Many of the hardest challenges are off campus and not always addressable from a coaches perspective other than to provide a a safe haven for at least a few hours each day and ways of thinking that may help them surmount those outside challenges.
There are many on campus challenges as well. Many of those challenges affect the student athlete’s academic and athletic performances. It is all to often the coaches see tears over stress and/or frustration from a variety of sources. Many times a runner will struggle in a workout due to lack of sleep. The challenges tend to be pretty consistent from student athlete to student athlete.
Recognizing that it is time to change how we prepare these students for high school and beyond, the Booster Club is currently creating workshops to address these challenges and make them into opportunities in much the same way that colleges address them.
The list of opportunities identified by the Booster Club are:
- Importance of true friends who give positive encouraging support and how to pick those friends
- Iron levels which can be tested by a doctor. Iron levels directly affect academic and athletic performance. Lack of iron can lead to constant tiredness and other symptoms. There are some experts who believe there is a lack of iron epidemic especially with high school girls.
- How to be a leader
- Motivation in everything they do
- Nutrition is mandatory with a focus on recovery foods, and balanced eating
- Self Confidence is the most critical issue for high school girls. The lack of self confidence affects their whole lives.
- Sleep is absolutely required for so many reasons. And yet it is quite often the thing that is significantly reduced due to poor study efficiency and time management.
- Stress can affect anyone and is definitely evident on the high school campus.
- Study efficiency, especially with all the distractions in today’s world, is a required skill. A skill that can help get sleep and higher performances through out life.
- Time management is a skill that tends to be shared by the students who excel and make it “look easy”
The nutrition workshop was offered twice this year already and will be offered twice more in the summer of 2017 along with the iron workshop. It will be mandatory for each runner and at least one parent / guardian to attend one of those workshops.
Workshops on self confidence, sleep, stress, study efficiency, friendships, and time management will be presented during the team’s August Big Bear trip as well has later during the fall semester.
Additional workshops on leadership, and motivation will also be offered later.