Quotes

Here are some quotes about kids:

" Today's young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude & impatient. They have no self control. "

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders. They disobey their parents. They ignore the law. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"

"The world is passing through troubled times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves"

What adjustments do we need to make as coaches to deal with this 'shift' in behavior or attitude? I can tell you my philosophy. I give them plenty of room to make decisions on their own and guess what most of the time they make the right decisions. Sure some take advantage of it and take extra days off, but If all we do is tell the kids what to do at what point do they learn? By the way this was sort of a trick question. Those three quotes I posted were from: 4000 BC; Plato (yes the greek philosopher) and the last one was during the crusades. I think we actually have the greatest generation of kids there has ever been. Just some stats I heard at a conference:

* We have the most diverse generation. There are 127 languages spoken in CA public schools

* They are smarter than ever. They had to revise the SAT because people did to well on it.

* Girls are more independent and competitive thanks to title IX being passed a generation ago. This generation never was exposed to the old way of thinking.

We are entering exciting times people shouldn't be as bummed out about this future generation. This is why I love coaching these high school students. I have seen it firsthand. They will do amazing things. - Coach Mike

(Information from DR. Paul Salitsky from UC Davis)

Track and Field Today

Hey if you gys check out NBC at 1:30pm they are showing the Reebok Grand Prix. Last year at this meet Bolt ran a 9.72 to set a new world record in the 100 meters.

(He is not running this year) But Gay and Wariner are along with a bunch of others.

Also I am debating taking a road trip down to the State Meet next Saturday. If anyone is interested in checking it out let me know. - Coach Mike

Stephanie Armstrong

Not only did she get her own rung on the podium this time (had to share her spot last time) she also moved a little higher up. Big time Congrats to Stephanie ALL-CCS for the second straight year she tied her PR, which moved us up to 219. It is tempting to think about next year already (I know I am excited), but right now is just the time to enjoy the season that has just passed.

Couple notes: I think Stephanie and possibly Pauline are going to run at the Golden West invitational in Folsom on June 13th. (So we are at 219 in the PR department, but the door isn't quite shut at 221 PRs)

Also I posted some of the pitcure I took tonight, basically a lot of Stephanie since she was the only one competing and a couple of our school record 4 by 400

Some guy from Salinas gave me a disc with a bunch of Live Oak photos in it from the Alisal invite and CCS Semis so I posted those too (more Jordan Hasay stalking haha)

Also Sportswurlz was at CCS so I posted their pictures as well. Adding up all the photos I have posted plus I know fresh has another 100 or so that makes over 1600 photos. That is a pretty well documented season. Lots of good memories.

2009 Season Results

So I think I got pretty much everything this year except some people who didn't make it into the top 3 at Westmonts dual meet (they only gave partial results)

Here is the link to my excel spread sheet so you all can see your progression, I included everything going back to 2006. (I only kept track of sprinters and jumpers back then and didn't do a very good job at it)

Also if you notice the tab called points. Those are our top ten results this year using the IAAF ranking system. Great job this year.

http://www.liveoakcaf.com/2009Results.htm

Top Marks 2009

Girls
100: Erika Rodriguez- 12.87w (BVAL) & Courtney Robinson - 13.12 (STAL)
200: Erika Rodriguez - 26.30 (BVAL)
400: Pauline Olsen - 59.45 (STAL)
800: Pauline Olsen - 2:27.93 (Westmont)
1600: Olivia Duran - 5:48 (Westmont)
3200: Olivia Duran - 12:20 (STAL)
100h: Stephanie Armstrong - 17.68 (Quicksilver Invite)
300h: Stephanie Armstrong - 48.27 (BVAL)
4*100: Erika-Courtney-Catherine-Lauren - 50.60 (CCS Semi)
4*400: Erika-Stephanie-Courtney-Pauline 4:05.70 (CCS Semi)
TJ: Lauren Drewniany - 31'7"(Avis Kelley)
LJ: Lauren Drewniany - 15'10.25" (Andrew Hill)
HJ: Stephanie Armstrong - 5'2" (CCS Semi) (To be determined)
SP: Nikki Dronek - 25'10.5" (Piedmont Hills)
DT: Nikki Dronek - 85'0.5" (Westmont)


Boys
100:Billy Van Aken 11.33 (STAL) & 11.20w (BVAL)
200:Greg White - 23.67(STAL)
400: Jacob Montoya - 52.53 (STAL)
800: Artie Valencia - 2:10 (STAL)
1600: Adam Groen - 5:05 (STAL)
3200: Adam Groen - 11:25 (Andrew Hill)
110h: Dominic Leach - 18.64 (Piedmont Hills)
300h:Dominic Leach - 47.24 (Santa Teresa)
4*100: Jeff-Greg-Billy-James 43.89 (Piedmont Hills)
4*400: Viz-Tolson-Daw-Montoya 3:34.60 (BVAL)

LJ: Greg White - 21'1.5" (BVAL)

