to show their support immediately traveled to the state meet, which began the next day.

“I was ecstatic when we learned Eric would be able to run at states,” Jordan says. “I think the key was that everyone was honest. When Eric spoke to the Board, he told them exactly what hap-pened, even his part in anything. He put that all out there.

“It was also huge that our athletic

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Eric Futch led Penn Wood High School to a Pennsylvania state title in the 4x400-meter relay after being reinstated for competition two days before the meet.

director was there,” he continues. “Some-times if only the coach shows up, they might think you’re just siding with your athlete for the sake of the team. But our athletic director was able to voice his opinion to the board, and that helped.”

Cleared to participate at states, Futch made the most of his second chance, win-ning the Class AAA 300-meter hurdles and 200-meter dash, and helping his team to the 4x400-meter relay title. Penn Wood garnered 34 team points to finish second in its class.

Although the end result was posi-tive, Jordan believes many lessons were learned in the tumultuous week by both Futch and himself. “The big takeaway for my athletes is that you have to watch your attitude,” Jordan says. “It was a hot day and there was an overabundance of kids in one area. Eric was in the wrong

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from a DJ, which Vahrenkamp says the competitors enjoyed as much as the spec-tators. “The runners told me the music helped them get into a zone where they didn’t have to think about running,” he says. “They could just relax and not worry about what they were doing.”

The event was so popular that this fall, separate races for high school teams will be added. “I think it’s important to give high school runners a chance to par-ticipate in a race where there is a college meet at the same venue,” he says. “When I was in high school, I only got to do that a handful of times, but it helped me learn a lot about college programs.”

Based on the response from everyone involved, Vahrenkamp anticipates more meets will soon be run after dark. “As schools see how this can impact recruiting

Augustana College cross country athletes run in the inaugural Augie Twilight meet. Although it was originally slated as a “rust-buster” race, the idea of competing at night quickly enticed 10 teams, as well as spectators, from far and wide.

place at the wrong time, and then he responded to a request without thinking.

“I learned that I need to keep a bet-ter eye on my athletes,” he continues. “We teach our kids to not get involved in conflict, but sometimes they do get frus-trated, so I have to come up with a way to make sure I can keep them in control. Then if there’s a problem, they need to find me or send someone to get me, rath-er than deal with it themselves.”

Jordan has advice for other coaches who may find themselves with a disquali-fied athlete. “If you believe you’re right, keep fighting for them,” he says. “We felt there was an injustice done. The proper way to go about fighting for your athlete is to express yourself in a nice, gentle manner, and hopefully if you do the right things, good things will happen for you and your athlete.”

Home meets

X-C Under The Lights

For oBVIous reAsons, cross counTry rAces Are usuAlly helD DurIng The DAy. But Tracy hellman, head Track and Field and cross country coach at Augustana college, an ncAA Division II school in south Dakota, want-ed to do something a little different last year. so after the sun set on sept. 2, sev-eral men’s and women’s college teams gathered at yankton Trail soccer com-plex in sioux Falls and took part in the inaugural Augie Twilight meet.

“coach hellman and I constantly talk about ways we, as coaches, can make our sport more interesting to student-athletes, parents, and fans,” says Jim Vahrenkamp, who was an Assistant coach at Augustana last season before becoming head coach at Queens university of charlotte. (hell-man was unavailable to speak with us.) “last year, we also wanted to find some-thing fun to do for a home event, and he suggested a twilight meet.”

originally, the meet was going to serve as a “rust-buster” to open the sea-son for the Vikings and a couple of local schools. Vahrenkamp says that once word of the nighttime meet got out, schools hundreds of miles away were contacting

Augustana, wanting to be part of the event.

“That was surprising, because we didn’t really hype the meet up at all,” he says. “But everyone got excited very quickly, which helped it grow to about 10 teams and wound up giving it a great atmosphere.”

The course consisted of a one-mile loop, which was run four times by the men and three times by the women. It followed along a group of soccer fields, with a small portion taking place on the park’s perimeter. The starting portion of the race covered the length of a lighted soccer field and the rest of the course was marked by hundreds of glow sticks, plant-ed every few feet on either side of the course, much like an airport runway.

“That was coach hellman’s idea,” Vahrenkamp says. “he said, ‘What could be cooler than running in near-darkness and having your path lit up in front of you?’”

Additionally, because the course was a loop, spectators were able to move around easily and see runners pass multi-ple times. “It can be frustrating for par-ents and other fans to not see the runners for long periods when the trail winds through a golf course,” he says. “With this layout, fans could get from one side of the course to the other and see everyone run by frequently.”

Augustana promoted the meet as a fun event for all, and nearly 500 fans attended the two races. There was music

The starting portion of the race covered the length of a lighted soccer field and the rest of the course was marked by hundreds of glow sticks, planted every few feet on either side of the course, much like an airport runway.

Circle No. 103

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10 Coaching Management CoachesNetwork.com10 Coaching Management POSTSEASON 2012 CoachesNetwork.com

However, that doesn’t mean the high school runners didn’t take notice of the Division I athletes at their school.

“One day, at the end of spring, I had one of my All-Americans doing a workout on the track,” Ihmels says. “The high school team was starting to do their work, and one of the kids just stopped and watched our runner. There were also times that our runners were doing some fun and different stuff that the high school kids would watch.”

While Ihmels is looking forward to the opening of ISU’s new track, he liked that the situation last spring taught his athletes a lesson in appreciation. “We’re very blessed with our facilities at Iowa State,” Ihmels says. “We have a tendency to take them for granted, so I don’t think it was a bad thing for our student-athletes to experience something different—some-thing that isn’t theirs.

“It worked out well and we didn’t miss a beat,” he continues. “It wasn’t like having our own facility, but it didn’t stop us from doing what we needed to do. We thank them for the opportunity to use their facility, and I’m sure at some point down the line they’re going to want to use our new facility for something. It comes full circle.”

and get their runners and fans excited, I think nighttime meets are going to become more frequent,” he says.

Facilities

Sharing SpaceSepArATeD by jUST A cOUple Of

mIleS, THe TeAmS AT IOWA STATe UnI-verSITy AnD AmeS HIgH ScHOOl Help eAcH OTHer OUT A lOT. The Ames High coaches often work the ISU indoor meets, running the timing system or clerking, while Iowa State allows the high school to use its cross country course for meets. last spring, however, the relationship reached a new level. Iowa State was without an outdoor facility, so Ames rolled out the red carpet and allowed ISU to hold prac-tices on its track.

Iowa State was constructing a new on-campus outdoor facility and its old track had been torn up, leaving the squad without a home for the 2012 season. for-tunately, setting up a sharing agreement was easy, due to the existing relationship between the two programs.

“The girls’ coach at Ames High is a great friend, and the boys’ coach is a for-mer teammate of mine here at Iowa State,” says corey Ihmels, Director of men’s and Women’s Track and cross country at Iowa State. “We’ve done a lot of sharing on different levels so it was easy to work this out.”

for the most part, Iowa State simply became one more activity going on at the high school track. both high school and

college teams often practiced at the same time, and other Ames squads were some-times part of the mix.

“They have a field in the middle of their track that the soccer team uses for practice, which starts at 5 p.m.,” Ihmels says. “I can remember a couple instances when I had a runner who didn’t show up to practice until 4:30 because of a class, but the soccer coach was happy to let him complete his workout on the track while they practiced on the field. fortunately my student-athletes are very accustomed to practicing with a lot of other activity going on around them, so it didn’t affect them.”

Still, Ihmels worked hard not to over-step his bounds at the Ames High facility. “I was really careful throughout the whole process,” he says. “I probably sent a text message or called them any time we were going over there. They were so welcoming and accommodating that I almost felt like I was taking advantage of the situation whenever we were there. We made sure our student-athletes under-stood that we were guests.”

Iowa State also limited the number of athletes using the Ames track. Since it still had a functioning indoor track facility, jumpers mostly stayed on campus, and throwers never ventured to the high school because space was created for them on the ISU cross country course.

Ihmels was careful to work with his compliance office to make sure the prac-tice arrangement didn’t violate any ncAA rules, and interactions between the ath-letes on the two teams were limited.

Ian Warner (center) competes at the Drake Relays for Iowa State University, which held its practices this past spring at nearby Ames High School while waiting for its new track facility to be built.

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Circle No. 105


There is a long-standing idea that highly suc-cessful athletes cannot be highly successful

head coaches. In his eight years as the Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field at Stanford University, Edrick Floreal dispelled that myth.

A former Olympian who competed in the triple jump and long jump for Canada, Floreal helped continue the Stanford

tradition of greatness. The Cardinal women earned a sixth-place finish at the outdoor 2012 NCAA Division I championships, while the men placed 18th. Floreal’s career at Stanford also produced dozens of All-Ameri-cans, several national champions, and three athletes who competed at the London Olympics.

Floreal arrived at Stanford in 1998 as an assistant coach and began working with

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the field athletes. The next year, he coached his first national champion, directing Tracye Lawyer to the heptathlon title. In 2004, he was named head coach of the women’s track and field team, and he took over the entire program in 2005. That year, the women’s team captured its first outdoor Pacific-10 Conference title, and then fin-ished second at the indoor NCAA Division I championships the following season.

