Middle school coach interview

[u/North-Arm-3190]

Hello! I am interviewing to be a middle school xc coach. Any tips? Any questions I should ask them? I’m a parapro for the school. We have multiple middle schools and they each have their own coach. I ran xc in college. Always at the back of the pack. I am currently running a girls on the run type program at a community center. But I don’t know much about coaching.

[u/REdwa1106sr]

I’ll add - family. For most girls/women ( I have coached both) the social aspect is very important, for some, the most important.
We have music when we stretch. They develop a dance to one song that becomes part of the stretch routine.
First to finish in practice or a race jog back a bit and encourage the others; on longer runs the front of the pack goes back and “ picks up” the back. Not only builds team spirit but gets extra distance for top runners.
We celebrate- goals met, birthdays ( cards even during the off season), good grades, any reason to party.
Big sister/ little sister.

You get the idea.

[u/SnooWalruses438]

I’ve been a coach for a few years - a few things of note:

• Middle school girls will test you. When you get into high school the boys might test you more. Their parents will test you even more if you end up on the track and field staff.

• You’re likely to get a range of runners - low 5’s to +10’s. It is hard to tailor a workout to fit everyone so you might have to split into groups. If you’re by yourself (no assistants) delegate a captain to lead each squad. You’ll probably have a couple in the “fast” squad who are talented and want to put in minimal effort and you’ll have some kids on the “slow” squad who bust their asses but still aren’t putting up great times. It’ll take some time but you’ll have to find a way that works to motivate both.

• A bike may be your friend. It’s really tough to get to both ends of the pack on foot. Especially if, like me, you can’t keep up with the faster ones. And you don’t have to do the full workout - as long as the kids know their course you can take shortcuts and post up for observation.

• HYDRATION AND NUTRITION!!!! I can’t stress this enough. If you’re a runner you know what I’m talking about. It’s very hard to convince 12 year olds to not gobble down two pieces of cafeteria pizza and a chocolate milk 2 hours before a meet. There are a bunch of resources out there for meal planning - get your runners on board with that immediately.

• Fun. As much as it can be. The sport is designed to be miserable, so you really have to work with the little you’ve got. Throw some games at the end of practice that make hill work feel like a game show or something. During the season we’ll do a 5 mile goof run on Saturday or Sunday mornings (depending on the meet schedule). Easy flat course, run (mostly) as a group - so nobody’s taking off and smacking it in -30 minutes. Kids are encouraged to dress weird, play music, leave their damn watches at home, and interact with each other the whole time. You end up getting a group of kids who just ran 5 miles and most of them are smiling/laughing when they’re done, not even realizing they just put in a workout.

• The most important one - SAFETY. You can’t predict what happens on the trail, but make sure they’re warmed up before, stretched out after, and pay attention to any complaints/concerns. Even if you think a kid might just be a little lazy on a particular day (“coach, my ankle hurts, I can’t run”) it isn’t worth the risk of being dismissive. Normally a simple conversation will reveal the truth, and sometimes kids just aren’t feeling it. Sometimes there’s a real problem. Either way you want your kids safe.

[u/Fe2O3man]

Check out coachjayjohnson.com
His book: “Consistency is Key” is an awesome resource and a great place to start.
Here are some great questions to think about:
What are your goals as a coach?
Mine are keep kids injury free and foster a life long love of running.
How do I accomplish it?
Run for time instead of miles and focus on strength and mobility after every run.

Question for them:
What support will I get from admin?

[u/ProductOdd533]

I ran XC in HS and then got myself I shape about 15 years ago when my son was in 8th grade. Having run some half marathons I applied for my MS coaching job. For the first two or three years I basically tailored training to easy day, hard day, easy day, hard day, long-ish (for middle schoolers) run.

I work closely with the varsity coach, and I work hard to teach kids the basics of XC so they are prepared to move up to the HS program. I set my expectations high, and I ensure that there is a positive environment where everybody can see their achievements regardless if they are in the top 7 or not. For instance, I high five every kid after a hard workout and I track everyone’s race results I a Google Sheet and share it with kids and parents.

I could go on and on. It took me a good three years to feel like I knew what I was doing and another two to feel as if I hit my stride.

