One of the toughest things I had to deal with as a coach was things that conflicted with time that our athletes should have been at practice or competition. It isn't anything that any coach didn't have to deal with but that didn't make it any easier. And it isn't as if many of the conflicts both legitimate and not included but were not limited to: academics, make up work or classes, detention, suspension, family conflicts for any number of reasons, clubs, fine arts activities, other sports (believe it or not), student government, jobs, outside activities, and on and on. I'm not going to go through specifics in this introduction, I'll let some comments from newsletters from all three sports tell the story.
Here is a comment from the first '95 cross country newsletter that will be worth thinking about later in this post. "Speaking of working hard, I want to make it clear to all of you. Do not get behind in your school work. If necessary get help from your teammates in subjects you are having trouble with. Ask your teachers if you don't understand something, don't just try to ignore a problem and expect it to go away. Come to every class prepared to work. If time is given, get a head start on homework. Do not waste time, you cannot get it back".
Once again the scrimmage gave an indication about the type of season we could have. "The good news is it was a better girl's score than last year and it is the first time in three years that one of our guys has broken into the top 5.
All indications are that we will have a very good girls' team again this year if you are willing to do the necessary work to get where we want to go. As far as the boys, you all ran well. But as I told you on the bus, if you are going to have a team that is not fighting every week not to be last, you'd better beat the bushes and do some recruiting. (Where are Nathan, Matt, Jimmy H, Nick B, Tony W, Pedro, etc. These are all people who signed up to run and haven't shown up). We need these guys and some new ones to build the team. Charlie, Troy and Joey give us a good start but until the newer and younger guys get some experience, you need some more depth".
Another example of time conflict every year was evident at the start of cross country season. We started practice up to two weeks before classes started and a lot of athletes were still working or babysitting younger siblings so they didn't show up until school actually began. This was a big deal because they were required to have nine practices before they could even run in any competition and would wind up missing some meets until they got them. Additionally many came back to school without their physical so that had to be done before they could practice.
Our first meet was hosted at Sierra and the girls finished 2nd by 2 points while the guys were last among scoring teams. And we barely had enough boys to run a scoring team. And again the focus even before the results were discussed was schedule awareness and conflict. Before I even start talking about the meet let me ask you to stop for a minute and think about your first day with your teachers. How are your classes? What are the expectations of your teachers? If you don't know, find out right away. If you are working in addition to running and school, have you come up with a plan to be successful? Are you going to have enough time to help around the house so as to avoid potential problems and conflicts there? If you answer no to any of these questions, step back and think. Get organized. The only way you'll be successful in all aspects of your life is if you have a plan. Do you have a plan?"
And the season played out just like you might have predicted from the scrimmage and the Sierra Invitational. Charlie and Amanda were our top athletes every meet they ran and the girls' team showed that they were once again going to compete for an opportunity to go to state. They weren't a dominant team but they were consistently competitive. Some of our toughest competition came from the weather this season. A good example of this was we ran the Hornet Invitational in 101 degree, high humidity weather and two weeks later when we ran the Coronado Invitational at Monument Valley Park it was 33 degrees. If that wasn't enough the next week at the Columbine Invitational in Denver they had to stop the Open race halfway through because of lightening.
Going into the Regional Championship meet we had high hopes for the girls' team after they had 1-5 and 1-7 time splits of :51 and 1:25. We also hoped that Charlie could qualify as an individual on the boys side. The girls not only qualified but brought home the runner up trophy. Charlie just missed individually. "As far as Regional is concerned, we were all disappointed for Charlie that he didn't qualify but he gave it his best shot and he did that all season. He went from a 19:20+ runner to a 17:49 runner and 2nd team All Region. Obviously his off season training paid off. There is no magic gentlemen it is very simple, if you train year round and work hard, you succeed. If you don't you'll always be back at the middle of the pack or further".
"Mr. Anstey - I was wondering if you could read this letter to the girls either before or after they run, maybe on the bus depending on when you get it. I would also like to say thank you to you and Mr. Payton for helping me this whole year. I don't think you know how grateful I am. This has been a great season although I didn't go to state. That is why I wrote that letter, so the girls wouldn't take this for granted, because one day they might not get to state, like me. Again, I thank you very much for helping me grow and to be a better leader. I only wish I could have done more! I can't wait 'til next season so you two can coach me again! Sincerely - Charlie
To the Girls State Qualifying Cross Country Team and Their Coaches - Oct. 27, 1995
My dear friends. I am writing this letter to you to let you know how happy and proud I am and all our other teammates are of you! We are all very impressed and proud of your dedication and teamwork. I have noticed all year how this team grew and worked together. You ladies all encourage each other and push each other positively and I admire that. When Coach Anstey was talking about our team as a family you ladies best exemplified that. All of you welcomed newcomers and made all of us feel comfortable and I commend you for that.
