We are so excited for Saturday’s practice meet, where our athletes can finally compete (even if it is against only Tigres).   The team has been working hard in practice, and Saturday is the first chance to see the payoff!

A few quick logistical things:

• Please have athletes meet in the end zone near the gate at 7:45 sharp. Please do your best to be on time, as we will cover important information for the athletes.
• Please be sure to wear your uniform and bring extra warm clothes. If you have not had a chance to pick up a uniform, they will be available Saturday morning before 7:45. However, there will be a tiny window on Saturday morning, so please do your best to be on time.
• Please bring sunscreen (maybe wishful thinking?) and water. No food or drinks (other than water) are allowed on the field.

For parents and athletes, the purpose of this meet is to “practice” for our regular season meets. Athletes will be exposed to listening for event calls, warming up for events, and the staging process. One of the goals of the Y&I team is to prepare our athletes for high school. While the younger ages heavily rely on their coaches and parents on meet days, we expect our athletes to manage themselves and rely on their teammates much more. We expect the veteran Tigres to show leadership and help the new Tigres athletes navigate meet day activities (of course, we coaches will be there to lean on as well). Many of the new Tigres might feel a bit nervous about not having competed in a track meet – it’s OK. After Saturday, they’ll be experts!

For parents, this meet is to train our volunteers in their positions so the meet runs smoothly when we host another team. Things will NOT run smoothly; there will be delays and possibly a lot of standing around, feeling unneeded. Please be patient! Once we have a real meet, we’ll look like a finely tuned machine (fingers crossed).

The events our Youth/Intermediate team will be allowed to compete in are a subset of a typical meet.   Our athlete’s options are:

• Hurdles
• 1600
• 400
• 200
• 4×400
• High Jump

Please note that athletes must be cleared before they are allowed to participate in the Hurdles and High Jump due to safety. Please ask if you would like to understand the clearing process, but this happens at a specialty practice where those events are offered.

For the practice meet, athletes can compete in 2 running events and the High Jump (if they are cleared). They aren’t required to do 2 running events but can not do more than 2 running events. The exception to this is the 4×400, which is always free. 

A significant area of focus for our team is sportsmanship. We are asking our athletes to work on congratulating competitors by shaking hands after races, saying thank you to volunteers, being helpful teammates, etc. Please watch for your athletes showing sportsmanship and reinforce this at home.

We can’t wait to get our season started on Saturday!!!

If you have any questions, please email youth@venturatigres.org or call/text 805-766-7171

Coach Kristin

Hi Youth and Intermediate Families,

Due to the holiday, we do not have official Tigres practice on Monday the 20th. Hill training is great for building strength so we are suggesting the following for your athletes: 

Distance:

3-minute easy run

Warm-up drills

20-25 minute run on the trails in Arroyo 

Cooldown

Stretch and mobility at home

Sprints:

3-minute easy run

Warm-up drills

10 x 8-10 second hill sprints on the grass (walk down the hill), 20 seconds rest between each

Cooldown

Stretch and mobility at home

If you have questions, Coach Jason will be at the park on Monday around 4:30.

If your athlete did not turn in their code of conduct and goals to me last week, they can bring it to the track on Wednesday during our team practice or during Specialties on Tuesday or Thursday. Here is another copy in case it has been misplaced.

Please reach out with any questions, and have a great weekend!

Coach Kristin

youth@venturatigres.org

Hi All,

Just a quick reminder that specialty practices begin today. The schedule on the website is accurate; I posted it below for your convenience.

Two sessions are offered, and your athletes will choose which one(s) they want to participate in.

Also, please make sure their 2023 Goal Worksheet & Code of Conduct is in their track bag so they can return it to me tomorrow.

Please reach out with questions,

Coach Kristin

youth@venturatigres.org

Hi Youth and Intermediate Families,

In lieu of us not having practice on Monday 2/13, we are sending out a suggested run for your athletes:

Distance:

3-minute easy run

Warm-up drills

20-25 minute run on the trails in Arroyo 

Cooldown

Stretch and mobility at home

Sprints:

3-minute easy run

Warm-up drills

10 x 8-10 second hill sprints on the grass (walk down the hill), 20 seconds rest between each

Cooldown

Stretch and mobility at home

If you have questions, Coach Jason and I will be at the park on Monday around 4:30.

