Good morning –

With the possibility of rain today, a few reminders and suggestions:

• Try to pack water resistant clothes for your athlete, such as a sweatshirt and/or sweatpants if possible.
• Extra pairs of socks helps – always nice to put a dry pair on before a race!
• A towel or two for the bleachers — sitting on a wet bench is no fun!
• If it does start to rain, please remember that the orange pop-ups tents at the top of the bleachers are intended for the athletes to stay dry and warm.  Same goes for the warmer days to stay out of the sun and heat.

Enjoy the weather!  Soon enough we’ll be saying how hot it’s expected to be on a meet day…

Coach Kevin

Good morning –

Our first regular season meet is tomorrow at Buena.  We will be competing with the Heritage Valley Blazers.  Some important info:

• The meet is scheduled to start at 8:30AM.
• Please have your athletes at the track by 8:00AM.  We will assemble on the infield, distribute meet stickers, and start warming up for the first events.
• If your athlete signed up for a relay event, it is very important that they show up on time.  Please remember that there are other athletes depending on one another to assemble a full relay team.  Occasionally, we will not have enough athletes to make a full team, and some who select a relay race may not be able to run.  We will do our best to get them into another event for the meet, and ensure that they are on a relay team the following week.
• Make sure your athlete has water and warm clothes – please make sure everything is labeled, and they have a bag to place their items in, including spikes if they have them.
• Be sure to pack snacks and a light lunch to keep in the stands.
• Please remember to use sunscreen if needed!

Your athletes have been working very hard the last five weeks and we can’t wait to see what they can do!

Coach Kevin (797-5774, bantams@venturatigres.org)

Hello Parents –

I hope that both our parent volunteers and athletes enjoyed Saturday’s practice meet!  All of the coaches were impressed with the bantam athletes’ effort, behavior and attitude yesterday.  We are all looking forward to watching them compete this season, and helping them reach their goals.

Because there was a limited number of events offered at the practice meet, the meet moved much more quickly than our regular season track meets.  Regular season meets will obviously take longer and not move as fast, so our athletes won’t be as rushed getting to their events, and will have more time to get assembled, warmed up, as well as be able to take a rest in between their events.

Our first regular season meet is this weekend at Buena, where we will be competing with Heritage Valley.  It is scheduled to start at 8:30AM.  We will have sign up sheets are practice this week for your athlete to sign up for their events.  Please remind them to sign up.  Of particular importance moving forward is the following:

• All running events are available for Bantams, with the exception of hurdles and the 3200m.
• All field events are available for Bantams.  To compete in the high jump, athletes must be cleared to participate in this event by the high jump specialty coaches.
• Athletes may sign up for a maximum of four events, with no more than three running events. There is no minimum number of events for athletes to sign up for.
• The 4×400 relay does not count against an athlete’s event total.  If your athlete has any interest at all in this race, I would strongly encourage them to try it.  It’s one of the more exciting races, and everyone gets to cheer their teammates on!
• If an athlete exceeds their event totals, they will be disqualified for all of their events for that meet, and their times will not be posted.  Coaches will monitor this as best as possible, but athletes themselves need to be aware of their events.

As always, feel free to call/text (805-797-5774) or email me (bantams@venturatigres.org) with any questions or concerns

Coach Kevin

Hello Parents –

Our practice meet is almost here! Just a few reminders about tomorrow:

• This meet is scheduled to start at 2:30PM.  Please be flexible as this time can vary.
• Please have your athletes at the track by 2:00PM.  This will give us time to give them their event stickers, make any last minute adjustments, etc.
• If your athlete has not signed up for their events, you can email me at bantams@venturatigres.org.  If you’re not sure if he/she signed up, feel free to email me anyways to confirm.
• If you have yet to pick up your uniforms, etc., apparel will be distributed at tomorrow’s meet starting at 1:30PM.
• Make sure your athlete has warm clothes, and that everything belonging to them is labelled.  A good suggestion is for your athlete to have a gym bag/backpack for their water, shoes, spikes (if applicable), sweatshirt, etc.

