Pandemic making offseason preparations difficult for EHS
The high school cross country season doesn't officially start until the fall. The preparation for that season, however, begins during the summer. El Dorado cross country coach John Koonce said the COVID-19 pandemic has made that preparation difficult.
“We have had to find ways to get creative this year,” said Koonce.
“We have had to make training plans and post them to Google classroom. The athletes are really having to be self motivated to get it done this year. Some athletes are internally motivated anyway, so it's no big deal for them. But there are other kids that really need the influence of a team and coach to provide that external motivation as well.”
Distance runners are often self-motivated, anyway. But part of coaching includes monitoring the athletes' progress and making sure the training is consistent.
“They are asked to fill out a training log that we have access to online, and most of them are doing a pretty good job,” said Koonce. “We have some that are really getting out there and getting after it. We hope that we are able to reconvene as a team at the beginning of June.
“If not, we will continue to try and find ways to motivate the kids to do things on their own. We are going to do things like a mileage leaderboard and rewards for hitting mileage goals by the end of summer.”
Tryouts for the cross country team will be during the summer. Koonce said attracting athletes to the sport is difficult since school is not in session.
“We have had to do a bit of a social media blitz to try and recruit new athletes as well,” he said. “Coach (Rachael) Gavin usually holds a meeting this time of year at Washington (Middle School), and I do the same at Barton and the high school. We have had a good response so far and hopefully we can keep finding ways to get the word out for those kids that might be on the fringes in regard to trying it out.”
El Dorado's cross country program had its most successful year in 2019. The school hosted its first-ever home meet and saw an increase in athletes at the junior high level. Koonce hopes to keep the program at an upward climb.
“The cross country season is determined by the work you do in the summer. So, we cannot sit idly by and assume that the other athletes in our conference aren't on the roads grinding away the miles,” he said.
“We have some kids that did well last year and are hungry to improve. I can't wait until it is safe for us to get back together and I can't wait to see what the 2020 season has in store for our program.”