TJ: Greg White- 41'4" (Piedmont Hills)
HJ: Jacob Daw - 5'10" (Santa Teresa)
SP: Mason Lammers - 40' 11.75" (STAL)
DT: Mason Lammers - 127'4" (CCS Semi)
PV: Eric Tolson 10'0" (Santa Teresa)

reminder to read the old stuff and new stuff

unfortunately the old stuff got taken over by bots and sex fiends, but if you ever want to see some of the older stuff that Coach Mike has answered via the many questions by myself, Cedeno, Rookie, and a lot of other past athletes, they should be still around.

and if you don't feel like wading through all that stuff, I believe that I tried to combine and summarize all the "ask coach mike" threads into a book that gave coach mike his 4th year of coaching, sorted by topic.

might be a good way to learn all the basics - like what should i eat before a meet, why does plyos actually help the body and so forth. plus, you might discover the digital track past. imagine just going through the archives =D

http://www.liveoakcaf.com/forum/index.php

and just wanted to say if you were interested in new stuff, there's a lot of journals and books on kinesiology, the complete breakdown of the muscles needed in the long jump, and if you're into that type of stuff - sports medicine, athletic training, and functional physiology. Can get you copies of the latest journals or direct you to books or Coach Mike into his library of stuff that is cool to know =D

Pauline/Adam kick 2 & 3

HEre is another angle of Paulines kick

I think Pauline had a little more gusto with this one, maybe because now she was soaking wet.

OH wow

Its nice opening this page and seeing stuff written from people other than myself! BY the way if anyone has something they want to contribute I just need your email address to add you to the list of 'contributers'

I have three copies of Pauline kicking adam into the pool, unfortunantly I only saw Stephanies cheap shot on Pauline with my own eyes. (it was hilarious though) I will upload those later. Thanks again for everything. - Coach Mike

Why Its Awesome to do Track and Field for Live Oak

This may be giving away my age, but back in the day when Coach Mike had the board, there used to be a topic about why people run track and field and why its better to be a Nut than anything else. Since those boards have since been retired and now there is the blog. I wanted to bring it back.

So here's my list of reasons why I think its awesome to do track and field for live oak.. and sorry if there's a lot of stories.. feel free to add on =D

1. 6 years later, I'm still here - eating In N Out after CCS

its crazy how some sports graduate people and you never hear from them ever again. track and field is THE only sport where I've felt comfortable enough to come back to spend time with athletes and coaches. That in itself means something.

And the In N Out is the official place for track. if i hear another athlete from another school claim in n out as their place, no. its been the official track place for 5 years!!

2. Crazy track stories and track people

Track people are crazy everywhere. not just in high school, recall rory's hollister observations, alisal, and the meet in the rain.. but in college, and everywhere else. you have to be in order to push yourself mentally in a sport that is a team sport, but is also an indivudal sport.

and this one kills me - apparently, track and field is the sport that is other team's punishment. i've heard that with a bunch of coaches of other sports, and i have nothing to them. if my sport is a punishment, why would i do it?

3. Athlete of the week

because everyone loves random gifts and the stories behind them. michelle danner got a stool. i have no idea why. the 4*400 team my year got sick socks, which I still have. i whip them out on important test days.. old habits die hard... and my aow award, a kinesio textbook is in my dorm room and is often referenced =D

4. everyone gets recognized

nothing is worse than an organization where only the "talented" or only the "seniors" are recognized. what does it mean when others get recognized and you don't. the motivation dies and you don't get people who come back year after year. alum before me told me that was an issue. why come back if the only reason that you were there in the first place was for some artificual achievement? no, get recognizied for the work you do. every athlete deserves a place in the sun.


5. plyo boxes, mini hurds, sand bags, and sleds

when you're a d1 school and you can afford big bucks on every athlete, you can buy whatever you want, but when you're underbudgeted public school. well you can't. seeing coach mike's homemade mini hurds, plyo boxes and bars for squats (they are slowly getting lighter each year - when they were first made, the paint cans were actually super difficult =D), puts a smile on my face everytime.

6. Saturday jump crew

only tcal kids will remember this because it was before the rule change, but saturday jump crew has the fondest memories in my mind because it showed me what it means to be a "real athlete," the kind who get up on days that they don't want to because they want to be come stronger, higher, and faster. it also showed me what a 6 day workout schedule will be. and it make me a much better athlete form wise. i still remember one of the first days when michelle, sarah, and me came to practice and coach mike was cleaning out the pit.. it made me sad because i realized if we wouldn't have come. an awesome thing would never have existed.

7. track bonding

from sky high to kerby's cone to super taq to in n out to track parties, and inside jokes - track is truly a family. in fact when rory was here for his first year, i recall the ongoing joke of track actually as a family with mother mike and father rory, and somehow rookie was related, darn you distance people, but i feel that the people that i ran with know me better than anyone else. i feel that track people always got my back.

