Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to those of you returning, and welcome to the team all of you that are new!

I'd like to reiterate that this is a no cut team, if you work with us we'll work with you. I believe that any student willing to show up with a positive attitude and a good work ethic can become a great athlete.

Remember to tell all your friends to come too!! We want to have the biggest track team ever this year! Anyone is welcome to come try it out for a couple weeks too. 

Make sure to have your new friends email me, peterjohnmusselman@gmail.com, so they can get all the info they need. You can also go ahead and fill out this athlete interest form so I can add you to my email list. 

There's a lot in this email, but please go through it all before you ask questions! :)

I recommend also coming to the Caiman Way meeting on Tuesday, January 23rd in Caiman Hall at CAHS-Studio from 6:30-8:00pm! 

 
CLEARANCE:

Please get your athletic clearance done so you can practice!! If your doctor cannot get it done promptly, I recommend a minute clinic walk in appointment. If it is not up to date you will not be allowed to participate at practice, no budge on this. It's a CIF rule for your own safety.

Just because you have a physical up to date does not mean you are cleared. You must also log into home campus and sign the code of ethics form for this school year. Once BOTH of these things are done you will be cleared by our athletic trainer. 

WHAT YOU NEED:

All you need to start out is a good pair of running shoes, a water bottle, and a good attitude. I recommend staying away from brands like Nike, Under Armor, and Reebok that make general training shoes. These are good companies and it's fine if you have a pair of training shoes already, but the insoles don't hold up well with the amount of running we do. Look at more runner specific focused brands such as Saucony, Brooks, Asics, Hoka, etc. The integrity of these insoles will hold up much better and can last the whole season. I always recommend the Carlsbad Running Store

 Shoes are typically only good for 300-400 miles, so make sure whatever shoes you train in are designated only for training! Wearing them to school and on the daily takes off miles. Good shoes prevent many injuries, so take care of them!

For now, we can hold off on purchasing spikes and race flats. I recommend waiting so you can get event specific shoes once you figure out what you want to compete in.

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Here's some additional general information for the season that will help you out.

Practices:

 -Practices will begin on Tuesday, February 6th, at Hidden Valley Middle School; 2700 Reed Rd, Escondido, CA 92027. Entrance to the track is at the far end on the corner of Reed and Falconer. 

-Practices are M-F from 4:00pm-5:15pm. *Practice can be extended to 5:40 by athlete request if they would like to work on technical skills with the coaches. i.e. block starts, jump technique, throwing practice, handoffs, etc.*

-Attendance; This is mandatory for participation in league meets and invites. This is so that students that respect our time, no matter the skill level, get their time respected mutually at the meets with the events they want to compete in. Hard work always pays off and will be rewarded.

With that being said, I know many of you have very busy lives and busy schedules outside of track & field. Makeup workouts can be done for those of you that need to miss practice or have another commitment. For example, if you have a club sport every Tuesday, that you’ve told me about ahead of time, you would be excused from that day and your other sport can be the makeup workout. If you have a non sport-related commitment such as; church, choir, theater, etc. I will give you a makeup workout to do at home and you can send it to me by the end of that week at your convenience. If you have a medical emergency such as wisdom teeth getting pulled, I will not make you still workout, I promise! Just communicate clearly with me in person, as well as in an email to ensure I clearly was told, and I will be more than flexible to make sure you get the best experience. I value all of your time and commitment greatly so want this to be a stress free environment for you. 

My priority list for all of you at the end of the day is:
1. Fun
2. Family
3. School
4. Sports

I don't expect to be your number one priority, nor should I be. I do expect you all to communicate properly as young adults. With that said, I encourage parents to have the athletes communicate their own schedule conflicts and needs whenever possible. This helps prepare them in problem solving for themselves and is a great growth experience. 

Here is the February Calendar with practices and important dates. Please take a look at it and make a note to yourselves about the highlighted content. There's some additional information at the bottom of the calendar page as well. 

Meets:

-The tentative season race schedule is already up on athletic.net. This is where all the meet info can be found for the year.

-Meets are made up of our Pacific league meets, invitationals, and finals. They typically range from 2.5 hours to 4 hours, depending on size and efficiency. Athletes are able to compete in up to four events each. Athletes can review what events I put them in before the week of the meet. They will usually be placed in a combination of events that they like and where I need them to compete so we can score well as a team.

League meets are the most important meets to make, that's where we score as a team at the end of season to place. These will alternate between Wed. and Thur.

Invitationals are for athletes to get a great experience at a big meet and get better as they race faster schools side by side. They will mostly be on Saturday mornings. Athletes must qualify to compete in these meets as they do cut off based on performance. 

Please tell me as far in advance as possible if you can't make a meet! If I have you entered and you don't show up to the league meet, we'll lose points because I could have put another athlete in. You don't want to be the person to cost us a close win from poor communication(we won the league by 0.25 points last year!), think about your teammates. If you can't make an invitational, please tell me as well because they are not free. Your entry will cost your team money out of our budget! Consistent no shows to meets will cost you race privileges, simply communicate with me to avoid this.

-Events are as listed;

Distance Medley(1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m)*@invites only*

Sprint Medley(100m, 100m, 200m, 400m)*@invites only*

4x800m relay
4x100m relay
1600m
100m hurdles
400m
100m
800m
300m hurdles
200m
3200m
4x400m relay
Shot Put
Discus
Long Jump
High Jump
Triple Jump
Pole Vault *don't have a pit to practice*

Volunteers:

Carpool;
Carpool is a parent run operation. Please reach out to each other to handle this, not to coaches. If your athlete is stranded somewhere of course we will help, but we cannot be regular drivers. 

If you are interested in heading the carpooling system please reach out to me! It would be organizing rides for kids from the school to practice and also from practice to home or another set location. This can be multiple people, not just one person as well. I’ve also created a carpool form so you can connect with other parents that drive. Fill in like my example. 

Snacks;
For all the meets we have a signup list, run by a parent usually, that needs to be filled. At all of the meets we have snacks and drinks set up for the athletes. You'll get sent more info on this later, but if you love chocolate milk as much as we do you'll be perfect!

Meets;

We are hosting on March 13th, so we’ll need parent volunteers to help out. This will entail setting up hurdles, helping at the jumping/throwing pits, assisting with block setup, cleanup/teardown of field and pits, and whatever else we need. Please mark that date and on your calendar and I will send out more information later. 

Extras;
There's plenty more tasks I could list but those are the two big ones. If you ever have ideas to streamline our season, send them my way!

If you have any questions about anything at all, please reach out!

Best Regards,
PJ Musselman
760.717.9461

** I am only sending this on Caiman Sports, except to those on the athlete interest form as well, while I put together my email list for the season. Feel free to email me to double check I have you on my list if you are not sure**