We hope you have a great weekend!

Coach Kristin

Hi Families,

Unfortunately, due to the VUSD holiday on the 13th, our next team practice is on Wednesday the 15th. The good news is that specialties will start next week!  The available options are listed on the Tigres website under practice schedule and also listed below for your convenience. Remember, your athlete can come to both specialty days or none, it depends completely on their schedule and desire to try some of the events (i.e. shot put, hurdles, long jump, and high jump) that they will not experience during our team workouts. 

As an FYI, we gave them the athlete code of conduct and goal setting worksheet and asked for them to bring these back to us on Wednesday. Hopefully, your athlete had a great time tonight and a good introduction to our upcoming season 🙂

We will send out a suggested workout in lieu of Monday’s normal practice in the next couple of days.

Please reach out with any questions! 

Coach Kristin

youth@venturatigres.org

February 6, 2023

Hello, Youth and Intermediate Families!

Coaching staff:

Kristin and Jason Daw – Head Youth and Intermediate coaches

Nicole Boucher

Karisa Curtis

Jeff Fassett

Sean Fisher

Brian Guevara

David Hampton

Leah Kahler

Ryan Kaiser 

Torrey Kightlinger

Jared Kuebler

Omar Solis

Spencer Taylor

Amanda Verboomen

Crystal Wilde

Ellie Windsor

AND 14 High School coaches!!! 

Goals for the season:

1. Safety
2. Fun and an appreciation for the benefits of sports and exercise
3. Good Sportsmanship
4. Developing your athlete’s abilities and helping them to achieve their goals.

Questions and information:

The most efficient way to communicate with me is through email on the website. I am also available for questions after practice. I will email regularly, especially once the meets begin in March. You can text me as well, but I am a teacher and am, therefore, slow to respond during the school day. 

Practice:

Youth and Intermediate will have team practices on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:30-6:00 at the Buena High School track. 

Parents are welcome to stay and watch, but only athletes and coaches are allowed on the field. Please be on time for pickup; a coach must stay with your athlete until you arrive.

Athletes will work with specialty coaches on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Preparation for practice:

Please have your athlete dressed and ready to go. They will need a bag to carry their belongings:

1. Sweatshirt and bottoms
2. Small towel (dish towel size)
3. Water bottle (NO food/Gatorade on the track – water only)
4. Spikes (if they choose to use them)

Our athletes LOVE their Tigres gear, which means many have the same water bottles, bags, and sweatshirts. PLEASE label everything!! 

Attendance:

We understand that other sports, illnesses, and injuries may conflict with practice. You do not need to email me if your athlete does not attend practice, but I would appreciate knowing if they are injured and if they are not going to attend a meet. Please do not send them to practice if they are injured.

Meets:

Youth and Intermediate athletes can participate in all of the events:

Field – Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, and Shot Put  

Relay – 4X100 and the 4X400

Distance – 3200, 1600, and 800

Sprints – 100, 200, and 400

Youth Athletes (2009-2010) can participate in 4 events at each meet with a maximum of 3 running events. Intermediate Athletes (2008 and older) can participate in any 4 events. The 4X100 counts toward their running event total, but the 4X400 is free 🙂

Some athletes know what events they are interested in, while others are still deciding. We will encourage them to try everything until they decide which events they like the most. Event sign-ups will be on Mondays and Wednesdays by my bag on the field. 

Setting up the relay teams for the 4X100 and the 4X400 takes time. Once your athlete selects the relay, they commit to three other team athletes. Relay teams will be created based on times and attendance. Sometimes, we cannot build a full relay team due to numbers, but we will do our best to ensure it is a fair process. 

I will send out more information regarding meets as the dates come closer, but for your future planning, the meet schedule on the website is accurate, and meets typically go from 8:00 – 3:00ish.

We look forward to greeting former and new athletes on Wednesday!!

See you soon,

Kristin Daw (805) 766-7171

Jason Daw (805) 766-1775

youth@venturatigres.org

Time Correction for those who did not make the picnic that wish to pick up your athlete’s team picture/ribbons/gift. I will be at Buena Track Parking lot from 5:15 to 5:45.

