Welcome to the 2012 cross country season! We have big plans for the summer and are excited about the upcoming season and a chance to earn a boys spot in CIF and an unprecedented 4th straight trip to the State Championships for the girls. Positive parental support is an integral aspect of any successful athletic program, so please take a minute to read the following information, and if you have questions or would like to be involved in supporting the team this season please send me an email at charlesgates@iusd.org (Note: IUSD has a NEW email system).
Practice Schedule and Attendance: Practices will begin at 7:30AM Mondays-Thursdays at NHS and 7:45AM on Fridays at Cedar Grove Park in Tustin Ranch through August 31st. Practice times will switch to 2:15PM on Tuesday, September 4th. There is NO practice on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 3rd. Practice end times vary depending on the workout, so please have your son or daughter call if you are going to pick him or her up. Be flexible the week before school starts, as we may have to modify the schedule because of the registration kick-off days. Athletes are expected to attend every day, and athletes who miss practice after August 24th will NOT participate in the first meet on Sept 8th. After three unexcused absences athletes will be dropped from the cross country program, so please document any family vacations etc.This information—and much more—is contained in the 2012 XC Handbook, which is available from Coach Gates and online at www.nhscrosscountry.org. Please be sure to check this website often, as it has a plethora of important information, from meet schedules and directions to gear order forms etc.
Gear Orders and Team Donations: If you would like to order warm-ups, T-shirts, or duffel bags, there is a gear order form on the website and Coach Gates has copies. The team donation request is $175.00, which is used for uniforms, buses (our bus to Bell-Jeff was over $600.00 last season), Gatorade, awards, meals etc. ALL athletes benefit from these items so please try to support the program.
Northwood Athletic Booster Club: Please join the booster club if you can. The fee is $50.00 and helps support all NHS sports, including cross country IF we have 75% of parents join. If you have time, please attend the monthly meetings to support our program. Please submit a separate check for the boosters club with your gear order or donation check.
Fundraiser: We plan to sell raffle tickets again this year (for a week in Hawaii). Each athlete must sell 10 tickets for $5.00 each. Ticket stubs and cash (the team keeps part of the money and returns the rest) should be returned in an envelope one week after the tickets are distributed to the athletes.
Saturdays: Athletes are not required to meet on Saturdays during the summer, but they will be expected to complete workouts on their own. Please note that once the season begins on Sept. 8th they need to be available EVERY Saturday through Thanksgiving weekend. If you cannot make this commitment please do not continue after summer camp, as you will be dropped from the program if you miss more than ONE Saturday practice or meet.
San Francisco: Teams that qualify for State are eligible to travel to a meet in SF the next year. The coaching staff will decide if the team is working hard enough to justify travelling to the meet on Sept 14-16. This decision will be made in August and spots will be open to EIGHT girls if we go. The spots will be determined by practice times and work ethic and all girls are eligible, not just the ones who went to State last year.
Help with home meets: We are in charge of league finals(Friday, November 2nd) this year and will need parent volunteers for a variety of jobs, including course monitors, finish chute, crowd control etc. If you would like to help, please contact Coach Gates.
Supplies: We are currently accepting donations of cases of water and Gatorade for our Friday workouts, so please consider dropping one or two cases off with your athlete in the morning. We also will be soliciting sign-ups for the season. If every family brings one item to one meet we will have water, Gatorade, bagels and fruit for every meet, so please consider helping us save hundreds of dollars by signing up to bring supplies to a meet.
Thanks,
Charles Gates
Head Boys and Girls Cross Country Coach