In 2007, the men’s and women’s teams each finished in the top 10 at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships. Two years later, the men’s team recorded its highest-ever finish at the outdoor Pac-10 champion-ships, coming in second. Floreal was named men’s indoor West Region Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA in 2010 and 2011.

In this interview, Floreal talks about the challenges and benefits of coaching at a school with tough academics. He also shares his thoughts on getting athletes to take ownership of a team and coaching his son.

Q&A with Edrick FlorEal

CM: What’s your coaching philosophy? Floreal: It’s focused on putting the stu-

dent-athletes at the center of the team, which is something I learned when I was compet-ing for the University of Arkansas. I believe that when student-athletes take ownership of the team, they’ll be more successful. They need to view themselves as being responsible for the results on the track, good or bad.

One way we achieve this is by encourag-ing the athletes to say, “This is my track, my facility, my weightroom.” That really drives it home. It’s also something that becomes self-perpetuating, and the upperclassmen pass it on to the freshmen.

Another way to promote team ownership is by doing activities that build bonds. We’ll do team trips and team training sessions, where the athletes spend three to four days together.

This interview was conducted in early July. Floreal has since accepted the Head Coach position at the University of Kentucky.

Stanford’s Arantxa King competed at the NCAA Division I outdoor championships in the long jump this spring, and then represented Bermuda at the London Olympics this summer.

What do you look for when recruiting?You can look at a runner’s time and

make certain assumptions about the kind of athlete he or she is, but those assumptions may be wrong. There are a lot of intangibles that don’t always show up when you’re just looking at the raw numbers. So one of the things I like to see in athletes is a certain amount of swagger. When I watch someone during a meet, I pay close attention to how they carry themselves and if they display confidence. I want to see an athlete who is almost floating above the others around them. Those are the ones I believe will be successful at the NCAA Division I level.

Are there challenges to recruiting ath-letes to an elite academic institution?

Each year, roughly 40,000 high school students apply to Stanford and only about 1,700 are accepted. When your school

accepts five percent of applicants, you have to deal with the fact that you’re not going to get the best athletes all the time. You can’t become frustrated when a great athlete is not admitted, because tomorrow there’s going to be another group of athletes, and you have to be focused on getting them.

Because of that situation, we might have to bring in a less-skilled athlete and work on their technique and teach them more than an athlete with elite talent. Our runners and throwers might have been able to get by on talent in high school, but they’re not going to be able to do that in college because they just don’t have that ability level. So we have to convince them to be perfectionists.

What are the keys to effectively chang-ing an athlete’s technique and instill-ing that perfectionist attitude?

It’s often a total reconstruction. With a runner, it might be as basic as teaching them to jog correctly. With field athletes, you have to constantly give them drills to improve their form. It’s cliché, but it really is repetition, because that’s the only way to fix someone’s form. They’ve got to be willing to put in the effort to do that.

Does your Olympic experience help you as a coach?

I think it helps and it hurts. On one


hand, when I have an athlete who wants to compete at that level, I know what’s required of them because I experienced it myself. On the other hand, it’s challenging because I expect that kind of effort and ability from every athlete, and they don’t all have it.

But I think I’m able to relate to everyone, regardless of their talent level, because even though I became a star, I didn’t fall out of bed like that. I had to work hard, so I know how much effort a marginal athlete is going to need to put forth if they want to improve.

How do you get to know all the athletes on your team?

We have a team meeting once a week where I’m able to see everyone, and at prac-tice, if I’m not working with the jumpers, I’ll go watch the throwers, or the distance runners, or another group. I also try to be involved with the athletes’ lives outside of

track and field. I’ll talk to them about their academic major or their family life, and that helps bring us together. From those conversations, they know I care about more than track.

Several Stanford athletes are from for-eign countries. What’s it like coaching a team with athletes from many different parts of the world?

I think it’s one of the things that adds to the value of Stanford. The school attracts students from all over because of its presti-gious academic reputation, so our student-athletes are exposed to individuals from all walks of life. There’s a lot an American ath-lete can gain from talking to someone from Nigeria or Greece who can share things about their background.

How did you prepare your athletes who competed at the Olympic trials?

I tried to de-emphasize the Olympics and stressed that they’re preparing and training like they would for any meet. The more you talk about the magnitude of the Olympics, the more pressure you put on your athletes. I didn’t want the athletes to feel like there’s a countdown to the Olympics. I stressed to them that we’re going to prepare the best we can, do the best we can, and everything else will sort itself out.

What are the secrets to training jumpers?There are really no secrets in training. I

wish there were, but there are not. We do jump more than other programs, I believe. We jump two to three times a week because I think in order to be successful, you have to do it over and over again. Beyond that, I try to look at the individual athlete and figure out what drills they’re going to respond to.

What do you look for when hiring assistant coaches?

In general, I think you have to look for coaches who have a personality similar to your own. If you’re a workaholic, hire assis-tants who are as well. Otherwise, you run the risk of having a head coach who is fired up about winning and assistants who are happy with just being good enough. That’s tough on your athletes.

Additionally, I try to avoid hiring the “best” coaches and instead hire the best per-son for the job. That means finding some-one who buys into the fact that we have strong academics here. There might be a great coach who can’t identify with student-athletes with high GPAs and subsequently struggles to recruit them.

How do you get the most from volun-teer assistants?

I look for individuals with ties to Stan-ford, because it’s easier for them to relate to the athletes. They already understand our program philosophy, and they’re aware of the academic challenges here. I want some-one who understands the true meaning of the word student-athlete.

Your son, who is in high school, runs track. What’s it like being a coach who is also the parent of an athlete?

It’s a challenge, because when I coach him, I have to balance two hats. Typically, you want to be a parent all the time, but I have to be able to push him when he needs to improve. At the same time, I have to know when to apply the brakes and be his parent again. Overall, we both really enjoy it because it gives us an opportunity to spend time together that we might not otherwise.

What advice do you have for coaches who want to work at the NCAA Division I level?

You need to take a long, hard look at it, because it absolutely influences other aspects of your life, especially your family life. You’re going to need to make sacrifices, because it’s a 24-7 job. If you’re not willing to put in that effort, you’re not going to be successful. CM

Q&A

I trIed to de-emphasIze the olympIcs and stressed that they’re preparIng and traInIng lIke they would for any meet. the more you talk about the magnItude of the olympIcs, the more pressure you put on your athletes.

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Circle No. 108

ALL IN FOCUS

n track and field, possibly more so than other sports, the odds favor those who are focused, confident, and ready to perform. Years of training can come down to split-seconds on the track or inches on the field, and the athlete who is more mentally focused will often be the one wearing gold on the medal stand.

In a sport where concentration and confidence can make or break an athlete, mental training should

be a part of any team’s workouts. | By Von Mitchell

So how can track and field coaches help their athletes with the mental aspects of per-formance? Dr. Rick McGuire, former Head Coach at the University of Missouri and cur-rently Director of Sport Psychology for the athletic department, is widely acknowledged as an expert in the field of applied sport psy-chology. He is also a teacher to the core who believes, like anything else in sports, a positive mental attitude can be taught.

“Thinking is a skill,” says McGuire. “Skills can be learned, and thinking right is the most fundamental of all sports skills. I think my thoughts one at a time. You think yours one at time. I control mine. You control yours. I can’t make you think anything. You can’t make me think anything. That means we are responsible for our thoughts.

“We all understand in sport that certain thoughts hurt performance, especially those that are negative, doubting, or distracted,” he continues. “If wrong thoughts hurt per-formance, then right thoughts can help performance. What athletes need to do is know the difference between the two and how to pick right thoughts.”

McGuire is not just referring to the thinking process during competition. To him, athletes being focused during practice is just as important. “All coaches want basi-cally the same thing, and that is for every one of our athletes to show up on competi-tion day totally focused, intending to deliver their very best performance,” he says. “What I really wanted, though, was for them to also show up on practice days totally focused to have a great practice. That way they could increase their capabilities as designed in the practice plan.

“If they do that every day, they also become great at focusing,” McGuire contin-ues. “They have great practices, and they have more to deliver in competition.”

How exactly do you get your athletes to show up each and every day in the right men-tal state? McGuire says the most important thing to teach athletes is focus. And he emphasizes the word teach.

“You can’t just yell at the kids, ‘Focus! You’re not focused!’” he says. “That’s what most coaches do, but that’s like telling the high jumper who hits the bar ‘Jump higher!

COVER STORY

You’re not jumping high enough!’ You have to teach them the required focus.”

McGuire breaks focus down into five skills: time orientation, positive self talk, composure, concentration, and confidence. The following provides more specifics on each skill, along with some advice from coaches in the trenches.

TIME ORIENTATIONThe first skill for great focus is being in the

present. That can be a challenge today with smartphones beckoning us to think about three things at once. But it is imperative for workouts, practices, and competition.

“You can only be in the past, present, or future, and athletes have a unique way of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” says McGuire. “Lots of times, track athletes are either worried about what happened in practice earlier in the week or what hap-pened during a meet two weeks ago.

“Athletes have to be right here, right now,” he continues. “That’s what will lead to a great practice every day.”

