Pre-season Info and Forms

Winter Track Pre-Season Sign-up Information

Welcome to the 2011-12 Chantilly Charger Winter Track Team. We arehappy to have you, and applaud your decision to join, complete with the enthusiasm and commitment towards individual improvement, and towards team contributions. This is a sport which tests the body and mind, and which combines such individual efforts into a solid team and communal goal.

There is a lot to absorb at the beginning of the season, and a lot of information that you need to digest. I must stress that this applies equally to the returning veterans as it does to the rising freshman or CHS newcomer. It is my expectation that you read everything carefully, and that you ask questions promptly, when something is unclear. It is important that everyone is on the same page from the get go…this is how strong teams are built.

Administratively, there are a few steps you need to undertake ASAP.

1) Provide me with your personal data for my database. In an effort to conserve paper this year, this will be done electronically, below. Fill this out completely. It will provide me with all of the personal info I will need to enter you in our database, register in eTraXc.com, and put you on our roster.

Winter Track Athlete Survey

2) Below,please have your parent fill out the link labeled: Winter Track Parent Info. This will give me emergency contact info, and an email address which will allow us to keep you informed regularly.

Winter Track Parent Survey

3) Within a day or so of receiving your profile info, I will register you in our new Team Management website, www.eTraXC.com. You will receive a user name and PIN number.( For those who ran in past years, this will be taking the place of Blackboard. Take a few minutes when you receive your info to sign on, and poke around on the site. You will be expected toe able to use it regularly (daily, or at least several times a week) to log in your workouts in the Training Module. There will also be a blog function for teammates to contact one another for chat purposes (pertaining to cross country or track issues). Lastly, as people are entered into the program, I, or any other member, will be able to send out emails to the team. I will use this for announcements or reminders; team members may prefer to use this to perhaps arrange locations/times for practices, or other team gatherings.

4) I am requesting the following forms submitted to me at Chantilly HS NO LATER THAN FRIDAY OCTOBER 29TH. They can all be downloaded from our team website. -

Winter Track Pre-Season Forms

The forms you need to submit will depend completely on whether you have done cross country in 2010. We are trying to cut down on paperwork, and as such, if you have run a season this year, you may have less to turn in.

Please understand that we will maintain our basic team policies from one season to the next, and by acknowledging the rules for one season, you are agreeing to comply with them in the next.

New Athletes (haven’t run in 2011-12)	Cross Country Only Athletes
New Athlete Survey (online)	Returning Athlete Survey (online)
Parent Survey (online)	Parent Survey (online)
VHSL Physical	Spirit Pack
Emergency Care Card	FCPS Extra Curricular Policy Form **
Athlete Concussion Education (online)
Parent Concussion Education (online)
Spirit Pack
Bible**
FCPS Extra Curricular Policy Form **

Winter Track Athlete Survey

2011 Winter Track Returning Athlete Survey

Winter Track Parent Survey

Concussion Education Program-

As of July 1st, 2011 FCPS is requiring that each athlete and ONE parent must complete a short Concussion Education program online, good for one school year. The program is located at the preceding link. This can be done any time during the summer, but is required prior to August 1st.This will be recorded by Mr. Castor and a report will be submitted to Coach G.

2011 Winter Track Forms List- Please check this list to see which forms, if any, you may be missing. If there is an X, you have submitted the form. If it is colored in, you are missing it. Please note that for some of the items (ie: Spirit Pack, Physical), you may be missing a signature, a check, or perhaps your insurance info. Please see me ASAP if you are missing a part of a form.

Emergency-Care Card (for everyone, unless they did cross-country)

Spirit Pack Form w/ Check- You will need, at minimum, to purchase the following items:

PLEASE NOTE: JERSEY and Shorts (BOYS) are new this year....ALL ATHLETES MUST PURCHASE, EVEN IF YOU RAN IN PREVIOUS SEASONS.

i. Team Shirt (long sleeved Under Armour) (to be worn at meets)
iii. Jersey
iv. Shorts (Boys) or BoyShorts (Girls) ; Mesh Shorts for Throwers Only

For those who are consider warmups, they are also new: a black UnderArmour 1/4 Zip Jacket and black wind pants. These are not required, but teams that dress alike at meets display a sense of unity, both in appearance and in purpose, and thus it is encouraged.

-VHSL Physical Form- This MUST be conducted after May 1st, 2011, and be submitted prior to conditioning and Tryouts. This means that it must a be a new physical for this year, not simply taking it to you doctor and signing off on a physical done sometime last year, prior to May 1st. I realize that this may be difficult for some people due to insurance limitations, which may only allow one physical per year, but we have no flexibilty on this. SCHEDULE THIS ASAP. If need be, there is a walk-in clinic in Greenbriar. Also, all student-athletes must have insurance, and listed on their physical. If need be, there is an inexpensive student policy available. You can download the form here, and turn it into the activities office. (Student Athletic Accident Insurance) (remember to sign ALL 4 pages and include insurance info)

FCPS Extra-Curricular Policy Form(this is REQUIRED each season). This is Fairfax County Public School's policy (not Chantilly HS), as it pertains to your rights and responsibilities regarding substance abuse and/or any other actions which may otherwise be considered illegal or detrimental to your participation in FCPS team sports.

