The Podium Series, where we learn summer training and team building tips from all the coaches who led teams to the 2017 NJSIAA cross country Meet of Champions podium.
The idea for this piece came from Jim Schlentz who traveled around the state the past few weeks interviewing all the coaches. The videos will be released in segments question by question all throughout the rest of August and will be found here linked below.
Topics Covered
- How much rest between spring season and the start of cross country training?
- How important is the summer to your team?
- Do the kids get a training plan for the summer and how is that done?
- How often does your team meet in the summer? Any different or special practices?
- Summer camp, yes or no and why?
- What kind of training do they do over the summer?
- How do you pick your fall races? What do you look for?
- Do you treat all races the same? How would you approach an early season race compared to a championship season meet?
- What do you do for team bonding?
- Anything unique about your team in the summer or their training?
Video editing by Robert Kellert.
Coaches featured: Christian Lynch (Kingsway), James Smirk (Princeton), John Zalot (Hopewell Valley), Nick Baker (Haddonfield), Roy Hamblen (Mendham), Sean McCafferty (Christian Brothers Academy), Bill Clifton (Middletown South), Caitlin Hess (Kingsway), Dana Palumbo (Shawnee), Jenn Buccino (Westfield), and Jim Schlentz (Colts Neck).
If similar answers were given, for the sake of keeping videos at reasonable length, some coaches may not appear in every release but everyone will be featured at some point. After the series has concluded we'll release the full interview with each coach as well. A big thanks to everyone for giving us their time and and insights.