with us almost being at the end of the cross country season and being in the championships i’ve interviewed the cross country coach Mr. Shaftic to get his thoughts on this season and how his team is doing so far
so how has the season being going so far?
“this season has been a very successful one in some ways and regretful in others. we have a lot of 9th graders coming up to the high school learning how to run at the high school level. its been fun watching them progress but its a lot different from junior high. its a difficult season the distance goes from 1.5 miles to over 3 miles. they have to get used to running the new distances and some of them have been doing a really good job progressing this year but when you coming up to the high school its a lot more demanding on you body and we’ve had some injuries especially with the 9th graders. we’ve had some kids take some time because they pulled a muscle in their calf or had a problem with their hip. That’s common in our sport but its also a bit more extensive this year then in the past so we need to see if its something we did that we can fix or if it was just an anomaly and just one of those years. our numbers are good so we’ve been doing good but our record isn’t as good as we’d like but that just comes with having a young team.”
how you hoping to come out of the championships?
“we just wanna see kids run their best at the end of the season. that’s what this sport is about that’s one of the great things about cross country regardless of your abilities you get to compete if we have thirty kids at the meet then thirty kids get to race. we are just looking for self improvement so if you start with 22 minutes when running a 5k and you get to 20 minutes or 21 minutes by the end of the year you see progress. we are looking to get kids to continue to improve their time and insurance and in a lot of ways mental discipline. to make it to the state meet is a very big accomplishment and our best athlete who had a chance to do that Nick liditis is injured right now and unfortunately he’s not going to get to race this championship season. I have a couple of young kids that an outside possibility of maybe making it to the meet but they’d have to have an incredible race this coming Thursday but we are looking forward to seeing what they can do.”
how do you keep your team motivated?
“that is one of the most important things to do as a coach any season you get into no matter what the sport is. it can be considered a “grind” and I think its up to the coach first and foremost to show up with the right energy to keep that positive reinforcement going. reminding the kids why their there making it as fun as you can and building that family type atmosphere. we try to have the kids understand they aren’t just doing it for themselves but each other. that’s part of being part of a team. we try to do fun things together like going to amusement parks in the summer and water parks. having team picnics and team meals and scavenger hunts things like that. all those things help build a good relationship so the kids really want to be with one another. I think a lot of times with my sport they are willing to endure they races which are not fun to be a part of the family or group which I think they do enjoy. I just try to keep than family atmosphere and keep the right attitude coming to practice. it can be a long season and it can mentally and physically wear you down. it starts with the coach but you also need to have good team leaders they have to be able to keep each other pumped up and keep each other going those are the important things.”
I’d like to thank Mr. Shaftic for his wonderful answers and wish you guys good luck with the championship season.
