Saturday, January 16, 2016

Thomas Benjamin photos at today's Dublin state qualifier

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

How are NCS athlete's allowed to wear school uniform's if the first day of track and field practice is Monday February 8th? Looks like some rules were broken. Check the NCS web page cifncs.org

Anonymous said...

If they are turned in to NCS they'll lose one meet at most. Likely get a warning. Who wants to be that guy though? Kind of a dick move.

Anonymous said...

Who cares 10:55, why is that rule put in place in the first place?

Anonymous said...

Is it the uniform only or the coaching that is a violation? I still don't get how winter running with coaching is okay. Can someone who knows the winter and summer contact/coaching rules clarify?

Anonymous said...

It's coaching that violates rules. You can wear whatever you want, it is America.

Anonymous said...

@6:24
It is indeed a free country and you can wear whatever you want. But those with the ball decide the rules. Before we get into it though let's first let's talk about the spirit of the rule. School administrators do not what kids pulled into year round sports. They want kids to have a period of time where they are not being pulled to practice and allowed time to spend with family. (Thus the dead period). Athletes are NOT allowed to practice (practice is defined as a coach present, giving instruction. No equipment or skill development allowed) before the start date. Now you get into a gray area with open gyms, "conditioning," etc. The general rule of coaches is don't ask. The rule: athletes can not represent their school by wearing their uniform or school colors in a competition that is not certified by CIF / NCS. The result could be the loss of an entire season, though likely will be given a warning or asked to sit out the first meet. But I know teams (others besides track too by the way) that are holding full practices. But again, who is going to be "that guy?"

Anonymous said...

State qualifier for what? Where do they go from here?

Albert Caruana said...

All-comer meets have been around for a long time are not illegal. Let's please stop with the everybody is cheating posts. It got old a long time ago.

California has held an unofficial state indoor meet for a few years now but due to circumstances will not be held indoors this year. You can read all about it at this link:
http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/article54591765.html

The outdoor finale will be held at Cerritos College on February 16th.

Anonymous said...

Wearing your school uniform is not cheating but is illegal. Coaching before the start season is illegal however.

Albert Caruana said...

http://cifncs.org/sports/track/files/PRACTICE%20AND%20CONDITIONING%20RULES%20INTERPRETATIONS.pdf

Anonymous said...

Interesting Albert, it's getting to the point no matter what you post someone likes to start something unfortunately. No wonder good coach's never post on here anymore, regardless of the programs or the situations either by a parent, kids or even a coach and personally I feel majority of the time it's not the coach but he or she is the one that gets blamed for and they post out of the good then they get hit with actuations of recruiting, out of season and now uniforms! I know Albert you are doing your best so keep it up and know as a observer I just continued this, sorry!

Anonymous said...

"If a school sport, other than football, conducts specific sport conditioning as a team or individuals prior to the start of the season, that school is in violation of NCS bylaws. Sport specific conditioning sessions by a school are prohibited outside the season of sport during the school year."

End of thread.

Anonymous said...

The comments are great. Where else can you argue about XC like you are on a sports call-in show. We just need a few rules. I'll start: 1) don't call out kids or coaches for cheating, sandbagging, etc unless you have a specific proof or even a plausible case to be made; 2) don't make a federal case over stuff that has no impact on the team, kids, league, or section; 3) .............?

Albert Caruana said...

End of thread...yeah OK.

Anonymous said...

Why end of Thread? Sections have Rules and coaches should know them. Just a wild guess that many runners at the meet had there High School coaches with them. In an official capacity of course. Yeah might be a really stupid rule though.

Anonymous said...

