Hello, All-
An athlete likely has taken home the wrong bag from practice today in an honest mistake.

Missing – Orange and Black Tigres bag with “Nicely” written at the opening. Contents includes a pair of yellow and white Brooks spikes, a yellow water bottle, and a blue down jacket.

I have the ‘other’ gym bag – Orange and black Tigres bag with no name on any of the contents. Contents are 1 pair Day-Glo fluorescent yellow Asics Spikes, 1 pair black adidas shoes, 1 black tigres headband, and 1 spike tool.

If you have the incorrect bag, please contact me soon at youth@venturatigres.org so I can help arrange the swap.


Thank you – More info to come on the meet tomorrow or Friday,
Spencer

Hello, Tigres Families!

The 1st Annual Austin Gambill Memorial Track Meet (formerly known as the practice meet) is >36 hours away! Hopefully your young athlete has signed up for a full array of events!

Please talk to your athletes and find out what events they signed up for. Hurdlers, High Jumpers, and Shot Putters – are all up first for this meet! They should arrive by 8 at the very latest to prepare. Everyone else should show up by 8:30 to help kick it off and cheer on their teammates. It is a fast-paced event, twice as fast as an official meet. For the order of events, the call sheet can be found on the Tigres Website on the splash page.

A few things to remember:
     **I recommend a unique small gym or duffel bag for your athlete to hold sun block, water, and eventually warmup, sweatclothes, jackets, hats, etc with the instruction to use it for storage while on the field! Items thrown in a pile on the field are often left… in pile on the field.
     **Water only inside the fence – food or other beverages must be left in the stands for consumption.
     **Only Coaches, Active Volunteers, and Athletes are permitted inside the fence!
     **Get comfortable, make/meet some friends, and settle in to cheer on our Tigres! Full track meets are non-stop action… that will take most of the day.

This is gonna be fun!!!
-Spencer

Hello, Tigres!
This week is different and will be the model for all weeks to come from here on out… IT’S MEET WEEK!

OK. It’s a practice meet, but we will treat it with all the excitement of the real deal. I will have event sign-up sheets on Mondays and Wednesdays post practice, but have limited events this week (Hurdles, 1600M, 400M, 200, High Jump*, & Shot Put).  Athletes are limited to 2 Running and 1 Specialty – I would like to see everyone try the maximum 3 events.

There will be more meet info to come later this week,

-Spencer


*Pre-clearance required from Specialty Coach

Pickup Duty

Hello, All-
We need 2 more volunteers to stay with athletes until all have been picked up from practice- 1 for Monday, 1 for Wednesday, beginning @6PM

It might be the easiest duty I’ve seen – you’ll already be there to pick up your own child and it relieves you from Meet Day Volunteer Duty!
Already a Meet Day Volunteer? We’ll arrange Pickup Duty to replace it!

First 2 replies get the positions!!!

Thank you,
Spencer

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” Beverly Sills – Singer

Hello, Tigres Families!
We are off to a Fantastic Start! We have tomorrow’s Specialty practices to round out the week, which brings me to my first and second points:

1. 1. We have fantastic Specialties on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Make plans for your athlete to attend! Two 45 minute sessions starting at 4:30, and your athlete can choose from Relays, Long Jump, High Jump, Hurdles, and Shot Put (Thurdays only). Additionally, there are speed development plus strength & plyos stations to emphasize the core track events. I encourage the athletes to try everything to determine what they like. Some events require pre-clearance from the specialty coach before competition.
2. 2. There is no team practice on Monday due to the school closure. Why not make it up by attending the specialty practices?!  Also recommended are the following workouts over the weekend – on their own.

• Sprint 10 Minutes (Easy pace)) cross country run on your own
  4 x 100m strides
  Purpose – Aerobic capacity
• Distance 5 Miles (Easy pace) on your own
  Purpose – Aerobic capacity

Lastly, I want to acknowledge that the first few weeks have some tough practices. Your athletes might be sore and they might get frustrated. General soreness is to be expected but will eventually fade… and the body will be stronger. The sprint group will eventually do less reps at higher intensity as the season progresses, but they need the base that we are currently building. Distance Runners… well… they know that they must endure to build endurance- the distance will increase slightly and so will the intensity.

I see that all the Tigres are doing amazing things out there so far and I can’t wait to see how it translates once meets begin!  

-Coach Spencer

**We will run practices the full length – until 6:00, starting next week

Hello, All Youth/Intermediate Tigres Families-
At long last, Tigres officially begin Practice tomorrow! I hope you and your athletes are as excited about the season as the Assistant Coaches and I are!

