Jim Underhill

**Treat athletes the way you would like to be treated.
**Recognize all of the athletes on your squad equally.
**Have your best athletes who normally place high shake hands with every teammate who places behind them consistently & respect them as they may have bettered their time and performance & eventually could be your boss later on with their skills in other areas.
**Select the best assistants even though they may have more knowledge and experience than yourself for the sake of the team.
**Attend Track & Cross Country clinics, etc., since we can always learn for the duration of our life.
**Important: always have practices and meets highly organized for efficiency & strive to be the best you can be for your assistance and athletes.
**We are not privey to many of the problems are athletes are having so beware of difficulties & give positive feed back to those who are under difficult situations.
**Treat your assistants with respect, have meetings & let them your plans, allow their input, discipline policy & objectives, goals, meeting with parents & review your expectations for program, etc.
**Emphasize importance to attain good academic standing during the year & information about where they may be able to get assistance when difficulties arise.
**Take time to study techniques in progression for all of the events in track & cross country. Know progression when teaching each event.
**When certain schools have success year in and out in specific events contact and find out what they do to accomplish positives for your athletes.
**Have a good relationship with teachers & coaches, if possible.
**Recognize each athlete in front of team in any area of improvement the day after each meet.
**Take the time to type 1 positive about every athlete, whether it is technique, attitude, extra effort, team attitude, etc.—& go through & read in front of team the day after meet prior to practice.
**Remember the athletes are learning life-lessons everyday for the future.
**Train interested girls or guys to work the meet in the areas of public relations, setting up meet hurdles, etc., officials for timing, place picking, all field events, carry results to announcer, information for the media, paper, block setters,etc. Have clinics and show all important details in all facets of the meet.
**Double check all aspects prior to meet so no glitches occur during the meet. Have results ready as soon as possible after completion of meet for the coaches, if possible.
**Be sure to have adequate medical bag with all necessary things needed during and after meet. If don’t know items go CIF & receive list.
**The better the meet set up the more you represent your sport.
**Organization is extremely important. More interest & more fun!
**Have practice organized to the smallest detail!
**Coaches have various types of clinics for teams if interested. As an example, we put on team speed clinics that covers: starts, sprinting, body angles for standing, jogging, long runs, 600-800 meters, top speed & use many different types of speed training equipment to perfect technical skills, etc. Clinics 1.5 hours.