Assumption School

           ASSUMPTION SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY UPDATE—July 2010

Assumption Cross Country Practice will begin Thursday July 15th, 2010 with a 6:15 practice scheduled at Bellevue Memorial Park.  This will open up the 9th Season for Assumption Cross Country.  The season runs through October 9th, 2010. October 9th is the date for the Diocesan Finals, which will again be held at Cooper's Lake.

 PRACTICES: Will be conducted 2-3 times per week, and will last approximately 1 hour. We will have 1-2 meets per week during the regular season. Practices will be conducted at Bellevue Memorial Park, Northgate High School, Mt. Nazareth, ,and as the season progresses-at one of our local high school tracks, or at the RMU Island Sport Center Track.  Practices will be scheduled around other school activities and meets, so the practice schedule may change week to week. For example, during the summer, we will at times need to schedule around the girls summer basketball league schedule.

WEATHER: We will not run if it is thundering or lightning. We will not run if the course is flooded. We may run in a light rain or drizzle, as meets will go on with light rain and the absence of thunder and lightning. The responsibility to cancel a meet due to inclement weather is up to the host school. They are to advise visiting school coaches by 1 PM if the meet is to be cancelled. The coaches will then contact Assumption School to announce the cancellation. If we can, we will also try to send an E-Mail out. We usually end up with 1 weather cancellation per year due to inclement weather. 

Wear comfortable clothing to be able to run in. During the season we will run in many different types of weather—so dress for the weather.

Proper footwear is key to comfortable and safe running. A good pair of running shoes will help runners perform well and reduce the risk for injuries. Basketball sneakers are not as suitable over the long haul.

Runners should bring their own water bottle with either water or sports drink to practice. Coaches may be running from work directly to practice and may be unable to pick up extra water for the runners.

Updated medical forms will be available on the Assumption web-site in the near future. These are required for participation in sports at Assumption. We will advise who will be collecting the completed forms.

Parents are asked to make coaches aware of any medical conditions that their child may have that coaches should know about prior to practice. Examples include asthma, severe allergies,  allergic reactions to bee stings, severe sensitivity to poison oak, or poison ivy, diabetes, seizure disorder, or orthopedic concerns.  Runners should have appropriate medical devices or supplies with them for both practices, and meets.

We will assemble  an E-Mail listing to promote better communications during the season.

Our first race will be the  Seventh Annual Assumption Road Race which will be held on  Wednesday August 11th, 2010 to kick off the Festival that evening. Tentative race time will be 7PM, with a walk through prior to the race. We are expecting to run the same 1.2 mile route through the streets of Bellevue that we utilized the last five years.  We will be organizing parent volunteers to help ensure the safety of the runners. We are again slated to host two home meets this year. Those dates are tentatively  Friday September 10th, and Friday October 1st. Both meets are scheduled to be hosted at Northgate High School.   We also will be working with parents to arrange transportation and snacks for our away meets.

We will again enter several pay to compete races this year. For this reason, and the need to replenish our uniform stock periodically, we will look to charge $25 per family to participate in the Cross Country Program. For example-we plan to participate in the Vincentian Invitational, North Area Invitational, Fox Chapel Invitational, and Slippery Rock Invitational, as it will most likely be on the same course as the Diocesan Championship. Meet distances range from about 1.2 to 2.0 miles.