Some info:

• Once the gate opens promptly at 4:30, our age group meets at the far 30-yard line on the near sideline. We will have the tallest overall group. The only adults permitted inside the track fence are coaches.
• Please bring a water bottle. Water is the only beverage item permitted on the field + no food. We are guests at Buena, and they are rightfully particular about that requirement.
• Write you athlete’s names with sharpie on lose-able items! I have no want for 27 more water bottles and 43 sweatshirts/pants of various size, style and color.
• Until Sunlight allows, practice will end @5:45. Please be courteous by being on-time for pick-up.
  
  This Coach can’t wait to get started!  See you tomorrow!

-Spencer

Hello all you Tigres! 
I am really looking forward to getting the kids back on the track for the first time in nearly two years!

Let’s get a few announcements out of the way:
1.  Parent’s meeting (virtual) has been announced for Monday, Feb 7 @ 6:30.  Please register using the link on one of the Tigres Website splash pages.

2.  Practices begin Wednesday Feb 9 @ 4:30 on the Buena HS track.  They will end @sundown until there is enough daylight to get us to the standard 6:00 end time.  Full practice schedule is posted on a website splash page.

3.  Fun Runs will be held for the next 3 Sundays @2-3 PM at Camino Real Park – starting on Jan 23! VERY unofficial, VERY informal, VERY voluntary.  The next part is important-  You must be in attendance the entire time if you choose to bring your child.  And your assistance will be most welcome.

4.  ASSISTANT COACHES NEEDED!  We have over 90 athletes in our Youth- Intermediate age group and are in need of Assistant Coaches to help keep practices and meets running smoothly.  No experience required.  Email me soon at youth@venturatigres.org to be a Giant help. A HUGE Thank You to those who have already responded.  

I know your young athletes have been chomping at the bit to get started.  It’s really soon, now!  I can’t wait to meet them, some again and some for the first time, and to see their enthusiastic faces flying around that track!

-Coach Spencer Taylor
Email: youth@venturatigres.org 
Tigres Website: www.venturatigres.org

Expect more communication as the first week approaches…

With the news of the Tigers cancelations and postponement of the season, there are probably many questions on what this means moving forward.  The only thing we know, is that until April 10th, there will be no Tigres activities.  I’m very sorry for all the athletes that during this period they will be not be able to spend the time with their teammates doing what they love.  It’s obviously a difficult decision to make the cancelations, but we should all hope the situation becomes stabilized and that track activities are determined to be safe in the near future.

So, moving forward, of course we hope everyone will be safe and take care of themselves as people.  As athletes, I would encourage all to be active at a minimum and suggest to continue working out if at all possible.  The training plan is published on the U15/Y&I website that can provide a guideline.  If you feel safe doing so, maybe get together with a small group of teammates/friends to support each other during your workouts.  Since it will likely be difficult to access a track, if you need help figuring out alternatives in a park, etc, please feel free to call/text/email me.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions – 650-678-3681 or youth@venturatigres.org

We are so excited for Saturday’s practice meet, where our athletes will finally be able to compete (even if it is against only Tigres).   The team has been working so hard in practice and Saturday is the 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 be covering important info for the athletes.
• Please be sure to wear your uniform and bring additional 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 very small window on Saturday morning, so please do your best to be on time.
• Please bring sunscreen (maybe wishful thinking?) and water.  There is NO food or drinks (other than water) allowed on the field.

For parents and athletes, the purpose of this meet is to “practice” for our regular season meets.  Athletes will get some exposure to listening for event calls, warming up for events and the staging process.  One of the goals of the U/15/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 us 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, is a subset of a typical meet.   Our athlete’s options are:

• Hurdles
• 1600
• 400
• 200
• 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 practice where those events are offered.

For the practice meet, athletes are able to 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.

A major area of focus for our team is sportsmanship.  We are asking our athletes to really 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 650-678-3681

This Saturday is the Tigers practice meet.  At practice on Monday, we’ll have the event sign up sheets available for the athletes.  The practice meet is a condensed version of a regular season meet, with the main purpose of training the volunteers.  The U15 age group will have the Hurdles, 200, 400, 1600 and High Jump available for participation on Saturday.  Regular season event limits are 4 total events, of which a maximum of 3 can be running events.  For the practice meet, the event limit is 3 total events, with a maximum of 2 running events.  Please note, to participate in Hurdles and High Jump at meets, athletes must be cleared by the Hurdles/High Jump coaches at practice (must be able to safely run a flight of hurdles and must clear opening height for High Jump).

Please have athletes consider what events they would like to participate in prior to Monday’s practice so they can sign up when we go over the process as a team.  We will be sending out more information regarding the practice meet later on this week.

As always, if you have any questions or need information, please email youth@venturatigres.org or call/text 650-678-3681.