Joe Compagni, Head Coach at Mon-mouth University, adds that being in the present also means letting go of distractions. “With college athletes, a lot of it comes back to what they do during the day,” he explains. “If they’ve had a good day—they’ve had breakfast, they’ve had lunch, they’ve taken care of themselves—then they can come to practice and focus. Often, I see a lack of focus attributable to a factor other than practice. They have something else going on in their lives or they’re having a rough day in the hours leading up to practice.”

POSITIVE SELF TALKMcGuire defines self talk as “the conver-

sation you have with yourself.” You can’t stop yourself from engaging in this ongoing talk. But you can take control of it.

“Self talk is the most influential conversa-tion any of us have,” says McGuire. “So it’s critical that this conversation be positive. I have athletes write 20 strong, positive affir-mations about themselves and read the list out loud to themselves five, six, 15, 20 times a week.

“People think that’s ridiculous, but they listen to a playlist on their MP3 players 25 times in a week, so they can read their list of affirmations that many times,” he continues.

“We practice sprint starts 5,000 times, so why can’t we practice thinking right 25 times?”

COMPOSUREOne of the toughest things for many

young athletes to get a handle on is the right level of composure. A dual-sport athlete who also plays football may be accustomed to get-ting very pumped up before competition, while the laid-back long-distance runner may get to the starting line without any adrenaline rush at all.

“Being composed means not getting too high or too low,” says McGuire. “You’re just right. For every athlete, for whatever the task

is on that day, there’s a given level of emotion that will allow them to perform their very best.

“Each athlete needs to learn what level is right for him or her and how to get there,” he continues. “It’s easy to control, and kids who care about being good at their sport have fun with this. They are able to dial it in, and they laugh when they see a distance runner jump-ing up and down and getting fired up like a linebacker on a football team. They think, ‘I got you, buddy.’”

Different events typically call for different composure. “What’s right for the shot-putter is absolutely not right for the two-miler,” says McGuire.

“Distance runners need a special kind of focus,” says Compagni. “It’s very easy for them to be too excited and ‘run their race before they run it’ by thinking about it too much or by being too amped up.

“They really need a sustained effort that’s going to last them somewhere between four minutes and 40 minutes,” he continues. “It’s a different kind of intensity than for some-body who’s going to run the 100.”

“You can’t go and do a rah-rah-sis-boom-bah-type of thing for pole-vaulters and dis-tance runners,” says Barbara Crousen, Head Coach at McMurry University. “You can be a little more like that with your throwers, though.”

How do you help the athletes who have too much anxiety before an event? “We try to lighten the load a little bit for those ath-letes,” says Compagni. “We want most peo-ple to focus on the task at hand, but some of them get too worked up. We try to get them to smile and relax.

“I have an assistant coach who says, ‘You

can’t fail. You’ve done all the work!’” he con-tinues. “That serves as a cue to help the ath-lete relax and realize they’re not going off to the electric chair. They get to do something they enjoy and they’re reminded that they’ve done the work to prepare for this moment. If they just go out and give it their best effort, they can’t fail.”

Sue Hysong, Head Girls’ Coach at West-view High School in Avondale, Ariz., has guided the Knights to four state titles in her career with a simple solution for maintain-ing composure and avoiding anxiety. “After they set their goals for what they want to do at the meet, I basically tell them to just go

have fun,” she says. “And if they’re really ner-vous, sometimes we have to make them think about something else.”

“With my nervous runners, I encourage them to be quiet,” says Crousen. “If they have an upset stomach, an old favorite of mine is to have them take half an alka-seltzer before they run.”

“We also try to find out what motivates each individual,” says Compagni. “Some ath-letes really need your attention and focus or some reminder two minutes before the race. Others should be left alone on race day because we just increase their anxiety by giv-ing them more information.”

CONCENTRATIONWhen it comes to teaching concentra-

tion, McGuire has a four-step routine for athletes. The first step is for athletes to see everything—really observe what’s going on around them.

“That’s why we get to meets early—so kids can get used to the environment and acclimate,” he says. “We tell them to find the information that matters. There’s a lot of information in the competitive environ-ment, but most of it is irrelevant. They have to learn to find what matters.”

The second step is to have a strategy, which will be different for each athlete, depending on the event and the athlete’s particular goals. “The athlete should review the key points that are crucial to giving a great performance,” says McGuire.

Hysong helps her athletes develop a

VON MITCHELL is a freelance writer as well as a business teacher and Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at Delta (Colo.) High School. He can be reached at: [email protected].


“Self talk is the most influential conversation any of us have ... I have athletes write 20 strong, positive affirmations about themselves and read the list out loud to themselves.” RiCk MCGuiRE, uNivERSiTy Of MiSSOuRi

strategy by sticking to just one key point. “I’m big on working on one specific thing during a meet like the approach or lean for a high jumper or the second phase or land-ing for triple jumpers,” says Hysong. “Our kids usually do better when they have one thing to focus on.”

The third step is to visualize. “See your-self do this thing, whatever it is,” says McGuire. “See yourself so powerfully that you can feel it. Then you’re plugged into your kinesthetic sense, and that’s where your athletic genius is.”

“We do a little bit of visualization work

where we’ll spend some time with the athletes in a quiet place while their eyes are closed, picturing themselves racing well,” says Com-pagni. “We are fortunate to have a sports psychologist who works with our athletes.

“This is actually one of those areas in my program that I’d like to give more time to,”

As much as any athlete practices mental focus, there are going to be days when things don’t go well. How should coaches respond?“Failure is part of the process,” says John Curtin, Head Coach at Emory University. “If you’re going to be successful in this sport, you have to be able to deal with failure—shake it off, learn from it, and move on. Even though something may look like a failure from the outside, it’s often just a step to something bigger and greater.

“You have to challenge yourself,” he continues. “You can’t be afraid to get outside of the box and test your limits. Sometimes in sport we’re way too caught up in the winning and the losing. One of the things I enjoy about coaching at an NCAA Division III school is that

we’re about growing young people through the challenges of sport. There’s something to be gained from putting yourself on the line. Just breaking it down to winning and losing causes us to lose focus on what the overall goal is.”

Barbara Crousen, Head Coach at McMurry University, also treats failing as a learning experience. “Every athlete is different and you just have to figure out what makes them tick. Some want you right there after they fail and some want you to leave them alone,” she says. “Let them mourn. Let them cry. Let them get mad. But then a coach needs to go to them and let them know they’re not the first person to fail, and they’re not going to be the last. We have to grow from failure. We know there are going to be failures in life, but the only true failure is to let it get to you.”

Dealing with Failure

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Circle No. 109

he continues. “But we do try to teach our athletes how to relax and put some good mental pictures in their head.”

The last step is to just do it. “Trust your-self,” says McGuire. “You’ve got the feel, now

turn it over to your kinesthetic sense and just do. There’s no more getting ready. Head down the runway! Start across the circle!”

CONFIDENCEMost athletes gain confidence by doing

well—the idea is that success builds confi-dence. However, McGuire says that having confidence is actually more mentally driven.

“Confidence is the trust that you’re going to deliver, that you can get out of yourself what you’ve put in,” he explains. “It cannot be based on what’s happened before. Confi-dence happens in the mind. It’s a thought.

You pick these thoughts. You control them. So you can choose to have confidence in every single race.

“Confidence does not mean the result you want is guaranteed,” McGuire contin-

ues. “Confidence means you think that’s what you’ll get. Focus your confidence on performance, not outcome.”

Compagni works a lot with his sprinters on building confidence. “Because they com-pete for a short time, they need to have a high level of confidence and alertness,” he says. “They have to be really sharp.”

INDIVIDUAL VS. TEAMMcGuire’s five steps to better focus can

help any individual athlete have the psycho-logical edge out on the track. But what about your squad as a whole? Compagni

says there’s also a team aspect. “We talk as a group the day before a

meet,” says Compagni. “We discuss things to worry about, things not to worry about, situations that may come up, and how our

athletes should deal with them. “Then post-meet we’ll have another

team discussion, which gets individual ath-letes to think about their tactics,” he contin-ues. “We’ll say, ‘Today went pretty well. What were the keys to that? Did you finally eat breakfast? Did you spend some time visual-izing?’ If it didn’t go well, we might ask, ‘Did you get flustered because it was hotter than you thought it would be? Was the competi-tion different from what you were expect-ing?’ We use it as a debriefing session to talk about what strategies our athletes used and what did and didn’t work.” CM

“Post-meet we’ll have another team discussion, which gets individual athletes to think about their tactics. We’ll say, ‘Today went pretty well. What were the keys to that? Did you spend some time visualizing?’” Joe Compagni, monmouth university

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“Post-meet we’ll have another team discussion, which gets individual athletes to think about their tactics. We’ll say, ‘Today went pretty well. What were the keys to that? Did you spend some time visualizing?’” JOE COmPAgNi, mONmOuTh uNivErSiTy

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” For athletes, this statement couldn’t ring truer.

Those who practice in the afternoon need breakfast to set the foundation for a full day of healthy eating. Athletes who have early morning workouts need breakfast to help shift their bodies from a catabolic state to an anabolic one. And any athletes doing two

There are many reasons why your athletes should eat a healthy breakfast every day. Convincing them to do so is

often the hard part. By Susan Kundrat

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workouts a day need breakfast to begin fuel-ing early and often in order to maximize training.

Though these are all great reasons to eat a healthy breakfast, getting athletes moti-vated to wake up early enough for a meal before their day begins can be a challenge. In my experience, it’s not uncommon for more than half of a given team’s athletes to skip breakfast.

