SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

You hear so much about kids changing schools for sports. So the question I am posing is this "if you had a son or daughter want they were into track what school in southeastern Ohio would you send them to to achieve their personal best." Assume they are an 8th grader so there is none of that OSHAA transfer issues.

Jumps?
Throws?
Sprints?
Hurdles?
Distance?

jumphigh wrote:You hear so much about kids changing schools for sports. So the question I am posing is this "if you had a son or daughter want they were into track what school in southeastern Ohio would you send them to to achieve their personal best." Assume they are an 8th grader so there is none of that OSHAA transfer issues.

Jumps?
Throws?
Sprints?
Hurdles?
Distance?

If my child wanted too-----to the nearest school that known for champoinships---Kids like to stay where their friends are so they just might want to stay where they are and hope for the best

I would send my daughter to Gallia in a heart beat!!!

If it involved throwing I would keep my kid at the school he goes to with his friends. Jackson is not a bad place for the throws, they have had some kids do a respectable job. There are also some pretty knowledgeable and selfless coaches in the area that are quite willing to help kids from schools other than the ones they coach at because they like kids, Zanesville and South Point have two such wonderful people. If you want to be good in the throws you do not wait until the season starts and try to make up ground. If the kid to wants to be a good thrower get the the kid to camps in the summer and winter, plus there has to be a great deal of investment and dedication by the child in their own training, they have to want it and not the parent. They have to become a student of the sport and learn as much as possible themselves. One more thing if they want to do it in college find someone that is knowledgeable in the indoor weight, hammer and javelin and start early by competing in indoor high school meets at Marietta and Capital or USATF/AAU meets in the summer so they can learn the events, it will make them more marketable for a college trying to recruit. Sometimes the high school football players around here are good for around here but they are a dime a dozen in college, however a good thrower is a rare commodity for a college program. Do not just limit thinking about Division I, you have Division II and NAIA and they can offer if the kid is good enough. If the kid has great grades a DIII school will find a way to offer academic aid packages if the grades jusitfy it.

Whatever school district we live in.

Orange and brown I agree with you. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Were I a person who really wanted to be a millionaire I would ask a millionaire how to accomplish the task. The very same can be said of coaching and teaching. I am 61, still coaching and still learning. Recently i attended the USTFCCCA Convention in San Antonio, Texas. This organization started out as the group for NCAA college coaches. It has now expanded to all levels of NCAA, NAIA, and just a few years ago added a high school section. I attended sessions and watched Clyde Hart, the coach of Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner, Vince Anderson of Texas A&M fame, and many others in sessions taking notes like crazy when Boo Schexnader was talking about jumps. If a school has a coach who is willing to learn up until the day he dies then that is a good coach. Our OATCCC coaching clinic is every year during the last week of January and we have about 1800 coaches attending each year - that is nearly a three per school average. Every year when I attend a session I pick up some little tidbit i may have missed or I learn that, as usual, drills and training make the full circle.

For example, I learned from the UTEP coach and Ralph Mann that the warm ups we did in the 60's and 70's that we were told were not good for the athletes are actually good for the athletes. Bent knee sit ups with the feet flat on the ground and arms folded across the chest may actually be good for flexibility in the hips! I learned that crunches were useless. Any drill or exercise that has an effect on the fascia that connects the body parts from the back of the skull to the toes is a good exercise whether it is a twisting exercise or a "popping" exercise. Everything must begin slowly and the crescendo into more intensity for proper fascia conditioning. That session was an hour well spent. Actually I did not want it to end. I learned that most of the leg injuries in sprinters are the result of tight fascia in the pelvic regions. I learned that lower back pain comes from the same area. So, it became obvious that we, as coaches, who want to train our athletes for speed, need to do more to loosen the pelvic girdle and I have looked up exercises to do just that.

So, if your school has a coach that goes and takes it in then you have a concerned and caring coach. And that is all any athlete needs.

It's not only the coaching that would factor into my decision. Some schools and parents actively support their programs whether it is cross country or track. They have athletes that honestly care enough about how they perform to put in the effort before and during the season. They have plenty of athletes to field a full squad plus some. I'm not knocking the coaches at Jackson and we do have a few athletes that WANT to be at the top but many of our kids/parents are more interested in other sports. I just wish my daughter had the opportunity to experience what it was like to compete with a group of girls that shared her interests.