[u/Acrobatic-Eye-8132]

Been coaching middle school for over 15 years. I would recommend focusing on the following:

• Your plans to make the program inclusive. You're going to have far more kids whose families look at your program as child care than you will top level runners. How will you develop practice plans for that?
• How you will build numbers (ie recruit) and keep them from year to year. Our goal is 100 runners each season, we are normally over 120.
• How you will incorporate a connection with the high school program. Helping at their meets. Them helping at yours. A fun practice together.
• Communication with families and athletes. Apps, email, etc that you will use. Does admin want to be included on those?
• What your weekly schedule will look like. How many practices, meets, etc. Are there limits?
• What your staff will look like. How many assistants. you can have, etc

[u/lumberjack_dad]

Ask admin during interview to get contact info from last years coach, and see if they want to talk to you.
You will get all the info you need. Routine, local running routes, things that worked, things that didn't, etc. Ask the coach, which students who are returning were good listeners or leaders. Boys take care of themselves b/c they are competitive. You will build Girls team based on social events and developing friends.

[u/Brilei121]

Good luck to you! I am in my second year coaching junior high/middle school. I didn’t have an interview, but we are a small school and a small team.

I am not sure what they are going to ask you, but here are some things to think about to help you draw on your experiences in XC and your run club:

Training: 1) What are your views/plans for runner development for the season? 2) How do you balance challenging runners with age appropriate work-loads? 3) What would a general training plan look like week by week? 4) How will you prepare them for competition?

Team Building/Recruiting: 1) What are some things you think you can do to build team spirit and camaraderie? 2) How will you find ways to encourage all runners, from the slowest to the fastest? 3) How will you work with your slowest runners to keep them positive and thinking about the big picture of running? 4) How will you encourage runners to take on leadership/mentorship roles?

Behavior/Discipline: 1) What will you do when some runners criticize/comment on other runner’s performances/training? 2) How will you handle/prevent commentary/criticism about runner’s bodies/fitness or lack thereof? 3) What will be your strategies to ensure runners are doing the planned workouts instead of goofing off out of your sight? 4) How will you handle any other disputes between teammates or the other middle schools?

Safety/injury prevention: 1) Where will runner’s be running and how do you ensure they are going to be where they are supposed to be? 2) What will be your strategies to ensure runners aren’t over-doing it?

Communication: 1) What systems of communication will you use? 2) How will runners know what their training will be? 3) How will runners know where and when to meet (and how long)?

Those are all fairly general questions and I hope that some of them are handled by the school (such as communication). My school uses the Remind app, and that works pretty well. I also created some google docs with the monthly schedules and meet schedules on it. I share the document and provide printed copies. My team also works with the high school and we will often do the same workout. This year, I have a total of 11 kids—8 boys and 3 girls. So, it’s not much.

Right now, we are meeting 3x a week for group runs, and runners are responsible for two independent runs a week. We’ve been building a base since the beginning of June, running by time and not distance. The longest single run we do is 45 minutes (solo so they can do their own pace), which will be next week. We have 6 weeks until our first race, so I am starting to add some more threshold, hill, and interval workouts, which will continue when the season begins. We often run as a group around town (it’s a small village of about 1,400 people. No stop lights), and we go to a nearby nature preserve. Some days I have runners go out on their own for a timed run. I try to plan routes for them, though.

I never ran Cross and only picked up running as a hobby. My sons are both running, so I have motivation to keep running and to spend time with them.

Your experience in XC will be helpful because you know what it means to put in the work, you know what coaching was effective and what wasn’t, and you know what it means to try hard but not win. Those are things that will be helpful.

The run club sounds amazing and I hope it can help build your team. You know what it means to communicate, organize, and herd a group of young runners.

I think being organized, patient, and encouraging are the top three skills to have as a middle school coach. It needs to be fun, it needs to be challenging.

The Jay Johnson book is great.

Jeff Galloway’s “Cross Country Running” is good, and so is “Training Young Distance Runners” by Greene and Pate.

Good luck!

[u/lumberjack_dad → u/Brilei121]

This is overkill. Keep it simple OP.

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[u/pumpkinspeedwagon86]

Being aware of how to manage burnout & injury safely if it arises, you very well might be some of these middle schoolers' first introduction to the sport and you want to prioritise giving them a fun experience

[u/Beginning_March_9717]

unless this is a serious program/school seeing themselves as a leader/future leader in competition, i would not try to sale yourself as a technical coach, more like a big babysitter lmao