The most common excuse is lack of time. Teenagers don’t want to get out of bed any earlier than absolutely necessary, and sleep is a luxury for college athletes who are up late studying. On top of this, while coaches and sports dietitians are preaching the impor-tance of eating a healthy breakfast, we’re also harping on getting a good night’s sleep, so it’s easy for athletes to use this reasoning to stay in bed an extra 20 minutes.

On the flip side, once athletes make a commitment to eating a healthy breakfast on a daily basis, they reap the benefits quickly. Athletes I’ve worked with have reported hav-

It’s true that many people just don’t feel hungry in the morning, especially if they aren’t in the habit of eating in the morning. But I’ve found that once athletes do start eating breakfast, their bodies get used to the habit and begin craving food when they wake up. It’s important for athletes to know that they may need to “train” their bodies to handle breakfast if it’s not something they are used to.

ing more energy throughout the day, an easi-er time concentrating in class, and a greater ability to get through their workouts as soon as one week after beginning a daily breakfast routine. Incorporating healthy breakfast foods into one’s diet has also proven to lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure—both important for lifelong health.

THE IDEAL MEALBefore addressing how to get athletes to

follow through on eating breakfast, it’s impor-tant they know what makes a good first meal of the day. There are just as many poor food choices as great ones, and it can be easy for athletes to lose their way in the grocery store aisles.

Because breakfast plays several nutri-tional roles, variety is a must. High-quality carbohydrates (whole grains, cereals, fruit, 100-percent juices, yogurt, chocolate milk) provide quick muscle and brain energy. Pro-tein (eggs, meat, milk, yogurt, nuts, nut but-ters, seeds, legumes) provides satiety and helps maintain and build lean muscle tissue. Fiber (whole grains, fruits, vegetables) also boosts satiety while providing other benefits like lowering lipids, maintaining regularity, and controlling blood sugar. And finally, fluids (water, milk, juice, smoothies, coffee, tea) help get athletes back into a hydrated state after a night of sleep.

The list of foods athletes should try to

SUSAN KUNDRAT is the Program Director of the Nutri-tional Sciences bachelor’s program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the former Sports Dietitian for the University of Illinois. She is also the co-founder of RK Team Nutrition and owner of Nutrition on the Move. She can be reached through the RK Team Nutrition Web site at: www.rkteamnutrition.net.

avoid is a long one, but in general, those that are high in fat, fried, and/or have a lot of pro-cessed sugar are at the top. That means stay-ing away from heavily sweetened cereals, juice drinks (instead of 100-percent juice), and donuts.

Since cereal is so easy to prepare and often nutritious, it’s a great option. But athletes must be careful in the cereal aisle because not all the boxes are good choices. A simple rule of thumb to keep in mind is to look for a cereal with four or more grams of protein, five or more grams of fiber, and 12 or fewer grams of sugar per serving. Plenty of popular cereals fit into this category, including Kel-logg’s Special K Protein Plus, Quaker Oat-meal Squares, Kashi Heart to Heart, Fiber One Honey Clusters, Post Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch, and Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats.

Although many athletes may think primar-ily of carbohydrates like bagels, cereal, toast, and fruit or juice for breakfast, I encourage them to also take in at least 20 to 30 grams of protein in the morning. Including protein is critical for maintaining lean body mass, and some studies have found that when included at breakfast, protein may increase total energy expenditure during the day. Take a look at these examples of breakfast meals that each include at least 20 grams of protein:

n Two slices of whole wheat toast with two tablespoons of peanut butter, one banana,

one container of light yogurt, and one cup of one-percent chocolate milk.

n One cup of Greek vanilla yogurt with three tablespoons of slivered almonds, a quarter-cup of low-fat granola, and a half-cup of fresh berries or half of a peach mixed in.

n A two-egg omelet with one ounce of low-fat cheese and one ounce of chopped ham wrapped in a medium-sized whole grain tortilla shell, along with one cup of 100-percent grapefruit juice.

n A smoothie made of one cup of Greek yogurt, a half-cup of frozen cherries, and a half-cup of juice, along with a mini whole wheat bagel topped with a slice of cheese or peanut butter.

MEETING BREAKFAST CHALLENGES As mentioned earlier, athletes can easily

justify to themselves why skipping breakfast is okay. But each excuse can be countered with some constructive advice. Let’s take a closer look at ways to combat typical break-fast obstacles.

“I don’t have enough time.” When ath-letes are rushed before class, or have to get up extra early for a morning workout, eating breakfast can feel like one more thing on their to-do list. Plus, many athletes need to get into the athletic training room before workouts for treatment, which cuts into valuable sleep time even more. But there are ways to combat these challenges:

n Pack breakfast the night before. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bananas, and juice boxes work well. I encourage athletes to purchase an insulated lunch bag so they can fill it the night before, store it in the fridge, and throw it in their backpack on the way out the door.

n Make a week’s worth of breakfast meals over the weekend. Athletes can package indi-vidual servings of trail mix in baggies, line up 100-percent juice bottles and pre-poured bot-tles of chocolate milk in the fridge, and have containers of fresh grapes, baby carrots, and yogurt ready to go. Athletes can also cook homemade breakfast sandwiches ahead of time. Just pull one out of the freezer and throw it in the microwave for 60 seconds.

n Eat leftovers. Pizza, pasta, or even take-out Chinese food are all great breakfast options. Eat a plate cold or warmed up in the microwave along with a high-quality


EASY AS 1-2-3At Georgia State University, sports dietitian Chris Rosenbloom has created the fol-lowing guide to choosing a healthy breakfast. Athletes choose any combination of one food from each of the following three columns (one high-carbohydrate food, one high-protein food, and one fruit) for an easy and nutritious 1-2-3 breakfast.

1 2 3Carbohydrate Protein Fruit

Cereal Low-fat milk 100-percent juiceOatmeal Yogurt BananaGrits Eggs StrawberriesToast Peanut butter Fruit smoothieEnglish muffin Cheese AppleBagel Ham Mixed berriesPancakes Turkey or chicken sausage ApplesauceWaffles Canadian bacon Canned fruitGranola Almond butter TomatoGranola bar String cheese Orange or tangerineFlour tortilla Scrambled egg whites Tomato or V-8 juiceWhole grain crackers Cottage cheese PineappleFrench toast Walnuts Pear

liquid like 100-percent juice or milk, and the meal is complete.

n Try a blend-and-go breakfast. It takes about 60 seconds to blend yogurt, a cup of frozen berries, a cup of orange juice, and a banana with ice. Or if an athlete doesn’t have a blender, they can mix a scoop of whey protein

powder with one cup of water, milk, or juice. n Eat something quick on the way out the

door, and pack another item for a little while later. This could be a granola bar or sports bar eaten on the way to class or the weight-room, and a second one an hour later.

“I’m not hungry.” It’s true that many

It’s true that many people just don’t feel hungry in the morning, especially if they aren’t in the habit of eating in the morning. But I’ve found that once athletes do start eating breakfast, their bodies get used to the habit and begin craving food when they wake up. It’s important for athletes to know that they may need to “train” their bodies to handle breakfast if it’s not something they are used to.

people just don’t feel hungry in the morn-ing, especially if they aren’t in the habit of eating in the morning. But I’ve found that once athletes do start eating breakfast, their bodies get used to the habit and begin crav-ing food when they wake up. It’s important for athletes to know that they may need to

“train” their bodies to handle breakfast if it’s not something they are used to.

I suggest starting by adding a miniature breakfast “snack” 15 to 30 minutes after waking up. This could be a small bowl of cereal and milk, a piece of peanut butter toast and apple juice, a granola bar, fruit, or

a few graham crackers with a glass of choco-late milk. Eventually, the athlete’s body will get used to morning fuel and they can work up to eating a bigger breakfast.

Another option for the athlete who says they aren’t hungry in the mornings is to start by drinking their breakfast. Using pre-

made shakes or instant mixes with chocolate milk or 100-percent juice work well. And as they get used to the routine, the athlete can add in solid foods. An added bonus to a liquid breakfast is that people generally wake up dehydrated, so it allows for re-hydration while consuming some energy.

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breakfast are at greater risk for weight gain. Breakfast doesn’t have to be heavy on the

calories. Heidi Skolnik, co-author of Nutrient Timing for Peak Performance, recommends fast, balanced, lean breakfasts that will mini-mize hunger such as a slice of whole grain toast with peanut butter, a glass of skim milk and a banana, or a whole grain waffle with low-fat cottage cheese and fresh berries.

I’ve also heard many athletes say they feel like they eat all day long if they eat breakfast in the morning, so they just skip it. But it’s important for athletes to know that eating all day is a good thing—as long as the foods they’re consuming are primarily healthy.

Several studies have documented the ben-efits of spreading calories out over the course of the day instead of eating two or three larger meals with lots of time in between them. In addition to having more even energy levels, “grazing” during the day fuels lean body mass better and helps decrease body fat by preventing overeating.

It’s also worth noting that the feeling of being hungry all day may be more percep-tion than reality. Recently published research that studied adolescents who regularly skipped breakfast found that when they ate high-protein breakfasts, they actually had a reduction in appetite and overall food intake during the day.

