Is it Time for Cross Country Yet?

I love coaching Cross Country. It's so great getting to know our wonderful students - and I think we have the best group of student athletes in Cross Country overall than any other sport (and I'm not biased one bit!!) And I love these kids - several have become very good friends of mine. I also enjoy our coaching staff and hanging out with them.

I look forward to our summer breakfast runs where we run a couple miles and then eat breakfast together at someone's house. It's great for team bonding and it's fun to get to know some of the parents, as well. I enjoy practices and talking to students and sometimes running with them, and the meets are always a highlight.

But by the end of Cross Country season, I'm ready from a break from the day to day practice schedule. It's pretty time consuming so I have to be extra diligent and structured in my prep time for Sundays and my pastoral responsibilities. So after the season is over I'm happy to have a few extra hours each weekday to flex a little bit.

Which is why I'm in awe of many of our student athletes who go from one sport to the next. Whether it's hockey (extraordinarily time consuming!) or basketball, many transition not only without a break, but actually with some overlap in practice schedules! Then it's on to spring sports - Track, Baseball, Tennis, Golf, etc. The students were begging me to help coach track, but there's no way. One sport is plenty. I don't know how they do so many and keep up with their schoolwork and other extracurricular activities like band, choir, drama, speech, etc. (Of course, they are a little younger than me...)

So kudos to our student athletes. I'll look forward to cheering many of our runners on at track meets (and baseball games, etc.), and I'll look forward to joining them again this Summer for Cross Country practice!