This will be the sixth season in a row for the girls' cross country team to go to state. I have had the privilege of seeing two girls' teams achieve this goal, this will be my third. I surely hope that each and every one of you are savoring and cherishing every moment of this wonderful experience! Never take something like this for granted! You never know if something may happen to you or that you could get hurt and not be able to run. Be very grateful that you have made it to state and always remember it. Years from now you will be able to look back at your High School years and will remember Cross Country. You will remember the pep talks you had with Coach Anstey at the beginning of a race. You will remember all those people yelling at you and cheering and what an exciting feeling it was to have people cheering for you. You will remember the practices and how much fun you had with your friends. You will remember going to state, that's something a lot of people never have and never will experience! You can tell your children about this. This is a great thing you have done and I hope that you realize this and never take it for granted.
To you seniors I hope that you will be able to look back on your seasons and have no regrets. Learn from the mistakes you made. Progress from your achievements and apply them to your life. I hope that you will remember always your years with us and never forget the wonderful memories you have made.
To the coaching staff, I along with everyone else applaud you! You guys have done so much for us. Both of you are constantly pushing us on and off the course. We all appreciate you so much. You are like two second fathers and we love you guys for it! Ladies always remember your coaches! They pulled you through this and you couldn't have done it without them! Again, Congratulations to you all, we love you! And may God Bless you! Sincerely - Charlie P.S. Go Stallions!!!
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| State @ Aurora Reservoir Dinner @ The Spaghetti Factory |
One thing that I learned quickly that I did not like was the fact that we had to hold practice over Thanksgiving and Christmas break something I hadn't had to do since coaching basketball back in the '70's. It had to be done though if we were going to help the kids be the best that they could. In most cases the other teams that they swam against had a majority of lifetime club swimmers. We literally had to teach from scratch including in some cases, how to swim! We finished that first year 2-7 while I was "getting my feet wet" as a swim coach. The highlight of the year was finishing 2nd at the Panther Relays an event that was part swim and part circus events like the centipede relay, inner tube relay and so on.
My newsletter after the Pueblo East meet, a 90-86 loss provides a pretty good overview of what we were up against trying to establish a new way of thinking.
"After a loss coaches generally look for all the positive things that happened to talk about. When your team has only won five meets in the past three years and you have a chance to win your third meet in a row and don't, it makes it tough.
There are no complaints about those of you who competed yesterday, as a matter of fact, there were many positives. The negatives and the reason we didn't win this meet have to do with those who didn't compete, regardless of the reason. We're not blaming, we just want those of you who did your best to realize that as a team you should have won a meet if everyone on the team had contributed.
I have one final thing to say and it doesn't apply to this meet. From time to time some of you have to miss or be late to practice to make up work or "catch up". If we question you, some of you try to throw it up in our face that, "You always tell us how important academics are". Yes academics are important. It is the reason you are in school and just like swimming, nothing less than your best should be acceptable there. Unfortunately, there are other things that are just as important to learn for now and later in life. If you learned these things, you wouldn't be doing "make up" or "catching up", you would be keeping up.
What are these other things? Commitment. Commitment to yourself to be the best you can instead of being satisfied to just do a little of everything and none of it well. Commitment to your teammates to always be there for them and doing your best for them. 2. Time Management. If you manage your time properly, it can all be done without something having to suffer. It goes back to what is important. If it is important enough to do, it should be important enough to do your best. The only way to be your best is to always be there when you need to be. 3. Prioritize. You need to learn to set priorities and stick to them. 4. Teamwork. Learn to be there when other people are counting on you. Let people know that you have made a commitment (there's that word again), to be a good teammate. I could go on with others but it all comes back to the same thing. If something is important enough to you, you will work hard to give it your best all the time not just when it is convenient. (You might remember some of this when you're in college and trying to keep it together or when you're married and have a family of your own). If you don't make a commitment it is always easy to find excuses. (Believe me I've heard them all in 20 years of coaching).