I was looking at the league previews for this upcoming track season. It looks like the league to be in would be the seaol. There are a few times and distances in the other leagues that compare but as a whole the seoal seems to be a little faster. I know that the seoal is division 1 and 2 while other leagues are division 2 & 3

jumphigh wrote:I was looking at the league previews for this upcoming track season. It looks like the league to be in would be the seaol. There are a few times and distances in the other leagues that compare but as a whole the seoal seems to be a little faster. I know that the seoal is division 1 and 2 while other leagues are division 2 & 3

i was surprised at some of the times in the other leagues. the seoal and svc definitely seem a little stronger in the running events...

For collegiate opportunities.....if you are good enough it won't matter.....if you are close to a top performer but you do it with minimal coaching or knowledge....maybe transfer...but I wouldn't.

I think the most important thing is that the regular track season is just so short. Many kids do not understand the amount of time that they should put in even before the season starts , A lot of them just show up after not doing anything and really do not have any realistic chance of being a top notch performer. There is not anything in the rule book that prevents them from conditioning, coach or no coach present. Parents and their kids need to educate themselves and do some of it on their own. Their are plenty of good summer camps and websites pretaining to track and field, Ashland University has some excellent winter , spring and summer camps.Some of the kids from other schools are participating in indoor track while at schools like Jackson they are not. I would say if you were a pole vaulter, hurdler or thrower that would have to give you the advantage. You can participate as an independent non attached athlete in indoor under the rules I believe. Question is are the kids willing to pay the price to do that? You have to be willing to do some of this on your own.

I've been looking into the indoor track programs that are held around Ohio throughout the winter. Its a shame there isn't something better situated in our area like at Shawnee or Rio but it is what it is. I think Gallia is one of the few area schools that take advantage of the opportunities. My daughter plans on running next year as a freshman so any info or advice that you can share would be appreciated !!!

High School Indoor Meets here are four of them go to the school website of each and then the athletics website you will find the info you need

Marietta College $10 entry fee
Jan 22
Feb 21
Cedarville College
Richey High School Tune Up Feb 12
Findlay College
Feb 6

I had noticed that Marietta had 3 or 4 meets this winter. Unfortunately with my daughter only being an 8th grader that leaves her out in the cold this season. She currently is recovering from a concussion suffered in a bball game so she wouldn't have been able to compete right now anyway. I also noticed on baums that there was a meet back on the 9th at Ohio Northern if i remember correctly. It looked like several Cinci schools were in attendance at that one.

You could look for meets in kentucky. Middle school kids are allowed to play hs sports in that state. I believe that eastern michigan also offers a meet that is open to all ages

Ironman 1987 what events does your daughter participate in? Ashland University is having its last Winter Camp this Sunday Jan. 23 go on their website and see if its something you would be interested in.

She ran the 800 and the 1600 last season. Its possible she could run the 400 but it's not something she has really worked on at this point and she seems to like the longer distance races anyway. I'll check into Ashland and look for some of the Kentucky meets also. Thanks !!

i'm not one of those people that is in favor of kids moving to other schools just to be on a ( better team ) for one if your daughter is very good and puts in the extra time she will get noticed. this is different in this sport than in some of the other sports where you depend on other teamates to succeed.

footballfanatic1 wrote:i'm not one of those people that is in favor of kids moving to other schools just to be on a ( better team ) for one if your daughter is very good and puts in the extra time she will get noticed. this is different in this sport than in some of the other sports where you depend on other teamates to succeed.

I agree with you 100%. The only reason i commented on this and chose Gallia was because they have a group of girls/parents that are committed to "running" and my daughter happens to be friends with many of them. My wife and i both graduated from Jackson and have called it home for most of our lives. I'm not concerned with her being "noticed" as people already come up to me from other schools and talk about her. As you stated both cross country and track gives you an opportunity to excel regardless of what the team does.

Educate yourself so that if you believe your child is not getting enough coaching you can have some answers. There is a great coaches clinic next weekend in Columbus, you can register at oatccc.com There is a distance section on Saturday that would be well worth your time.

On Presidents day week3end, there will be a SEOTCA coaching clinic in jackson. The cost is 10 to 15 dollars. Coach Haffman and Paxton will speak on distance running.

READ Buy and read the danials running formula.

There are a lot of things that you can do to become educated in the sport.

just some thoughts