End of the Summer and the Coming Year

If you have worked with me for any time as either a coach or an athlete you have probably heard me use the phrase "arm yourself with knowledge."  That's what I look to do between this website and my twitter.  I have only been writing this blog for about four and a half months (although I've been on and off with LA Running for 10 years) but I have already started to reach out to help people, not just across the country, but across the globe!  As the AAU season winds down and the school season picks up within the next week or two, I want to talk about what to expect as the the blog grows and as I grow as a coach.  Like I have done in the past, I want to keep you all informed in what's going on not just with me but with the sport in general.

First and foremost, you have probably noticed some new pages and items recently on the website.  I have added a section on graduates of the Southern Athletics Club which I will add content to as the year goes by. For me, showcasing what the hard working athletes on the team are doing in their races and seeing how they are being rewarded by college coaches is great for the young runners out there to see that their diligence can and will be rewarded one day.

Brenda Martinez thinks this site is number one.  Well, she probably would if she read it.

The two newest pages are what I have really gotten excited about the last couple days.  There is now a downloadable documents section where information on the team and training options are available, but in the future I hope to add a lot of free training documents for other coaches and athletes to read and consider.  Building up the sport is a big part of why I started to write!  That is one reason why I have finally opened up the team webstore with the help of Jon Davis.  This will allow much easier access to coaching and training with Southern Athletics and Vintage Performance as well as a way for people across the country to get team gear.  You will also notice the Donate button has been added.  If you feel like supporting the Southern Athletics team or what I do here with the blog and Vintage Performance, feel free to show it!  Anyone who coaches in track and field can tell you that team funding is a huge part of what we do.

Two other items I plan on putting together for the future, in keeping with the philosophy of knowledge is power (as well as trying to give as much to the running community as possible) is a weekly (or so) update with some of the best articles I find that talk about track and field or athletic development.  As mentioned I will be putting up free training guides (as I finish them which could be a while!) under the downloadable documents section, but I also plan on putting up weekly training plans for high school and middle school aged athletes to follow.  It's a chance for coaches to get workout ideas, but can even be followed day to day to help foster athletic development.

Lastly I wanted to say congratulations for Hannah Ivory and Zechariah Blake for competing in the AAU Junior Olympics in Ypsilanti, Michigan this week!  Zechariah took home All-American status as he won the discus with an AAU record mark of 137 feet!  Great job representing Southern Athletics and John Curtis!

Adios, and see you guys soon.  I'll leave you with a video of Alan Webb setting the American record in the mile with a 3:46.  Enjoy.

LouisianaRunning.Com and other Updates

On occasion I like to give updates, like I did here, and here about Southern Athletics, about the things that are going on with either Vintage Performance, my athletes at Southern Athletics, my athletes at John Curtis Christian School, or other events going on in the running community around the country or even here in Louisiana.  The videos I mentioned in the first link, I am working on retooling some of them and refilming the drills and lunge matrix that we do every day, so if you were looking for those videos, they will be back sometime this summer.  

I will be working more with Louisiana Running throughout the year and will be writing articles such as the one I did recently.  We are working on putting together some of the rankings we did last year again for this year.  We are also planning on putting together more video interviews and possibly even following recruiting in Louisiana which is very popular amongst the football and basketball communities.  Also, on this website I am working on putting together capsules for the top junior and senior athletes on the teams I coach and will also mention where our graduates have signed and are competing at.  There will also be a few more articles on training during the summer, and not simply aspects of coaching.

The summer track season is also in full swing and we have our first meet this weekend.  In a few weeks we will be taking a couple athletes to New Balance Outdoor Nationals, and later in the summer we will have more out of state meets through AAU.  I plan on taking at least one trip to the beach, so maybe I will write a fun article about how to stay in shape on vacations. 

Also, don't forget to check out some of the websites listed under links.  I have given a short detail about some in this recent blog post. 

Have a good summer, and check back often!

Running on the beach may be in the plans for a lot of athletes this summer!

College Scholarship Info and More

I have done a lot of updating to the website including adding a page on college scholarships, and I have also added a links section.  For the athletes who are racing and training with my club team I have added our schedule to the website as well.  Also, I have added a clothing and spike section on the Southern Athletics page.  In the future I plan on adding a media section with videos and pictures as well as a training guide section.  I hope you guys find this information helpful.  There is a lot on the horizon so stay tuned in!

Training Videos, Etc.

It will be a slow process but as I find time I will be filming or taking pictures of certain things we do at practice, maybe some interviews with our athletes of John Curtis, Southern Athletics, and Vintage Performance, and some general coaching advice via Youtube.  Sometimes just reading about a subject is not enough and you actually have to see it happen to understand.  Currently up on my Youtube site I have the Lunge Matrix done by a friend and state championship winning coach Micah Simoneaux of Archbishop Shaw and a couple of sprints from the blocks done by the sprinters at John Curtis.  Take a look at them, enjoy them, and hopefully I will have a lot more of this in the summer when I have more time.  If you have any requests, just let me know.  Check it out at Vintage Performance Youtube.

Keeping in Touch

In addition to giving you guys anecdotal coaching advice, I also want to let you guys in on some of my random thoughts on twitter, as well as my youtube channel to see some of our training and meet some of our athletes.  Follow me on Twitter and on Youtube and as always you can email me at vpprotraining@gmail.com.