We lost one of our swimmers at Christmas break because she changed foster families. (Remember some of my earlier comments about transience?) She wrote this letter, a good example of how important a program can be to kids win or lose.
"Swim Team - I want to thank you all for allowing me to be a part of Sierra's team and for cheering me on. Good luck on the future and congratulations on the past. Always be grateful to Mr. Gross and Mr. Anstey because they do care a lot about you all no matter what some people say. I want to especially thank them for caring so much about me and my well being. So thank you.
Remember, you're a team. You must work together in everything you do. Without the others each of you would be nothing. You couldn't win any meets by yourselves. So work together and I'll see you next season when Widefield and Sierra compete. - Thanks Everyone M.J.B.
Another example of conflict came up at the very beginning of track season because the Boy's Basketball team was going to the state playoffs. We always did everything we could to work our practice schedule around the playoffs because so many of our kids as well as they coaches wanted to go support the team. We would run an early practice for kids who had last period off and we would even run practice at lunch time for those who couldn't practice any other time. Finally we made arrangements for supervision by a coach not going to the playoffs for the kids who wanted to practice at the regular time. It was a crazy time! In the scrimmage result newsletter I wrote, "Pay attention at the meetings and practices the next few days, the schedule will have many changes and we'll play it day to day with state basketball. Hopefully you'll be going to the game on Saturday". And the majority of the kids did everything we asked of them.
I think the best way to summarize this season is to share what I wrote in the newsletter after State.
"State Championship & State Record 4 x 800 Relay 9:43.17 Shawna - Erika - Rhiannon - Shaniquea. This was the first running event state record in school history and only the second overall along with Leilani's discus title. This was also the year that Sierra had their first state championship in boy's track when Jason W won the 400 meters. He went on to have a very successful track career at Colorado State University. This is another place to bring up transience. That 3200 relay had 2 juniors, a sophomore and a freshman and 3 of the four ran cross country. We hoped to convince the freshman to run cross country next year as well but whether we did or not the future for track looked very bright. Wrong again! One junior ran cross country and track and had a good senior year. The other junior and the sophomore left to go to a charter school that made them a bunch of unfulfilled and unrealistic promises. The sophomore eventually made her way back to Sierra and set the senior record in the 800 meters. And the freshman? She moved to Denver!
Back to the season summary. "Congratulations ladies for the many accomplishments you've had this season individually and as a team. The future looks bright if you are all willing to do what you know it takes to be the best you can. You all saw first hand this year that hard work pays off. Don't settle for anything less than your best. Your talent and your potential is unlimited, don't sell yourselves short. Take the same type of work ethic you showed on the track to the classroom. You all should be working to be the best that you can in the classroom.
After the Fountain Fort Carson meet I told the coaches that you were a special group of young ladies. You handled our home meet great when I was out of town and then you performed so well at Fountain in spite of the fact that you had been at prom and after prom all night. You did it without complaining and you did everything you were supposed to without having to be told. That was the sign to me that you were special and it showed the rest of the season.
You had victories at Lewis Palmer and Cheyenne Mountain and again at the Regional Championship. (Do you think Pueblo will be glad to see us move to the CSML next year)? Then you carried the effort through the State Championship meet. You did all of this in spite of the fact that we had more illness, more nagging injuries and more schedule conflicts that we've ever had in several seasons put together.
You were always there for us and for each other. If we needed someone to do a different event or an extra event you all did it without complaint. Down the stretch and right through State some of you were called on to carry a huge load. Again you did it and you didn't complain. Thanks to each and every member of this team from all of the coaches."
In winning the Regional Championship the girls:
- Set a Regional Record for most points
- Set a Regional Record for widest margin of victory
- Had the most Regional Champions with 8
- Won all five relays at the Regional meet
- Equaled the school record for number of events qualified to state with 13
- Elena became only the 7th 4 year state qualifier in school history
- Won the Regional Championship for the 5th year in a row
- The 9th Regional Championship for Sierra in 12 years. 2nd the other 3 years.
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| Casa Bonita! |
As always we celebrated our 4 year letter winners and our seniors. We had some outstanding representatives for the Rotary Club Champion award from all three sports. Two of our athletes, Anne and Melissa were chosen to be Olympic Torch Relay escort runners.
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