2020 CROSS COUNTRY UPDATE (July 27)

Athletes and families,

Despite what we felt was a safe and successful start to our summer practices, we are being asked to pause our summer practices until at least August 3. The following message is from our Athletic Director, Heather Stein:

“Wednesday we received an update from OSAA regarding the continuing status of athletic programs.  While no decision was made regarding fall sports, some continuing guidance was provided with decisions about summer programs being passed to the district level.  OSAA has stated that August 17 will remain the first day of practice while potential fall sports first contest day would be pushed back to September 23. OSAA will continue to work with the contingency groups to explore possible options for fall athletics and we are expecting another update from OSAA on August 3.  There are still many questions that we all have and unfortunately all we can say for sure is as of July 25, all 4j athletics will pause summer activities until August 3.

You can view the updated OSAA communication that she refers to here. It’s not clear to us, as a cross country coaching staff, if August 3 is when summer activities will resume, as Heather’s message indicates, or if that’s simply the earliest we could expect to receive communications from OSAA, from which 4J would then craft their own policies.

In any case, we were energized and encouraged to see so many of our athletes over the last two weeks and we’re committed to continuing to provide a framework for athletes who want to train this summer. You can view weekly training information on our Cross Country Training page.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Ian ([email protected]) or Erin ([email protected]) with any questions or concerns. We will plan to update this page weekly, or earlier if we have new information to share.

Cross Country Training

To the athletes who attended the first two weeks of practices at Alton Baker Park, please know that your coaches were proud of you for respecting the guidelines and for being patient with our process of screening. We’re sad to report that we’re not able to continue holding in-person practices this week due to 4J’s policies. We will begin in-person practices again as soon as 4J allows it. Please see the 2020 XC Updates page for more information about this.

Despite the setback of not holding in-person practices this week, we’ll continue to post workouts throughout the summer.

For athletes who are new to the program or who haven’t run consistently in the last several months, please follow our two week on-boarding plan. Following this plan will help minimize any risks of injury as you begin training.

Athletes who have been running with some consistency may choose to follow our general training plan which will be updated weekly. Each athlete should check with the coaches if they have questions about what amount of training is appropriate for them. Please feel free to reach out to Ian directly at [email protected] or by text at (650)8045481 if you have questions about how this training plan applies to you individually.

2020 Cross Country Update (July 13)

Cross Country Athletes and Families,

We’re excited to begin optional summer practices this week! Practices this week will be held on Wednesday, July 15 at 7:00pm and on Friday, July 17 at 8:00am. On both days we will meet in Alton Baker park at the pavilions on the SE end of the park.

We will follow a thorough safety protocol set out by 4J, so please be patient as we all work to make sure we can continue to have practices. All athletes must complete this waiver prior to participating in their first summer practice.

Please take a few minutes to read through the guidelines set out by 4J prior to arriving at practice. You can see those guidelines here.

We look forward to seeing many of you this week. Please check back here for updates!

Sheldon High School Track & Field and Cross Country