- Ages 6-14.
- Lowry & Central Park.
- Free family runs on weekends (ocassionally).
- No prior running experience necessary. They should be capable of running/walking 1/2-mile without stopping.
- They should be coachable.
Life Lessons Through Sports
Running (sports) is a great vehicle for learning about life. Learning how to manage big feelings, good and bad, and challenging situations, where the stakes are fairly low, to learn how to navigate them later in life.
Wins should not be the measure of youth sports. Rather, it should be how much the kids grow in terms of:
- Self-confidence.
- Grit.
- Willingness to step our of their confort zone.
- Dealing with adversity.
- Rebounding from failure.
Too many kids burn out and quit sports around middle school. Too many youth sports programs focus on short term success with a culture of "Winning at all cost." There's explicit and implicit pressure to win now over long term development. The coach's egos and program's reputation are too dependent on that immediate success.
We make running fun
We strive to keep them engaged through games and other activities where they will be running, but also building strength and agility. They will get tired and sometimes complain (as kids do), but we manage the intensity to be developmentally appropriate. Small successes are building blocks, and failures are lessons along the way. Grit is the willingness to a risk of falling short, then come back stronger.
My ego, the program's success, comes from how well I engage the kids, and how many I move from A-to-B, wherever their A is. That movement is not just physical, but psychological, social, emotional; e.g., confidence, self-worth, appropriate risk taking, willingness to try and possibly fail, grit.
We encourage kids to participate in other sports and activites, to experiment with different activities to find out what they like, to build complimentary strengths and skills. There's no need to specialize until at least HS.
Spring
The spring season will start in early April, and run through May.
It will mostly be running through fun and games. In the process, they'll build strength, stamina, and agility.
There will be the option to compete in some track races. Although our focus is on distance running, they can race sprints too.
Fall
The fall season will start late Aug/early Sept.
Fall is built around cross-country (XC) racing. We'll pick a few races to do as a team. Dinos are encouraged to compete in at least 3 races.
The meets start mid Sept, and run into November. They are in Aurora, Boulder, and Colorado Springs.
Distance for most XC races
- 8&u: 2km (~1.24mi)
- 9-12: 3km (~1.86mi)
- 13-14: 4km (~2.49mi)
Age is as of 12/31 for most races.