Pre-Season Clinic Emphasizes Culture of Character
January 30, 2019
The track & field team held a pre-season spring sports clinic on January 26 in the multi-use room. The clinic included demonstrations and presentations on topics like core fitness, nutrition, recovery, sports psychology. Head coach Chuck Woolridge and several assistant coaches facilitated the morning and early afternoon sessions.
In addition to providing critical information to athletes, the event was used as a team fundraiser.
“I thought it was very informative, especially for younger athletes, because there’s a lot of things other than just running itself that go into being a successful track athlete like nutrition and recovery,” said veteran athlete senior Charlie Woidat.
The clinic was centered around the fundamentals of developing a positive team culture “which hopefully will get our veteran athletes excited about these ideas of leadership and team bonding,” said Woolridge.
“I really enjoyed the talk about having a winning attitude because it inspired me to improve my attitude about things like races and hard workouts,” said sophomore distance runner Sydney Roberts.
“I think it also highlighted what an amazing team we have because many of the values, such as loyalty and determination is already clear among both new and veteran athletes,” added runner junior Ellie Guthrie.
Tips on how to remain calm and keep nerves at bay during competitions was useful to athletes who suffer from extreme nerves or negative thoughts in general. Much of the content provided in the sport psychology session is applicable beyond the arena of athletics.
“I always get really, really nervous before races, so learning techniques like visualizing and remembering to just take a deep breath will be super useful,” said junior Paloma Hancock.
A 2nd clinic, the East Bay Kickoff Clinic, will be held on February 2. This 2nd clinic will be “more of a theatrical endeavor,” said Woolridge. The featured speakers will be Chris Williams, head coach of Dublin high school track and field, and Amador Valley’s previous head coach Peter Scarpelli, who “has a history of providing spectacular public lectures,” said Woolridge.
For future clinics, Woolridge hopes to continue to update and improve presentations based on the needs of athletes from season to season.
