Parents Guide to RRXC
Introduction
Welcome to the realm of Rocky River Cross Country! Your son has made a decision to take up a sport that is both physically and mentally demanding, and will help prepare him for a healthy and successful life beyond high school. Important questions you may be asking at this point are: What can I expect from RRXC? And how can I support my child’s choice in the best way? This sheet should help answer those questions.
The sport of cross-country is about running over a 5km (3.1 mi.) course of varied terrain, regardless of weather conditions. Courses are usually at parks, and include hills and mud. It is a team sport, where score is based upon the order of finish. To prepare for races of this distance, training runs of up to 1 ½ hours may be completed. Your son will gain expanded confidence and a sense of accomplishment during this process, as well as gaining tremendous fitness, while hopefully having fun. For more information, please borrow The Rocky River Cross Country Manual from your young runner and look through it. It has a blue or yellow cover, and was distributed during the spring to the runners who signed up for RRXC.
Preseason
As your teen embarks on this endeavor, keep a few things in mind: Your young athlete should eat a healthy diet, including plenty of fluids, and get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. He should not eat 2 hours before attempting a run, but can drink unlimited water. This will prevent “side stitches”, but avoid dehydration. Each runner on the team needs decent running shoes, a timer watch, and appropriate clothing for training in a variety of weather conditions, from summer heat to October wind and rain.
Summer practices are at 7:30 am regardless of rain, Monday through Saturday, so breakfast should wait. If lightening is occurring at 7:30, we postpone practice until 10:00am. Once school begins, practices run from 3:30 to around 5:30 or 6:00. Practices are mandatory, and are only excused if pre-arranged with the coaches. Two missed practices unexcused is cause for dismissal from the team. Occasionally, there will be optional social events for the team, such as putt-putt, water park outings, etc. These events are organized by our team captains, and may or may not be attended by coaches.
Every runner must have a physical or they may not participate. Other forms, which need to be filled out by parents, include the Emergency Medical Authorization, the Parent Permission Form, and the Substance Abuse contract. All of these forms are on the website. In addition, a $47 Transportation Fee is required by the school board to cover busing costs. This can be a check made out to Rocky River Schools.
River XC runners train on the roads and trails of Rocky River and surrounding communities, as well as the Metro Parks. All runners follow a prescribed route each day, and run with a partner. We stress safety everyday in talking with our runners, and supervise them by car, bike, and by running with them. We carry cell phones and sometimes walkie-talkies to communicate as coaches. All coaches complete a first aid and CPR certificate required by the state Department of Education. We do all we can to ensure the safety of our teams at all times.
Muscle soreness is common in new runners, but should disappear in a week or two. However, any athlete in training is subject to injury. Abbey Myles is our Certified Trainer, and can handle many injury problems.
Any concerns about safety, injury, practices, or social events with the team should be directed to Coach Kelley (phone # 808-1194) or Coach Brabant (835-2858).
In Season
Come and support your athlete by attending meets. The volume of spectators at some meets will surprise you! While Cross Country is a great participation sport, meets are not always easy to watch. The start and finish areas are always visible, but you may have to move about the course to gain the best views of your young athlete, and his or her teammates. Remember that each runner has to concentrate on warm-up, racing, and warm-down afterwards before they may socialize freely.
As you spectate, always shout encouragement, no matter what the runner looks like, or how they are doing in the race. Things like “Good job!” and “Hang Tough!” are better than “Get up there” or “Catch that guy”. The innate pain involved in running hard develops a fragile temper during races, so positive encouragement is needed.
Remember that a runner may need some private space after running to deal with the physical and emotional effort they just put forth. They may seem more spent than you would anticipate. Symptoms include rubbery legs, lack of breath, nausea, and wanting to just sprawl out until they recover. These conditions usually pass quickly. The coaches are trained in first aid to assist runners who may have real problems.
Riding the bus to and from meets is part of the “Team” experience, but if you need to take your son or daughter home by car for some reason, a note to that effect needs to be given to your child’s coach beforehand, to document that action.
