I'm looking for ideas for coaching track and field. I'd like it to be enjoyable, but still...?

Question

I'll be coaching boys and girls high school and junior high track and field. It's been a reallllly long time since I did anything like that, so I'm looking for suggestions, ideas, drills, things to practice, how to decide who runs what event, anything at all that can help us out. Oh by the way, we don't have a track at our school. Yeah- fun I know. I appreciate any help and thanks very much for your time

Answer 1

Since I am in Canada and it is winter right now and I start coaching the team in Oct, we use the school gym and also the hallways. Our track is crap not very level and has grass growing out of some lanes you can't see one lane from another so we practice on the grass in the middle unless we have to do starts over hurdles. I also may take them to the competition track as the season draws close so they can practice on what they will be racing on especially the new ones.
I have the new recruits do a questionnaire that has the followinginfo, grade/age/events want to do/experience in those events/allergies/injuries/other sport commitments,
1st practice we do a games test.
We use collapsible X hurdles games, jump test and throw tests with medicine balls and rubber shots. The stick hurdles collapse when hit so it they can go over them they won't get hurt, we put downthe high jump mat and do jumps(long style) into it for those who think they want to do long/triple, with tyhe medicine ball we do over the head throws and chest passes for shot putters, we also do tag relays( Running in and out of cones, or back and forth between two lines) for sprinters and get into relay mind set. That way I can put them in the event I think they can do.
For practices I do many drills after warm up and static stretching.
Sprinters are split into a group and they do
3 X 10M skipping A
3 X 10M skipping B
3 X 10M bum kicks
" "running A's
" "running B's
" "bounding
" "rolling runs
" "ladder drills
" "follow the leader

Hurdlers do
3 X 4 hurdles walking lead leg/trail leg/middle
3 X 4 hurdles running lead/trail/middle
3 X 4 hurdles 5 step runs

Throwers get out the medicine ball and do
10 Kneel to Push Ups
" "Slams
jumpers join in for the following
10 Figure of Eights/" "Russian Twists/" "Single Leg V-Ups/" "Medicine Ball Obliques/" "Lateral Flexion w/ Stability Ball/" "Reverse Curls
and they take the rubber shots and practice positioning

This is all in our conditioning phase, then when we go outside closer to the racing phase we mix it up a lot different with event specific speed drills, starts out of blocks over hurdles etc



Try these for tips
There are quite a few coaching guides available, including “The Athletics Congress's Track and Field Coaching Manual” by The Athletics Congress and Vern Gambetta and
“USA Track & Field Coaching Manual” by USA Track & Field and Joseph L. Rogers.

Two other coaching books with good reputations are “Coaching Track & Field Successfully” by Mark Guthrie and “Track & Field Coach's Survival Guide” by Edward Wallace, Jr.

Answer 2

I've coached high school track so I know what you're going through. Do you have assistants to help you? If so, use them! Divide up the kids by events, for example: sprinters, distance runners, weight events. The jumpers, hurdlers, vaulters, etc will need some time to work on those areas but they should also be in running events. If you do not have enough assistants, make some of the older kids Team Captains and give them responsibilities as leaders for some events. Most new kids will want to be sprinters. because they think they are fast and they think it will be less work than anything else. I suggest that until they show you otherwise, you have them work out with the distance runners. This will give them the best conditioning and help them in any event. Where are you going to have the kids run? Without a track, your next best bet is on grass. At this point in the season, general conditioning, including running and weight workouts when the weather is bad, is good for all the kids. Try to vary the workouts and have fun with them. There are lots of fun running games. Good luck!