Educate athletes on their total energy and protein needs, and show them how to break down their projected total food intake into five or six small meals or snacks during the

day, including breakfast. Sample meal plan-ning can really help athletes see that they can meet their goal of getting leaner while eating several times a day.

Although it is challenging to try and find ways to make it easier for athletes to eat breakfast, there’s ample evidence that doing so can make a good athlete even better. Properly fueled athletes have more energy all day long, better concentration skills, and superior performances—and it all starts with breakfast. CM

A version of this article was previously published in our sister publication, Training & Conditioning. For more articles visit: www.Training-Conditioning.com.

competitive edge

Athletes may have the misconception that skipping meals will help them shed pounds. However, numerous studies have found that breakfast eaters tend to maintain healthier weights, while those who skip break-fast are at greater risk for weight gain ... Breakfast doesn’t have to be heavy on the calories.

Currently, the NCAA allows Division I member schools to provide their teams with one training table meal per day. Because of the logistics of student-athletes’ daily schedules, dinner is usually the easiest choice for this meal. However, many in the sports dietitian community believe student-athletes would benefit greatly from a second training table meal per day: breakfast.

The myriad of concrete benefits athletes get from consuming a healthy daily breakfast would no doubt result in a significant positive effect on their health and performance. “Training table meals function as learning labs for progressive nutrition programs, where the menu, organization, and food quality reinforce the sports dietitian’s educational mes-

sages,” says Amy Bragg, Director of Performance Nutrition at the University of Alabama and President of the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association.

Bragg also notes that if an additional team meal were allowed, there would be much less reliance on sports supplements like shakes, bars, and drinks. Instead, the focus would be on whole foods, which offer benefits that supplements do not.

For now, it may work for some teams to make breakfast part of their training plan. Coaches can encourage their athletes to meet for breakfast as a team, or make a “breakfast pact” in which all players agree to eat a solid breakfast every day, whether it be in the dining hall, at home, or on the way to class or a workout.

AS A teAm

“I’m afraid I’ll get sick.” I’ve heard from some athletes that they skip breakfast for fear of losing it during a morning run. In this case, it’s possible the athlete is eating too much or too close to their scheduled workout time.

If possible, encourage the athlete to get up

10 to 15 minutes earlier than usual so they can digest a small breakfast. Start with water or an easily digestible juice like apple juice and a small grain such as a packet of oatmeal, half a bagel, a granola bar, or a small bowl of dry cereal. A liquid meal like a smoothie or chocolate milk is definitely worth a try, and yogurt is a great choice as well since it is so quickly changed to liquid form in the body.

Another option for this athlete is to eat more before bed. Adding an extra snack close to bedtime can help boost energy stores in the morning. Athletes can think of this food as a pre-breakfast snack to help them start off the following day with more fuel on board.

I’ve also heard some athletes say they

tend to feel queasy upon rising extra early in the morning. I suggest these athletes drink a glass of water first, then after a few minutes try something easily digestible like crackers, dry toast, or dry cereal. Once their stomach is settled, the athlete can boost their break-

fast with some more hearty foods. This is a perfect example of how a breakfast packed the night before can be a big help.

I also encourage athletes to move around before eating in an attempt to decrease any nauseous feelings. Some feel fine after a shower, or after walking to class or the weightroom. Even if they eat an hour after getting up, the athlete still gets the benefit of early morning fuel.

“I’m trying to lose weight.” Like many people, athletes may have the misconception that skipping meals will help them shed pounds. However, numerous studies have found that breakfast eaters tend to maintain healthier weights, while those who skip

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Circle No. 113

Anyone who has worn a head coach’s whistle for even a short period of time would likely agree: The competitive sea-son can be overwhelming. From planning practices to preparing for competition to communicating with constituents, it can often feel as if there is more to do every day than is humanly possible.

That is especially true at the high school level, where most coaches also have to bal-ance teaching responsibilities. “By the end of the year, I’m dog-tired,” says Jack Thomson, Head Baseball Coach at Sierra High School

in Manteca, Calif. “You try to make sure you do a good job in the classroom and with your team on the field, and that puts a lot on your plate.”

While they may not have a teaching load, many college coaches have additional tasks beyond running their team. “Sometimes you have a season that’s going well, but you have outside stuff going on,” says Kelly Sul-livan, Head Women’s Track and Field Coach at Oregon State University and former Head Coach at Williamette University. “For exam-ple, right now I’m in the midst of an enor-

A losing season can take its toll on even the most

experienced coach. Here’s how to get through one.

By Von Mitchell

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“Our kids today live in a world where they’ve been coddled and given trophies and told they’re the best there is. So anytime I’m in the position to gently tell them a harsh truth, I do. Sometimes the truth is that the other team or person was better. It shouldn’t be the end of their world.”

LEADERSHIP


VON MITCHELL is a freelance writer as well as a business teacher and Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at Delta (Colo.) High School. He can be reached at: [email protected].

upbeat, working hard, and improving both individually and as a team.”

Thomson agrees. “The number one way to keep your sanity in a losing season is to focus on the process and not on the result,” he says. “If you can keep that in mind, it alleviates a lot of pressure. By concentrating on teaching the kids, everything else kind of takes care of itself.”

Part of that teaching can be showing young people that real life has its ups and downs. “Our kids today live in a world where they’ve been coddled and given tro-phies and told they’re the best there is,” says Albright. “So anytime I’m in the position to

gently tell them a harsh truth, I do. Some-times the truth is that the other team or person was better. It shouldn’t be the end of their world. Being real is always a good thing. You address it and keep trying to move the player forward.”

At the same time, Keith points out the importance of not letting things get too seri-ous. “I tried real hard to inject humor in practices and meetings,” he says. “There are just some things that are funny. I want the kids to work. I want them to be intense. But I want them to know it’s okay to laugh. They can’t be turtlenecked all the time. When kids are having fun in practice, they’ll be more attentive and they’ll play harder. I think it really works against you if you try to intimi-date them.”

One last way to keep perspective is to remember the big picture. “There is more to what I’m doing than winning and losing,” says Sullivan. “It’s about relationships with people. I’m in my 32nd year of college coaching and I still love bouncing ideas off other people to see what they think. I’ve coached at all different levels and enjoy friendships with a lot of different people.”

FAMILY FOCUSBalancing work with family is an ongo-

ing struggle for many coaches. When the season is not living up to expectations, it can

mous fundraiser to help us build a new track facility. The future of our program depends on me raising the funds for this project, so there is some outside pressure.”

Coaches must also deal with the inevita-ble criticism that comes with their profes-sion. “The environment we coach in has changed a lot due to social media,” says Randy Montgomery, Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at Hoover High School in North Canton, Ohio. “People get on Web sites and say things they didn’t used to say. You have to deal with that.”

All the extra responsibilities and time spent at work are worth it when the wins are

piling up and your athletes are improving every day. But what about those seasons that don’t go well? How do you get through a year when none of your strategies seem to work, injuries pile up, and heads are hanging low?

Bruce Keith just finished his 40th year in education, with 32 of them spent pacing the sidelines as Head Football Coach for various high schools in North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. Although he has won seven state titles (one at Divide County High School in North Dakota and six at Sheridan High School in Wyoming), he also vividly remembers the down years.

“There was one season, where, by the fifth week, we lost seven kids for the year!” he says. “It seemed like every time we made a little progress, we lost another key compo-nent and got set back. It was frustrating.”

There’s a lot of advice available for coaches on how to win. In this article, we ask veteran coaches to share their insights on how to sur-vive a season when losing takes center stage.

KEEPING PERSPECTIVEIn the area of attitude, few compare to

Jane Albright, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at the University of Nevada. After three decades of coaching, she has molded a wonderful perspective that any coach can use in the midst of a difficult season.

“There’s always a teaching opportunity in everything,” Albright says. “In a season like we had last year, where kids are working very hard but we were losing, you can teach them many important things.

“One is that there’s a huge difference between being a loser and losing,” she con-tinues. “Just because you lose ballgames, that does not make you a loser. I’m very much into John Wooden and his definition of suc-cess—peace of mind comes from doing your best to become the best you are capable of becoming. When we lost games this past year, we talked about what we could do bet-ter and stressed that as long as the players truly did their best, they were not losers.”

Albright feels that’s a great lesson for both athletes and coaches. “In my first season as a high school coach, we finished 3-17,” she says. “That was the first losing team I’d ever been a

part of, and it was an eye-opening experience. But I learned that sometimes you can do your very best and still not be good. It’s a lesson we all need to know, and there’s not that much wrong with losing as long as you’re doing your very best.”

Keith trumpets the importance of being dependable as a coach in the middle of a tough season. “I tried to always keep how I treated the players and how I prepared consis-tent,” he says. “The plan pretty much remained the same whether we were 0-8 or 8-0.

“Maybe we stunk on Friday night, but the kids would come in on Monday and know how we were going to do things,” he contin-ues. “It wasn’t like, ‘Okay, you played bad on Friday so I’m going to run you into the dirt.’ I didn’t do that. To me, that shows a lack of maturity.”

It was also important to Keith to still be a great teacher of the game during down times. “We tried really hard to teach our kids how to play the game the right way,” he says. “I had a couple of teams where, because we were so young, we knew it was going to be a while before we could be competitive, so we focused on making the kids better football players as opposed to getting them ready with a partic-ular game plan. The idea was, ‘We’re going to play football Monday through Thursday to get better and hope it shows up a little bit Friday night,’ all the while knowing that Fri-day night might be tough.