The NCS commissioner has a hard time with track and field in reference to the document that Albert shared above because there are parts that seem to contradict themselves. For example, for distance runners, aerobic conditioning is specific to the sport, but later in the document it defines aerobic conditioning as non-specific sport conditioning. It states that sport specific drills are illegal, but that plyometrics are allowed. Almost all running drills are plyometric in nature. Fortunately, the commissioner is very willing to discuss the rules with coaches who take the time to ask and he will tell them exactly what is allowed and what isn't. Several years ago we were told that drills were always okay if they were plyometric in nature because they are strength building movements. We were even allowed to instruct them as a strength exercise, but we were not allowed to discuss how they would improve the running mechanics of the athlete. As far as aerobic running, we could tell athletes to run a certain distance, but we were not allowed to give them a pace, or to time them. The main point of emphasis from the commissioner was that the conditioning sessions or open field sessions could not be required by coaches. We would always give a workout plan going into the offseason and one of the most frustrating things was when the kids would forget the workout and we weren't allowed to tell them what we wanted them to do.

Peter Brewer said...

The ongoing definition of "sport specific" gets blurred quickly when it comes to running. It also overlaps with "coaching" as opposed to "supervising" a workout. As with all track coaches, I would like to think that simple speed and agility drills (plyometrics, A, B, & C skips, accelerations, medicine balls, and the like) are standard across all sports and therefore NOT sport specific. This is not always clear to observers. And as for distance running, having a clipboard to record who ran out and who came back is also under dispute - - is this a safety issue (making sure of accountability for each athlete) or is this coaching (having athlete specific information for each run)? But still, we are asked to make sure we supervise said optional workouts for safety (and that means liability).

The sad truth is that this is all foisted on track and cross country by egregious overreaches by football, basketball, and baseball. No one seems to get their panties twisted over passing leagues, summer and fall baseball leagues, AAU basketball leagues, and the various football weight-lifting P.E. classes, open basketball gyms with coaches and clipboards around, or year-round baseball "academies." Yet track gets hammered if a kid runs a lap in a required time.

I have to operate in the pre-season with no access to equipment, one posting of suggested optional workouts, and no stopwatches or clipboards. And certainly no individual direction on any drills or running other than suggestions that are already listed on the posting.

We all want to make sure we can help an enthusiastic athlete and use the off-season to prepare them for large performance gains. But the current state of high school track, at least in California, is that we are under increased scrutiny.

Athletic directors are under pressure to make sure no sport is involved in anything that breathes of possible violation. There are more hoops for coaches to jump through before they can even step on the track. Even the loosey-goosey world of club track is enacting stricter coaching requirements.

What this all means is that for the foreseeable future we have to be aware of this intensified oversight. And deal with it.

NuevaCoachG said...

I think the thing that gets overlooked the most are the kids who want to train over the winter because they don't participate in a winter sport. If the athlete makes the choice to want to train shouldn't we applaud the dedication and help the athlete achieve their goals. I have never seen a distance runner stay consistent by training for 3 months then taking 3 months off. I agree that the kids don't need specific workouts during the "off-season" but basic conditioning and educating the kids on what they are doing and why they are doing it can only benefit our athletes.

Anonymous said...

Nueva Coach G - I agree but what can we do about it when the administrators lump us in with sports that do exploit kids (football, soccer, baseball...)? Also, will you be a full XC CCS member this year?

Anonymous said...

How do you feel about year round football? Volleyball? Soccer?

If a kid wants to run year round they can. On their own in December and January. We already practically require summer running. Kids need a break with out a coach pressuring them. Let them find the love of the sport on their own without cracking the whip. If you inspire them instead of demand they'll be out there on their own.

It's only 6 weeks coach. They'll be ok without you.

Anonymous said...

Start a running club at your school and you have year round training. Just don't wear a school issued jersey and run in a meet. Problem solved.

Anonymous said...

http://static.psbin.com/2/0/23l6grdy1zerkp/15_Article_V_Approved_Sports.pdf

You can start a club...
You just can't ask your athletes to be on the team.
You must carry a minimum 1 million dollars insurance liability.
You must rent a facility and not use any equipment from the school you coach at.
You must advertise and open it up to the community at large.
You must file paperwork with your school verifying there is no conflict of interest.

That's a lot of time and money. Like I said, teach them to love it. There's no need to have practice in December and January.

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