If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to call/text me at 805-797-5774, or email to bantams@venturatigres.org

See you tomorrow!

Coach Kevin

Hello Parents –

Just a friendly reminder about the specialty practice schedule for today and Friday.  If your athlete plans on participating in the Long Jump this weekend, and they have not yet attended a long jump practice on the specialty days, I would highly encourage them to attend at least one of the practices in the next few days.  If your athlete would like to compete in the High Jump beginning our first regular season track meet (March 10th), they must attend High Jump practice, and be cleared by the coaches in order to compete in the High Jump during a meet.  This is because they must be able to clear the opening bar height for each age group.

The schedule for High Jump and Long Jump over the next few days is as follows:

• Thursday: Long Jump and High Jump during both sessions (4:30-5:15 and 5:15-6:00)
• Friday: High Jump from 4:30-5:15; Long Jump from 5:15-6:00

Check out the specialty practice schedule for a full list of options (https://www.venturatigres.org/practice/).  Athletes may not participate in the same activity more than once per practice day.  Please be sure that if they do attend specialty practices that they find their way to the correct event/activity for that day.

As always, feel free to call/text or email me with any questions or concerns.

Coach Kevin (797-5774; bantams@venturatigres.org)

Hello Parents –

If your athlete has a pair of spikes they plan on using this year, please be sure they bring them to practice moving forward.  For those that stay on the track, we will start training with them.

See you this afternoon!

Coach Kevin

Hello Parents –

We have our practice track meet this upcoming Saturday, March 3rd.  The purpose of the practice meet is to help the volunteers learn their meet responsibilities and allow the athletes to become familiar with the flow of a track meet.  Only Tigres are participating in this practice meet.  Because it is practice only, each age group will be able to participate in a limited number of events.  For Bantams, these events are the following:

• 4x100m relay
• 1600m
• 400m
• 100m
• Long Jump

For this meet, athletes can sign up for a maximum of three events, with no more than two running events.  The only field event available to Bantam athletes in this meet is the long jump.  If your athlete plans to participate in the long jump, I would strongly recommend that they attend at least one of the long jump specialty practices this week (Thursday or Friday, see https://www.venturatigres.org/practice/) to get familiar with the long jump.  As with any other event, it’s always a good idea to practice an event first before trying it at a meet.

There will be a sign up sheet available at practice Monday and Wednesday for athletes to sign up for their events this weekend.  Please encourage your athlete to sign up for their own events, as this will help them to remember their events for this weekend.  If your athlete is not at practice this week, you can email me his/her events for this weekend.

Please feel free to call/text or email me with any questions or concerns.

Looking forward to this weekend!

Coach Kevin (805-797-5774; bantams@venturatigres.org)

Hello Parents –

Just a reminder that although today is a holiday, we will still practice at Buena.  Please remember to have your athletes bring water and sweats to the track – it looks like it will be cool again this week.

If you are out of town and won’t be there, be safe in your travels, and we’ll see you Tuesday (at specialty practice) or Wednesday.

Coach Kevin

Hello Parents –

Specialty practices are cancelled for tomorrow (Thursday, 2/15) due to a Buena High Soccer game.  Specialty practices will resume on Friday, 2/16, according to the schedule (https://www.venturatigres.org/practice/).

I hope all your athletes had a great first full week of practice –  Looking forward to next week!

If you have any questions, I can be contacted at bantams@venturatigres.org.  You can also call/text to 805-797-5774

Coach Kevin

Hello Parents –

Just a reminder that we will be at the Buena track tomorrow and Wednesday for practice.  Be sure to have your athlete bring a sweatshirt and/or sweatpants tomorrow for the end of practice.  It looks like we’ll have some cooler evenings and I’d like to make sure the athletes stay warm.

Also, only water is allowed on the Buena track – no other drinks such as gatorades, etc. – and no food as well.  I’d recommend a bag of some type for your athlete to pack their things.  Remember to label their items – the lost and found bin grows exponentially as the season moves on!

Looking forward to a great week of practice!

Coach Kevin