“We just tried to stay steady and posi-tive,” Keith continues. “We showed the kids that what’s really important is staying

“Our kids today live in a world where they’ve been coddled and given trophies and told they’re the best there is. So anytime I’m in the position to gently tell them a harsh truth, I do. Sometimes the truth is that the other team or person was better. It shouldn’t be the end of their world.”

be even tougher to not bring problems home. That’s why coaches say it’s important to have some strategies in place ahead of time to handle it.

For Keith, the hardest part was making sure his family was not negatively affected by the criticism he received as a football coach. “My wife did a great job with our kids, helping them keep a proper perspective about what I was doing,” he says. “My son played for me and then later coached with me, so he understood. I saw my daughters cry a couple of times, but my wife would sit in the stands with the kids and set an exam-ple of having class and being dignified. She taught them that even if people were critical of me and what I was doing, the family was going to be positive and strong.”

What works well for Thomson is to not bring the game home. “I think it’s important that you have your coaching time and you have your family time and you don’t mix the two,” he says. “When I leave the baseball field, I try to leave the game there. That doesn’t mean I don’t wake up in the middle of the night thinking about baseball some-times. Just like everybody else, I have my

not just winsWhen coaches talk about enduring a tough season, it usually means lots of losses. But sometimes a down year can be caused by attitudes instead of results.“I had one team that had success, but the kids were not all that enjoyable to work with because they were selfish,” says Bruce Keith, a retired high school head football coach, who made stops in North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. “They weren’t team-oriented. They were more into being individuals. We lacked cohesiveness and teamwork. That was a rough season.”

Dawn Redd, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Beloit College, agrees that top talent doesn’t always mean a great team experience. “A few years ago, when I still coached at the high school level, I had a very talented team that featured three girls who went on to play NCAA Division I volleyball,” she says. “But they just couldn’t get along. That made it miserable for everyone. We had personality and leadership issues.

“I don’t know that I ever found a solution for that team,” Redd continues. “The season finally just ended. It was too bad. I still think about it. We made it to the championship game and lost, really, because of that lack of leadership.”


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Circle No. 115

By: Jim Kielbaso

ISBN-13: 978-0-9762944-1-2

8.5” x 11” Paper, 224 pages.Breaks down speed & agility mechanics illus-trated with photos and diagrams and 100 drills.

“If you want to be faster and more athletic, GET THIS BOOK! A must.” – Mickey Marotti, Director of Strength & Conditioning, University of Florida

“My advice: Get a copy of this book and get busy making your athletes faster and more agile!” – Ken Mannie, Director of Strength & Conditioning, Michigan State University

$1995

NEWClearing Hurdles:The Quest to be The World’s Greatest Athlete

Available at www.cardinalpub.com and wherever books are sold

Ultimate Speed & Agility:Drills & Techniques for Athleticism

$2295ISBN-9781935628088

6” x 9” Paper, 312 pages.

Dan O’Brien, the subject of the infamous “Dan & Dave” advertising campaign, goes from the athlete of perhaps the most publicized and shocking failure in modern sport to Olympic Gold winner.

“If you love a never-say-die underdog, if you’re looking for a good old-fashioned redemption tale, then Dan O’Brien is your guy and his memoir is your next book.” – Andre Agassi

Circle No. 114

LEADERSHIP


sleepless nights. But I don’t come home and rehash the game with my wife.”

Montgomery takes the opposite approach, making his team a family affair. “My family loves it,” he says. “That’s the key for us. My wife and my daughters enjoy basketball as much as I do and it’s pretty much our life. We go to Las Vegas in the summers and watch the high school tournament while we’re out there. Everything is built around basketball.”

Dawn Redd, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Beloit College, also involves her family. “If your family can be a part of your team, it helps with balance,” she says. “That way, even if you’re at work—coaching a game—you can still see them.”

But Redd also plans time for her family in a structured way, taking a trip prior to the start of the season. “Before the hectic time hits, I try to take a vacation with my family,” she says. “We then get good quality time together since it can be rough during the season.”

Still, despite your best efforts and plan-ning, finding time for family can be a chal-lenge. “Sometimes balancing coaching with family can be difficult because we compete year-round,” says Sullivan. “Cross country goes to indoor track, which goes to outdoor, and then with your better athletes, you’re going clear into the summer. I think the big-gest thing is to manage your daily routine. I text my family members a lot to let them know I’m thinking about them.”

TAKING CARE OF YOUWhile taking care of your team and your

family can be difficult enough on its own, it’s also important to take care of yourself. Especially during a trying season, when you may be second-guessing yourself, you need to keep your body and mind functioning at its best.

“To keep my sanity, I have to work out,” says Redd. “I don’t play volleyball in-season because I’m not sure my shoulder could take

AftER tHE fACtWhat coach doesn’t over-think things after a close competi-tion? Losing especially begets an onslaught of self-analysis. And winning a nail biter can throw enough adrenaline into the system to keep a normally placid individual awake long past bedtime. So, what have the veterans learned?“Win or lose, I have trouble sleeping after games,” admits Dawn Redd, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach at Beloit College. “So I make sure that when I come home, I just sit for a half-hour to an hour—no matter what. Even if I get home at 1 a.m., I sit and process how everything went.”

“I used to drive myself nuts watching film,” says Bruce Keith, a retired high school head football coach, who worked in North Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. “I’d bring it home Friday night and watch it through the night, some-times until sunrise on Saturday. I realized after a while that it was counter-productive, so I stopped. I think the best way for me to unwind was just to be with my wife and talk about it, or to not talk about it, but just to be with her.”

“After a game I go out with my wife and assistant coaches,” says Randy Montgomery, Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at Hoover High School in North Canton, Ohio. “We sit around and talk for while. As a head coach, you re-live everything—especially if you lose. I try not to watch film until the next day, though.”

Jack Thomson, Head Baseball Coach at Sierra High School in Manteca, Calif., also always finds a way to unwind. “After a tough game, sometimes I’ll come home and run,” he says. “Sometimes we’ll just talk as a coaching staff after a game and sometimes we’ll meet with the players to figure out a solution together.”

it. But out-of-season I play in what I call an old ladies league—I just go out and have fun. I also do a fitness class at my gym. I don’t work out at school, which a lot of coaches do. I like to get away so I have a little space between work and my personal life. In season, if I can get three or four days of workouts in a week, I’m pretty excited about that.”

Any workout can help, even if it’s a quick reprieve. “In the last five or six years, I’ve gotten into the cross-fitness workouts,” says Thomson. “It’s five days a week for about a half-hour. They’re short duration, high intensity workouts so I don’t have to com-mit an hour and a half to do them.”

Sullivan finds time to put on his running shoes. “I run four to five days a week—usually for about 20 to 45 minutes,” he says. “I do this about two hours before practice in the middle of the day. It helps me refresh and focus.”

Sometimes, the best medicine is just to get away altogether. “I’m a Sabbath person, so I don’t work on Sundays,” says Albright. “I read and play with my dogs. I have a lot of friends. I get away from it. I think that’s why I still coach at age 57.”

Eating right can also be important to maintaining your personal health. “I try to cook at home—even if it’s something in the crock pot,” says Redd. “If I know it’s going to be a late night, I’ll bring a lunch and I’ll also bring a healthy dinner I’ve prepared at home.”

“I’m blessed with a wife who’s a good cook,” says Thomson. “So at home we eat very balanced meals. We don’t eat out much. You can probably count on one hand the number of times during a month when we eat out. I make breakfast every day. It might be oatmeal or it might be eggs and a meat, but I try to eat a good breakfast. I take my lunch to school, and when we travel I always try to pack my own food.”

ALL WORTH ITAt the end of a losing season, it can be

tempting to hang up your whistle and call it quits. But those who have been in it for the long haul always find a way to come back.

“There are so many ups and downs in coaching and it can consume you,” says Montgomery. “But if you can balance it all and keep making it fun, it’s a great thing. I’ve avoided being consumed by it for these 33 years because I love it.”

