Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Welcome to University High School Track and Field (UHSTF)

Good Morning!  This is Coach Shaver, and for those new to U-High track, I am the head coach for girl's track and field.  I would like to welcome back our wonderful veteran parent supporters as well as welcome our new parents to the program.  We are glad to have your child in our program and will strive to make the experience a positive one for all!  If you have questions, concerns or need to have your athlete excused from practice, please e-mail me at shavers6@aol.com and CC Coach John Neisler at jmneisler@gmail.com.  We will review IHSA rules and school eligibility requirements at the spring sports meeting in February rather than attempting to do so here, but for right now, please let us know prior to practice if your child will not be attending for family or medical reasons.  They are responsible for letting us know about school conflicts, again, before practice.

Although we have been doing conditioning workouts for the past few weeks, practice officially begins this Monday, February 4th.   Practice will be Monday through Friday, beginning at 3:10p and we will try to finish by 5:15.  For those parents picking their child up from practice, it may be best to plan on 5:30p so you will not be left waiting for them to collect their "stuff" and finish visiting.   The athletes can let Coach Neisler and I know if they have a reason to leave early once they get to practice.  If this is a regular issue, we will address it with the athlete.   If your athlete is participating in a winter sport, they are not required to be at practice until after their sport ends.  We will work with each of these athletes to determine their starting date ... some may need a short rest after their winter season ends and we will carefully work them into track practices.

The first indoor meet for the majority of athletes will be the University High School Invite at Horton Field House on Saturday, March 2nd.  The athletics office is finalizing the schedule now and we will forward it to you as soon as it has been approved.

We are excited about this season and look forward to working with your child.  There will be several coaches working with the athletes this season.  Coach John Neisler and I will work across all disciplines although I mostly work with sprinters and John's primary assignment is the distance athletes.  Several coaches work with both boys and girls teams; Coach Karonji Karr works with the jumpers, Coach Eric Simple will occasionally assist with sprinters and Coach Peter Troflmuk will assist with throwers.  We also have a few volunteers helping occasionally.  I will introduce all coaches and volunteers at the spring sports meeting.

Again, my e-mail address is shavers6@aol.com and my phone number is 309/310-3018.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.

Go Pioneers!

PS, if you have an additional e-mail address you would like me to send notes to or want to be removed from this list, please let me know.  Thanks!