LCCC is home to two of our meets. Other invitationals are held at various parks around northern Ohio. You can usually get directions to our races through the athletic office website, or from the preparatory handout sheets the coaches give to each runner a day or two before a meet. The starting times given on the schedule are only general guidelines, as each meet schedule may change from year to year. Proper times will also be listed on those prep sheets.
Pasta dinners
The importance of nutrition while participating in a sport is extremely important. Energy is needed in order to train and perform to the best of the athletes’ ability. A high-performance diet, which includes more carbohydrates and less fat, has been recommended by sports scientists. Complex carbohydrates such as pastas, potatoes, corn, beans, and fresh fruit contain protein, vitamins, minerals and fiber, which provide energy as well as a balanced nutrition.
To go along with this philosophy of carbohydrate nutrition, we have weekly “Pasta Dinners.” We have these dinners Thursdays nights throughout the season. There are eight Thursdays this season, not including the Thursday nights before regional and state meets. Since there are around 40 members of the boys/girls teams and only eight Thursdays, we suggest several families get together to hold a pasta dinner. These dinners can be held at houses, parks or even in the high school cafeteria. It is the hosting families’ job to secure a location for the dinner.
It is also our understanding that there is a small fund used to purchase paper products that travel from house to house for each of the pasta diners. The captain’s parents have taken on this responsibility. We would like to give you some time to think about hosting a pasta dinner and with whom you would like to hold it. It would be ideal if all the Thursdays were filled by late August, so once you have had a chance to think, discuss and check your calendar, please contact Coach Brabant to confirm the Thursday you are interested in, and we can schedule your night.
Post Season
The Cross Country State Meet is the first Saturday in November, and it is always our goal to qualify one or more runners to this pinnacle experience. This high note is when the season ends for the Varsity runners. For team members outside of the top 8 on the team (Varsity 7 + 1 alternate) the season will end after the WSC Meet in early October.
Earning a varsity letter in Cross Country is based on finishing in the top 7 of our team (the Varsity) at least four times during the season, or scoring for the varsity by finishing in the top 5 of our team at least three times. Coaches may also award a letter to seniors based on positive leadership or other discretionary factors. Team members who do not earn a letter are awarded certificates, and some get JV patches.
The RRXC banquet is usually held a week or two following the season at the Middle School Cafeteria, possibly elsewhere. The Captain’s parents are in charge of this affair, and usually send out invitations during October. Please plan on attending to show support and appreciation for your young athlete and their team.
About the Coaches
Girls Head Coach Laura Brabant is a 1987 Bay High graduate, and earned her BA at Wittenberg. She is a Sixth grade Math teacher at RR Middle School. She has run since her high school days, and has competed in numerous triathlons and road races of up to half – marathon in distance. She is in her 18th season with RRXC.
Boys Head Coach Kevin Kelley is a 1980 graduate of Port Clinton HS and earned his BA and MBA at Cleveland State. In 2001 Kevin earned a Masters in Education from Ursuline College. He is an accomplished triathlete, competing and winning at the National and World Championship level in the Clydesdale class (over 200 lbs). This is his 9th year with RRXC.
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Get involved with RRXC. We hope to see you soon!
Coaches Brabant, Kelley, and Russ
2010 Rocky River Cross Country Schedule
August 27 WSC Preview Meet Cahoon Park, Bay Village
Sept 3 Avon Lake Early Bird Meet LCCC
. 10 Tiffin Carnival Tiffin Ohio
17 Galion Invitational Galion Ohio
24 Sandy Valley Invite Sandy Valley, near Canton
30 Gilmour Invite Gilmour Academy, Gates Mills
Oct 8 Medina Invite Medina High School
15 WSC Championship Meet Cahoon Park, Bay Village
22 District Meet LCCC
29 Regional Meet Tiffin, Ohio
Nov. 5 State Meet National Trails Raceway, Hebron