I forgot about Boogie Nights…

-Spencer

Hello, All-
One last time I’d like to thank you all for a fantastic season! But… I wasn’t quite sure what to do today at 4:00 🙂

I put together an end of season video, which can be viewed via this Vimeo link:
https://vimeo.com/710627131/1add946b6e
Please share with or download for your athlete. Apologies ahead of time to any athlete that is not pictured – no slight intended. The link should be good for a few weeks.

To those several that could/did not make yesterday’s picnic- I have your team photos, ribbons, and athlete gift! I will be at the Buena Track parking lot Wednesday from 5:45 until 6:15 if you would like to come pick up the package.

Keep up the fitness!


-Spencer

Regular Season is over, on to CHAMPIONSHIP Season!

There is at least one Championship for your athlete left – Conference JV Finals West at Buena on Saturday 4/23. Athletes may have also qualified for the Varsity finals which will be held on Saturday, 4/30. I have separately emailed the Varsity qualifiers.  Practices will continue as normal this week.  Below is a description of the JV finals, Varsity finals, and Co-Conference meets so as to help with any confusion regarding the events.

JV finals: April 23 at Buena High School
The JV finals are open to all athletes. In order to participate in an event in the JV finals the athlete needs
to:
1) have participated in that event at least once during the regular season (except for relays, an athlete
need not have competed in a relay during the regular season to compete in a relay at conference finals).
2) have NOT qualified for that event in the Varsity Finals. If an athlete qualifies for an event at the
Varsity Finals, they can NOT participate in that event at the JV finals. Also, the same event limit applies
at the Varsity Finals (maximum of 4 events, a maximum of 3 running events, and 4×400 is excluded from
the total).

Varsity Finals April 30 at Moorpark
 The Varsity Finals are for the athletes that run the fastest, jump the farthest and highest and put the shot the furthest. For each event in each age/gender group the top athletes in the conference qualify for the championships. For sprints and field events the top 9 athletes qualify. For the distance events (800,1600, and 3200) the top 12 athletes qualify.

Each club gets to send 1 relay team per age/gender group for each relay (4×100 and 4×400). A relay team member need not have run on any relay or competed with the other members of any relay prior to the Varsity Finals meet.

Note that each club gets to send relay teams for EVERY age/gender group including intermediates. A relay team counts as an intermediate team if it has one intermediate member. Therefore, a youth and intermediate age group, gets to send a youth team and an intermediate team as long as at least one intermediate athlete participates.
There is no event limit at the Varsity Finals; an athlete can compete in all of the events for which they qualify.

Co-Conference Championships May 14:
Qualification at co-conference is based on the results from the Varsity Finals. For laned events and field events the top 5 athletes from VCYTC (our conference) and the top 4 SCYTFC qualify. For non-laned running events the top 8 from each conference qualify. If an athlete is not available to participate, they will take the next best athlete.

Hello, Tigres Families!
I cannot believe that our final regular season meet is upon us! It’s been a great season, but it doesn’t end this weekend with the late afternoon Newbury Park meet. Practice as normal next week – Nearly everyone can compete in the Conference Finals at Buena on 4/23, where all the VCYTC Clubs will converge. Other reminders:

Picture Day is tomorrow, Wednesday, 4/13 – please have your athlete (and coaches) wear their uniform!

“Varsity” – The Top Athletes in the conference (Top 9 in Hurdles, 100, 200, 400 & Field events, Top 12 in 800, 1600, 3200) compete in a Championship Meet on the 30th. Want to know where your Athlete stands going into the final weekend? Use the Filters (Boys, Girls, Grade=13-14 or 15-16) on the following page VCYTC Track & Field Rankings (athletic.net) OR if you want to know about your athlete’s season in general… The Tigres Page, click here: Ventura Tigres Club Track & Field Statistics (athletic.net) You can search your individual athlete for their results from here.

Witness some quality High School Track & Field featuring several Tigre alum- Buena @ Ventura, 3:00 tomorrow in a showdown for the PVL team titles! Most of it will conflict with our practice, but you may be able to catch an hour before and perhaps after!

Gearing up for a sprint to the finish!
-Spencer