Thomson keeps going because he knows he’s making a difference. “Coaching has given me an opportunity to connect with a lot of young men and hopefully be a positive influence in their lives,” he says. “We’ve had our share of success, but the connections are what make it all special.” CM

30 Coaching Management Postseason 2012 Coachesnetwork.com

Cool, Comfortable reCoveryThe smartest athletes think ahead. They consider tomorrow’s training, the next competition, and how they’ll feel the morning after a killer workout. McDavid’s Targeted Compression™ Technology in the 8830 Compression Socks increases blood circulation and aids in a more complete recovery. Anatomical 3D design and

ultra airflow system keep your wheels cool and comfortable while recovering in McDavid style. Slip on during post-game travel or while you snooze and dream of glory. McDavid • 800-237-8254www.mcdavidusa.com Circle No. 500

Team Equipment

on the CloCkRaceclock timing clocks are available with four-, six-, or nine-inch digits featuring super-bright LEDs or traditional “flip” digits. The single- and double-sided models are accurate to 1/100 of a second. Internal batteries provide more than 10 hours of operation with selectable timing modes set

by a keypad. Accessories include a tripod stand, carrying case, remote control, and remote display operation compatible with Finish Lynx.Electro-Numerics, Inc. • 800-227-9860www.raceclock.com Circle No. 501

help from belowOmni-Lite’s ceramic spikes are one-third the weight of steel, and they’re designed to compress the track to allow for maximum performance. The Christmas tree spikes are recommended for

sprint events. The spikes are available in three lengths: 1/8 inch, 3/16 inch, and 1/4 inch, plus 1/4 inch with extended threads. They’re available in seven colors: black, silver, fast blue, Olympic green, violet, fast red, and Olympic gold. Omni-Lite Industries, Inc. • 800-577-6664 www.omni-lite.com Circle No. 502

never buy another batteryAX 740BL Pro Memory Series stopwatches are professional timing devices withSuper BackLighting that stays on for 10 minutes with each push of the backlight button. The AX740 SBL uses a rechargeable battery and comes with a three-way recharging kit, including

attachments for wall outlet, car, and USB charging. Accusplit • 800-935-1996 www.accusplit.com Circle No. 514

works in still and tailwind The Denfi HyperSuperSpin features a high spin rate (six to eight R.P.S.), and offers a potential six percent increase in distance for top throwers. The Denfi HyperSuperSpin has superb results in all wind conditions. Its results are superior in still and tailwind conditions. A Denfi discus carry case comes with this product. Visit VS Athletics online to see the complete line of throwing equipment.VS Athletics • 800-676-7463www.vsathletics.com Circle No. 517

they’ve Got your numberMarathon Printing specializes in numbers for all kinds of athletic events. The company’s goal is to provide on-time delivery of the highest-quality custom and stock bibs available. Marathon prints all numbers in-house, giving the company total control for easy customization of your bibs. If you need references, just contact Marathon. The company supplies numbers for some of the largest and most popular competitions in the world, and would be glad to talk with you about your event. Marathon Printing, Inc. • 800-255-4120www.marathononline.com Circle No. 518

CataloG availableThe “Everything Track & Field” Catalog is available for coaches and athletic directors free upon request. Major track specialties such as vaulting poles and pits, throwing im-plements of every type, hurdles, and starting blocks—as well as roll-out runways, benches and bleachers, barriers and take-off systems, and cages—are conveniently indexed and grouped for easy access and comparison. Call or go online to request your copy.M-F Athletic • 800-556-7464www.mfathletic.com Circle No. 521

improves key elements of speedIncrease speed, explosiveness, and acceleration with the Power Chute™. It provides both resistance and overspeed training to improve the two key elements of speed: stride length and frequency. The chute opens during training runs for resistance and the Velcro® belt allows for mid-stride release for overspeed training. The Power Chute™ is available in blue or black, and is offered in four size and resistance options. The price of the Power Chute ranges from $44.95 to $59.95.Power Systems, Inc. • 800-321-6975www.powersystems.com Circle No. 513

CoachesNetwork.com Coaching Management PostseasoN 2012 31

Team Equipment

To New HeigHTsOmni-Lite’s lightweight jump spikes are designed to compress synthetic tracks, returning energy to the runner and minimizing damage to the track. The threads on these spikes are compatible with all major brands of track shoes. Omni-Lite’s

spikes are made of ceramic composite so they will never rust. The jump spike and pyramid spike are recommended for high jump and triple jump events. Omni-Lite Industries, Inc. • 800-577-6664www.omni-lite.com Circle No. 505

Circle No. 118

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For more information or other books/DVDs, go to www.training-conditioning.com

Following TheFunctional Path

$2495280 PGS

A collection of Gambetta’s blog posts from the past five years, the book includes insights, thought-provoking questions, and new ideas in an easy-to-read format. A pioneer of functional sports training, Gambetta will inspire you to review and upgrade your coaching methods.

Building and Rebuilding the Athlete

By Vern Gambetta

CreaTe Your ideNTiTY VS Athletics’ custom subliminated uniforms allow you to create your school’s identity. VS can make whatever design you want. Just send your artwork with the colors specified, and designate which items you want created. You can customize a whole set, shorts and singlets, or match custom tops with solid shorts—whatever look you want. Have a uniform totally unique to your school with VS Athletics’ uniforms. VS Athletics • 800-676-7463www.vsathletics.com Circle No. 520

MaNY HurdliNg opTioNsThe 2012 “Everything Track & Field” Catalog features a selection of the world’s finest high school, prep school, and college hurdles—including favorite models from UCS, Gill, and First Place. For the high school facing a budget crunch, M-F suggests its First Place

Rocker Hurdle with a one-piece 16 gauge welded steel base. This hurdle comes with a five-year guarantee and ad-justs easily to heights ranging from 30 to 42 inches. Special low prices are available on orders of 10 or more hurdles.M-F athletic • 800-556-7464 www.mfathletic.com Circle No. 522

TraiNs Two aTHleTes aT oNCeThe Speed Harness™ improves speed by training stride length and frequency in two athletes simultaneously. Stretch the Slastix™ tubing to the desired tension and have both athletes run in the same direction. The front athlete receives resistance training while the back athlete receives overspeed training. The fully sheathed tubing provides a smooth, consistent pull while offering maximum safety. Customize your order with either two belts, or a shoulder harness and belt. Available in two resistance levels, the Speed Harness retails for $94.95 to $99.95. Power Systems, Inc. • 800-321-6975www.powersystems.com Circle No. 512


Track Facilities

AheAd of the CurveIn order to remain ahead of the curve of NCAA rule changes in the hammer throw and discus throw events, AAE now offers its NCAA Recommended Height Hammer Discus Cages featuring main nets and swivel gates that exceed rec-

ommendations by the 2010-2011 NCAA Rules Committee. Installed at the University of Pennsylvania’s Rivers Field, this brand-new throwing made its debut at the 2012 Penn Relays. Visit AAE online for more information on outdoor sports equipment, goals, and accessories. Aluminum Athletic Equipment • 800-523-5471www.myaaeworld.com Circle No. 506

ultimAte Press Box The Donkey portable press box con-tinues to gain popularity for its ability to be an all-in-one scoring center, check-in station, broadcast booth, concession stand, and more. Plus, it’s portable, which allows users to take it wherever it’s needed—whether that’s on the track or on the fields. With several models available, varying in height and options, the Donkey can be customized to become one of the ultimate platforms for an athletic program. Visit AAE online for more outdoor sports equipment, goals, and accessories. Aluminum Athletic Equipment • 800-523-5471www.myaaeworld.com Circle No. 508

A GreAt motivAtorAthletic record boards are effective tools for motivating your athletes in track, football, volleyball, baseball, basketball, swimming, soccer, power lifting, wrestling, golf, tennis, and softball. Visit Austin Plastics’ Web site to view examples of record boards for all these sports. The boards are available with engraved record

nameplates, or you can print your own using perforated card stock and a printing program supplied by the company. The boards are very durable and lightweight for easy installation. Custom boards are also available. Austin Plastics & Supply • 800-290-1025www.athleticrecordboards.com Circle No. 507

CleAt-Proof ProteCtionCross-Over Zone® and Bench Zone® Track Protectors provide the cushion and cleat-proof protection that modern

track surfaces demand. Made with tough geotextile fabric and self-ballasted with chain-in-vinyl edging all around, they stay down without stakes or sandbags. Easy to install, remove, and store, these track protectors are used by hundreds of high schools and colleges, including Villanova University and NC State University. Standard sizes are kept in stock for immediate shipment.Aer-Flo, Inc. • 800-823-7356www.aerflo.com Circle No. 515

lonG-lAstinGLanding Zone™ Ballasted Pit Protectors keeps kids and cats out, sand in, yet rain drains through. Made of VIPOL matrix mesh to last for many years, the pit protectors are self-ballasted with chain-in-vinyl edging all around, so they stay down without stakes or sandbags. Easy to install and remove, they are used by major colleges and high schools, and can be custom-sized to fit. Protectors are available in 17 colors and are offered with chroma-bond permanent logo imprinting.Aer-Flo, Inc. • 800-823-7356www.aerflo.com Circle No. 516

BlendinG sPeed And ComfortMondotrack was designed to provide optimal traction and a greater contact area than other tracks. It converts the maximum amount of force generated by athletes’ foot strikes to energy for maximum energy return, which

helps athletes achieve faster times compared to running on other surfaces. Mondotrack also provides excellent athletic comfort and maximum safety with the optimum blend of speed and comfort for both competition and training. Mondo • 800-361-3747www.mondoworldwide.com Circle No. 525

seAtinG solutions“SPEEDY BLEACHER 108” is an economical folding, highway-towable, very versatile seating solution by Kay Park. It seats 108 people and has both an aisle and handrail. It is easily moved from one field to another with a conventional vehicle. Complete with an electric folding mechanism and telescoping tongue, the bleacher can easily be put where it is needed. Set up is quick and easy—just a few minutes and one person can get the job done. Move it anywhere you need event seating. This product is more economical than having permanent bleachers at every location that are sitting empty for most of the year. It is seven rows, 27 feet long, less than nine feet high and built to meet recent safety codes. Kay Park Recreation Corp. • 800-553-2476www.kaypark.com Circle No. 524

AGAinst the WindThe Tuffy® Windscreen will last for years because it’s made of Aer-Flo’s exclusive Vipol(® matrix mesh. This super-premium but surprisingly value-priced product is the Official Windscreen of the U.S. Professional Tennis Association. Used by major colleges and world-class clubs, Tuffy Windscreens are available in 17 standard colors, including purple, brown, burnt orange, and Vegas gold—and they come with a four-year factory warranty. Durable Chromabond™ imprinting technology produces sharp multi-color logos that can match any team’s exact PMS colors.Aer-Flo, Inc. • 800-823-7356www.aerflo.com Circle No. 523


More Products

Pre-Game FuelG Series Energy Chews are a pre-game fuel in a convenient form. They are designed to be used about 15 minutes prior to training or competition to provide energy from a concentrated blend of carbohydrates to fuel athlete performance. G Series Energy Chews help make carbohydrate energy rapidly available to working muscles for the start of activity, so athletes might feel the difference at the beginning of training or competition.