Answer 3

I ran the mile. Monday was a 17 mile loop run. Couldn't cheat, he would come find us runners about the half-way mark. Tuesdays were 16-440's @70 seconds or below each with easy 220 yd. jogs. Wednesday was 12-220's @full speed with 220 jogs back to start. Thursday was stair step---440, 880, 1320 with 440 jogs and repeat again. All days except Monday began with a easy two mile warm up jog and light stretching. Friday was easy 5 mile jog unless we had a Saturday track meet. By the end of the season we had two mid 4:30 milers, one that ran a 4:17 and I ran a 4:21. (9:30 for the 2 mile) Yes it was hard workouts and the 1/2 milers did it with us. Forty years later that same coach is still coaching and I still run the mile, 5K and longer races and several marathons. The one thing I remember most about the coach was his belief in each of us and what we could be. Also, in junior high we ran on a dirt track. Too hot and dry for grass in south Texas.

Answer 4

Welcome to the club! I am in the same exact boat, and have been for years! No track, 4 track teams...how do you keep them busy all at the same time? The best way I have found to see where a kids' talents are is to have them all do the following 4 events: 200 m dash, 800 m run, standing long jump, and shot put (weight / age appropriate). Of course, the distances don't have to be exact for these purposes... you are measuring talent level, not trying to get exact times.

Early on, my kids do a lot of stretching, conditioning, and form runs (i.e., butt-kicks, high-knee running, deer bounds, etc.). After about 2-3 weeks, we begin training for specific events.

Championship Productions has a ton of sources available for "beginning" coaches. I'd do a Web search for their site (sorry, I have forgotten it!) and request a catalog.

I am on here often and, although I'm no expert in the field, I have coached track for 11 years (and have never had a track) and (luckily) have produced 5 gold medalist at the state track meet. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and best wishes!

Answer 5

I'm a 400-800 m runner and what my coach does is make us run higher than our event (like every other day) and on the other days let us practice our real events. to me when she gives us a mile to run, it's alot yes but when she says 800m or 400m it's like nothing because i've ran more than that. I also did cross country so it helped alot. You can have them do drills like high knees, butt kicks (i don't remember all the names) and of course the warm ups, stretches and the cool downs give you and extra 20 + mins to keep them busy.

To decide who runs what race, our coach tests us on almost every event. at first she said i should run a 200 but it was so fast that i was out of breath by the 100. She tried me on the 400 and i loved it!! We also did tryouts for each event, but if someone wants to do a100m try them (if their not good ) you could try them on other events or work with them to get better for the season or even next season.

Answer 6

congrat's on coaching track again at the high school level... what my coaches do is the small stuff like staying after pratice to help us jumpers or just helping us come out of the block's so be sure not to forget the small stuff when coaching track and field but try flying forties they help us sprinter's build up are foot speed and help us produce a quick turnover and your going to need to divide your sprinter's and you long distance kid's up as well and try to pratice your field event's at the end of pratice so that way you can get the most out of your runner's.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

i was on a team and one of the most helpful drills we did was lining up on a field and when the coach blows the whistle all the athletes full out sprint for 1 minutes and then stop. we used flags to mark taht spot. we then had a minute break and then the coache blew the wistle again and we had to sprint back and he wanted us to get back to or past where we started from. we did this three times, then took a 5 min run, then again, 5 min run, and one last time. it hurt but was a really eficient exercise.overall the best thing i believe my coach did was taht on hard workouts he would run with us and push us (talking not literally) as we ran. when someone was not doing graet he would run with them and push them to do betetr. this was good because he wasent just yelling from the sidelines but actually doing the wokrouts with us, i know a lot of people who dont like there coach because he simply yelled and dident do anything he told them to do. good luck!

Answer 9

well you should do grass drills. Doing lunges, strides, high knees,running backwards,butt kicks, ect. Fartlicks-when your runners run for 90 secs then take a 60 sec brake. run around the block instead of the track but makesure that the neighbors are okay with that. make sure that the sprinters do an 800 meter warm up and then stretch then do the drills. for the long distance runners make them run 1600 meters. stretch and do the grass drills. have them work on hand eye coordination strides endurence push ups sit ups and some weight lifting

Answer 10

well i love when my coaches get out the pulleys. They basiccly just make u run faster. u attach one student to each end while one sprints the other kinda strodels. and when the other runner feels the pull he begins to srint, and the other slows down enjoy