Observation of a Track and Field Coach Essay -- Papers

Observation of a Track and Field CoachI chose to observe the practices at State College for Track and Field. I primarily focused on the distance team with John as the aim. When I arrived at the first practice I observed Coach John talking to the team at the beginning of their practice. He was going over what they should focus on during their first track meet, which was coming up. His positive attitude stood out the most. He put his try on having fun. He stressed the importance that they work as hard as they can to achieve their best performance but his final oral communication were, Have fun I started to realize what he stressed most for his team and that was to achieve the goals they set for themselves. For both practices I attended the athletes started out with a warm-up run. They then met as a group and had the team captain lead in their stretches. I noticed strong team cohesion as they stretched talking about their activities from the previous weekend and the work out that they were going to have. After the stretching Coach gathered them together to explain the workout (both years a speed workout). As he explained he made sure each of the team members understood the exact instructions for the speed drills. One of the athletes had a question and he patiently answered it and encouraged more(prenominal) questions to make sure the team knew the exact workout. He had the lone male distance runner do 2 sets of 4x200 meter sprints on the track. He had the womens distance team go out to the ponds to run a 20-minute fartlek in which they ran a minute hard and a minute easy. I observed the male distance runner and when he finished his second set of 200s, Coach suggested he run one more set of 200s. Chris was tired and was he... ...en a coach and a friend and he recognizes that there needs to be a level of compliments from the athletes. Reflecting on my discourse with Coach comparing and contrasting his stated philosophy on coaching and what I have observed from practices and meets I saw that his goals as a coach are being met at practices and his interactions with his team. He knows what he wants to get out of his coaching experience and he achieves that by working hard at demanding respect and hard work from his team while still ensuring that they have fun.From what I have observed from Coach it seems as if he has taken this class. He knows so much about performance strategies as well as athlete motivation techniques and coach and athlete issues such as respect, safety, and personal relationships. Overall I was very impressed with Coachs coaching strategy, and his team performance.

Track State Championship Essay -- Memoir Essays

Track State ChampionshipThe pit of my stomach felt as if it was being ea x a route by gnawing insects inside. It wasnt just the ordinary howeverterflies but evil-biting insects. I was standing impatiently on the undercut quickly sliding further toward the inside as the incoming runner completed her handoff. Screaming encouragements, I waited for Rachel to construct her way down the last stretch. We successfully completed our exchange of the baton and I was off. We arrived at Dutch Clark Stadium in Pueblo, Colorado our normal dickens hours early on a dark, rainy Friday morning. Our team carried in the large tarp, blue tent, coolers full of energy food and many cases of water to keep us hydrated throughout the day. The sight of the enormous red rubber track brought that familiar tingle to my stomach. Its the same size as any other track, but we just run the opposite direction, I perceive Coach Dirst joke with the always gullible Erin. Shortly after we set up camp, I heard the fami liar words, Get out of here come from Coach Dirst. Our team made our way down the mountain of unevenly spaced, concrete stairs to the track. afterwards doing our routine warm-up of a two-lap jog, stretches and form running, the team scattered, some preparing for their event, others just hoping to catch a few more(prenominal) zs. As I was making my way back to camp, I noticed everyones red stained t-shirts and sweatshirts from stretching on the damp track, not realizing those stains would in time become memories Id never forget. The day of prelims jumped off to a great start. The medley relay qualified for finals, and Kendal became a two-time state champion in high jump capturing the teams first ten points. The rest of the day went just as well. After placing fourth a... ...owerful To hear Coach Dirst say that just made the whole experience that much more special. All the hard work wed put in throughout the year had finally paid off when it mattered most. As we ran our final victo ry lap of the 2002 track season, we realized we had accomplished what every team dreams. After the sharing of many hugs and tears, happy ones of course, I made my way back to camp to gather my belongings. I then slowly strolled to the parking lot wanting to savor the incredible feeling. As I gazed up at the pitch-black sky, a raindrop fell to my forehead. inside no time at all, I was standing in the midst of a downpour taking everything in as I thought, This is as well-behaved as it gets All the emotions, triumph, thrill and excitement, I was feeling acted like a bug bomb to the evil-biting insects that were at one time eating away at the pit of my stomach.