Gatorade • 800-884-2867www.gatorade.com Circle No. 509

recover From a Workout Does your team refuel with low-fat chocolate milk? A growing number of athletes recognize that refueling

with low-fat chocolate milk can play an important role during their after-workout routines. It is simple, effective, and scientifically shown to help the body recover

after a hard workout so athletes can perform at their best. To learn more about the science around refueling with chocolate milk and to join Team REFUEL, visit www.GotChocolateMilk.com.MilkPEP • 202-737-0153www.gotchocolatemilk.com Circle No. 511

SuPPortS muScle rebuildinGG Series Protein Recovery Beverage is a protein and carbohydrate beverage formulated with the consistency of a thirst quencher. It has an effective amount of protein that contains essential amino acids needed to help support muscle rebuilding after training or competition. G Series Recover should be consumed within about 60 minutes after exercise for maximum muscle benefit.Gatorade • 800-884-2867www.gatorade.com Circle No. 510

a truSted authorityThe National Strength and Conditioning Association is one of the trusted authorities on strength and conditioning, bridging the gap between science and application since 1978. The NSCA offers four highly sought-after certifications: Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®); Certified Special Population Specialist™ (CSPS™); NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer® (NSCA-CPT®); and Tactical Strength and Conditioning Facilitator™ (TSAC-F™). Being a part of the NSCA gives coaching professionals the tools, access, and knowledge to reach higher in their career. NSCA • 800-815-6826www.nsca.com Circle No. 503

Simulate PerFect taPinGAnkle injuries are a pain—they are all too frequent and difficult to come back from. A University of Wisconsin-Madison Sports Medi-cine study involving over 1,400 high school basketball players showed that those wearing the McDavid 195 brace were three times less likely to experience ankle injuries, compared to those who didn’t wear the brace. The McDavid 195™ Ultralight Laced Ankle Brace simulates a perfectly ex-ecuted athletic tape wrap. Unlike taping, the fully adjust-able figure-six straps can be tightened quickly and easily without shoe removal. McDavid • 800-237-8254www.mcdavidusa.com Circle No. 504

Pain relieF Thera-Gesic® is the brand of choice for many athletic trainers for relief of muscle soreness, aches, and stiffness. This water-based, greaseless formula does not stain clothing or equipment, and contains one-percent menthol and 15-percent methyl salicylate.

When applied evenly in a thin layer, Thera-Gesic becomes colorless and transparent. Once it penetrates the skin, the area may be washed, leaving it dry and fragrance-free without decreasing Thera-Gesic’s effectiveness. Mission Pharmacal Co. • 800-373-3037 www.missionpharmacal.com Circle No. 519

SolutionS For athletic directorSLeagueMinder® is a Web-based athletic management solution that serves as a single point-of-entry for athletic

directors. It helps when they are facing the challenge of managing every aspect

of each sports season, including: entering schedules, reserving facilities, scheduling transportation, assigning officials, managing finances, maintaining rosters, tracking eligibility, compiling statistics—as well as printing contracts, certificates, and awards.LeagueMinder • 866-695-3248www.leagueminder.com Circle No. 526

ProvidinG Financial aSSiStanceGo4theGoal Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2006. This organization, along with funds raised privately and by its unique fundraising campaigns—Lace-Up 4 Pediatric Cancer®, National Dress 4 Pediatric Cancer Day®, and Richard’s Run® 5K—provides financial assistance to children battling cancer and their families. G4G also grants special wishes, supplies state-of-the-art electronics to children in over 40 hospitals across the country, and has funded over $500,000 in innovative research since 2007.Go4theGoal • [email protected] Circle No. 527


Directory

Circle No. 111

Circle # Company Page # Circle # Company Page # Circle # Company Page #

105 . . . AAE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12116 . . . Accusplit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC101 . . . Aer-Flo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5113 . . . Athlete’s Guide to Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . .25106 . . . Austin Plastics & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23119 . . . Blueprint for Better Coaching . . . . . . . . . . .34112 . . . BulletBelt (Lane Gainer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

114 . . . Cardinal Publishers Group . . . . . . . . . . . . .28108 . . . Coaching Management Program Services .15118 . . . Following the Functional Path . . . . . . . . . . .31100 . . . Gatorade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC117 . . . M-F Athletic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC107 . . . Marathon Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23104 . . . McDavid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

103 . . . MilkPEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9102 . . . NSCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7110 . . . Omni-Lite Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20115 . . . Raceclock by Electro-Numerics . . . . . . . . .28111 . . . Thera-Gesic® (Mission Pharmacal) . . . . . . .34

109 . . . VS Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Products DirectoryCircle # Company Page # Circle # Company Page # Circle # Company Page #

508 . . . AAE (Donkey press box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32506 . . . AAE (Hammer Discus Cages) . . . . . . . . . . .32514 . . . Accusplit (AX 740BL Pro Memory Series) . .30515 . . . Aer-Flo (Cross-Over Zone®/Bench Zone®) .32516 . . . Aer-Flo (Landing Zone™) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32523 . . . Aer-Flo (Tuffy Windscreen®) . . . . . . . . . . . .32507 . . . Austin Plastics & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32509 . . . Gatorade (Energy Chews) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33510 . . . Gatorade (Recovery Beverage) . . . . . . . . . .33527 . . . Go4theGoal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

524 . . . Kay Park Recreation Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32526 . . . LeagueMinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33521 . . . M-F Athletic (catalog) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30522 . . . M-F Athletic (hurdles) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31518 . . . Marathon Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30504 . . . McDavid (195™ Ankle Brace) . . . . . . . . . . .33500 . . . McDavid (8830 Compression Socks) . . . . .30511 . . . MilkPEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33525 . . . Mondo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32503 . . . NSCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

502 . . . Omni-Lite (Christmas tree spikes) . . . . . . .30505 . . . Omni-Lite (jump spike/pyramic spike) . . . .31513 . . . Power Systems (Power Chute™) . . . . . . . . .30512 . . . Power Systems (Speed Harness™) . . . . . . .31501 . . . Raceclock by Electro-Numerics . . . . . . . . .30519 . . . Thera-Gesic® (Mission Pharmacal) . . . . . . .33517 . . . VS Athletics (Denfi HyperSuperSpin) . . . . . .30520 . . . VS Athletics (uniforms) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

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Untitled-3 1 9/9/05 2:21:18 PM

Circle No. 112


Case Study

C ytoSport™, the largest sports nutrition company in the U.S. and maker of Muscle Milk®, recently announced the launch of the Muscle Milk® Recovery Grant Program, which will provide up

to $250,000 in grants to help rebuild and revitalize high school athletic programs around the country. Submissions for high school programs will be accepted on the Muscle Milk Facebook page (www.facebook.com/musclemilk) through Nov. 30, 2012, with recipient programs selected in January 2013. “High school athletic programs are critical to the overall development of student-athletes, and we are dedicated to helping them succeed,” said CytoSport™ Chief Marketing Officer Nikki Brown. “The Muscle Milk Recovery Grant Program is a great way we can provide financial resources to programs in need in local communities around the country.” Grants will be awarded up to $25,000 per submission to programs that show a financial hardship outlined in the application process. Applicants must be at least 14 years old and can nominate the high school of their choice on the Muscle Milk Facebook page, where they will be required to submit a written statement outlining their program’s needs, provide photos that support their request, and will have the option to upload a video link to help further tell their story. In conjunction with the launch of the Muscle Milk® Recovery Grant Program, Muscle Milk® will also launch limited time packaging that includes a red, white, and blue theme. A portion of sales from the patriotic packaging will go toward funding the Recovery Grant Program.

ABOUT Muscle Milk

Muscle Milk® Ready-to-Drink is a protein-enhanced functional beverage that helps promote workout recovery, lean muscle growth, and sustained energy. Muscle Milk takes the guesswork out of high-performance nutrition, delivering a precise blend of premium proteins, complex carbohydrates, functional fats, vitamins, and minerals. CytoSport™, the maker of Muscle Milk®, is the largest sport nutrition protein beverage company in the U.S. and offers a complete line of protein-enhanced powders, shakes, and bars. Muscle Milk® was named Ready-to-Drink Beverage of the Year by bodybuilding.com, Best Functional Beverage and Beverage of the Year by BevNet, and Company of the Year by Beverage Forum, presented by Beverage Marketing Corporation and Beverage World.

Providing Help to Programs in Need

CytoSport, Inc888-298-6629

www.cytosport.com


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