Team Bible- Return the last page, including ALL initials/signatures from athlete and parents. This contains all of our team rules and regulations, as well as information about tryouts, our schedule, and our webistes.

Purchase a GOOD pair of RUNNING shoes. These should be a pair of shoes that are just for training, and not for everyday wear. These should not be basketball shoes, tennis shoes, or cross trainers. I recommend going to a running specialty store, such as VA Runner, Metro Run & Walk, Footsteps of Reston or Potomac River Running. Each of these stores are owned and managed by runners, and offer discounts for HS athletes. Moreover, they will help fit you with a shoe that is appropriate for your feet.

8) Keep track of all announcements/info by checking our team website (www.chargercctrack.com) regularly, including ALL dates for upcoming meetings/deadlines for submissions.

9) If you are not already in a fall sport, it is time to start conditioning. You should be running at least 3-4 times a week. We will start captains' practices on Monday, September 27th, on Monday-Thursday. These will be voluntary, but highly recommended. You should also run a couple other times a week, up to 20-30 minutes, depending upon your state of fitness. You are expected to start the season in shape, not using the first month to get into shape.

10) Please DO NOT HESITATE to email me if you have ANY questions of any sort. . My email address is MTGilchrst@aol.com. Please use it whenever necessary.

Winter Track Pre-Season Memo (downloadable)

Instruction on Using eTraXC.com

This year we will be using a new website to track our training, communicate with team members, and post announcements. This will be in addition to our normal team website, www.chargercctrack. Our team management site will be at www.eTraXC.com. (This replaces our Blackboard site from seasons past.)

You are expected to use this regularly. As such, you will need to get on it ASAP, to get used to it. I will be checking them regularly to see who is using it to log in your training, etc. If I don’t see evidence of training, I am assuming you are not. This can easily be part of your workout routine; use it and get used to it, and you may astound yourself how much work you have gotten done this summer.

STEPS 1) Complete your profile. I will be putting everyone’s name into the roster ASAP, along with your email address. You will be sent an introductory email when this is done, with a private PIN number that you will use for log-in purposes. When you first log-in, go to the ROSTER function, click on your name, and update your profile completely. This should be private information that only and I (as administrator) can see.

2) COMMUNICATIONS- You may wish to use this to send emails to your teammates. You may not have direct access to their emails, but you can send out individual or group emails through this platform. This will be especially good to use if you are planning on running together, or organizing practices/social functions over the summer. I will also be posting a weekly blog forum, which I will expect you to log on to at least once a week. Talk about how your training is going….is it good/bad, are you getting stronger, dealing with injuries, improving on hills, or getting used to distance, etc. This is a requirement.

3) TRAINING- This is one of the most important functions of this, and is a strong suggestion for ALL athletes to use. This will allow us to assess, and you to track your training. When you click on the TRAINING button, you will go to the Training Log function. Each day, can enter data for what you did that day. Be as detailed as possible. Include how long/far you ran, comments about the nature of the workout, including weather, type of workout (ie: hills, easy, tempo, etc); if pertinent, who you ran with, and definitely notes on how you felt. If you cross trained (bike, swim, etc), add that either as well, or instead. Include your weights or supplementals. If you are injured, or hurting, list that as well. Please understand that this log is both for your benefit and for mine. It is important for me to assess the type of work you are doing, and if you are training properly. As runners, it is important for you to get a gauge of what you are doing. If you are running everyday and feeling good (or bad), it is good to know why. If you have not been running, that becomes evident too, when you look at the training log summary and see a lot of empty blocks. Use this as a motivating tool to for yourself into running when you might otherwise not want to. In addition, there are individual and team summaries, so you can not only see what you are doing, but also how the rest of the team is working. Supporting one another in a positive manner is crucial to team success.

4) Other Functions- Take a few minutes to play around with this site. I will continue updating it regularly with announcements when pertinent. I intend to put your workout schedule into the training module. I will concede that this is new to me as well, so I am still learning about the range of possibilities, but I do intend to make this an integral part of our team management.

Instructions on eTraxc.com (downloadable instructions)

IMPORTANT PRESEASON DATES TO REMEMBER
Tues., 9/27- Thurs., 11/3- Conditioning sessions after school Mondays-Thursdays. You are strongly encouraged to also workout an additional 1-2 days a week on your own.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24TH – ALL PAPERWORK IS DUE TO DR. GILCHRIST.

Tuesday, November 1st @ 7:00 pm- MANDATORY MEETING- Must be accompanied by a parent- We will go over all administrative information we need to for the season (rules, team/school policies, schedule, etc). If you plan on running, you MUST ATTEND.

Monday, November 7th- Wednesday, November 9th @ 2:50 pm- Tryouts. (NOTE: These are teacher workdays....you are still expended to attend).

Thursday, November 10th – FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE- on the track- be prepared for the weather, we will be outdoors-ready to work

FRIDAY, November, 11th- Absolute last day to join the track team. ALL PHYSICALS AND OTHER PAPERWORK MUST BE TURNED IN COMPLETELY, OR YOU WILL NOT BE PARTICIPATING THIS WINTER.

FRIDAY, December 3rd- FIRST MEET- THIS REALLY ISN’T THAT FAR AWAY