We asked coaches who guided teams to the NJSIAA Meet of Champions podium during the 2017 season about their opinion on different aspects of summer training.
While this is looking back to a series created in 2018, this information is still useful. Plus some of these later videos are being seen for the first time as they weren't all released last summer.
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 athletes 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 early season races vs championship?
- What do you do for team bonding?
- Anything unique about your team in the summer or their training?
The idea for this piece came from Colts Neck's Jim Schlentz who traveled around the state for us interviewing all the coaches. 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. A big thanks to everyone for giving us their time and and insights.