8. king of the hill

because everyone still wants to believe that coach mike would do something illegal and steal the diana sign.. would make a great movie. plus, it gives you chance to live in infamy.

9. arnold work out tapes

because everyone needs a good laugh during plyos. especially after just running the hill. or just because its a bad day.. they're also great for conversation starters and are a mini-tribute satire to the current governor.

10. 8 minute abs

i don't know why but this workout become inter-sport-inal. it was the crossover workout that showed how hardcore track athletes were. plus it gave hard core abs that you could use to wash your laundry.. except now coach mike knows better and we do something else, but they were cool when we still did them

11. how track and field athletes kick butt in all other sports

there is no cross over sport for track and field. they come from all over - volleyball, field hockey, soccer, water polo, football, tennis even! and whats even better is when track and field athletes show their heart, spirit, and leadership in their other sports. not only are track and field athletes great on the field, they're great in the classroom and great leaders.

just one eg. field hockey captains my senior year - both track and field athletes =D

12. track is the only sport where its okay for a guy with a gun to take your clothes off

stole it from stephanie. but i found it awkwardly true.

13. lime green warm-ups

old school - but when your school and every other school is green, it helps when your warm-ups are lime green. lame when it rains ie. the meet where huge puddles were in the track and we didn't cancel the meet. yeah running a 400 is great - try running it when theres puddles every step of the way.. and your warm ups dont keep you warm - instead they suck up the rain like a sponge.. also they were really comfy when they're dry and you're just chilling post-meet

14. running on the high jump pit

its exhausting and you think it might be cool. its not. =D

15. meeting new athletes every year

one of the reasons i come back every spring.. besides waiting for the second annual midnight madness. but i love meeting new athletes.. i love seeing how the team grows, how it improves, even if it means smashing on old records of people i knew and basically make me look like the lamest student athlete ever.. but its still awesome all the same to meet the newest member of LO Track and field.

and i guess i'll call it quits for that list.. getting sleepy and i'm sure your brain is sick of scrolling through all this. more at a later date, when i think of a good story or some fun facts. =D

This is SPARTA!!!!!

Just wanted to post the video of Pauline kicking Adam into the pool yelling "This is SPARTA!!!" The best version was the 3rd attempt but i wasn't able to record that one. However Courtney did so hopefully we will get to see that version soon. Link that will take you to my album that has a few more videos and pics from the party and everything else i took this year.

hormones discussion

So, I was waiting for an opportune moment, because hormones and stuff seem kinda random, but I guess there's no better time than the present, so why not?

Also, please note that most of this stuff is for your info, so no excuses that you didn't know that oxytosin was for increased oxygen levels when you got it from your "doctor," when you thought you were taking it for acne. And also, if you're planning on doing kines, medicine, pharmacy, this is mostly organic chemistry, so if you plan to do drugs (please don't) or catch the people who do (either way - its controversial stuff), just make sure you know what you're getting yourself into, its a lot more complicated than it sounds.

So first step - how do hormones work - there's a hormone (either a protein or a steroid) that targets specific receptors. In the case of hormones for sports, they tend to be steroids, meaning that they have a cholesterol skeleton (not all cholesterol is bad). These hormones attach to a receptor which can be found on a cell. This in turn acts as a signal to start a pathway causing physiological changes. Changes can occur on the tissue level, such as increasing muscle strength or emotional or something like increasing your red blood cell count.

The changes are usually part of a large cycle that involves more hormones than you could count. And more is being discovered all the time. So if you're functioning right now - breathing and eating and living - be thankful that all your hormones and hormone pathways are functioning at a reasonable rate. Also, note as the warning i said earlier, small changes in these pathways can have huge effects, so be careful if you're going to mess with hormones.

One of the major things that athletes want is improved oxygen intake. So one thing that you can do (illegal of course) is blood doping. You basically end up giving blood to yourself. (more on the blood pitch later). Instead of physically giving yourself blood, you can stimulate yourself to make more red blood cells - more hemoglobin to grab oxygen, more ATP to your muscles.

So what can you do to stimulate oxytosin and more red blood cells? Basically - run and train. When your tissues do not receive enough oxygen - running 50 second repeats, 500 breakdowns, your body makes oxytosin. Oxytosin makes more red blood cells so that the next time you run 50 second repeats, you don't get booty lock.

You can also give blood, because now you'll have less blood cells so you need to make more. Kinda contradictory, but you save three lives and who wouldn't want great athlete red blood cells and platelets! So, give blood, you make more blood cells and you help save some lives =D

As a fun fact (if you can call it that) - red blood cells have no nucleus, so they have to be broken down by your thymus and more red blood cells are made from multipotent (can make limited types of new cells) stem cells in your bone marrow.

Other hormone interactions that are crazy include testosterone pathways. Testosterone is a negative feedback system, so in reality, the more you take, the less you make. Which seems weird right? But by mixing in other stuff, you can actually stimulate more testosterone to be made by making it look like you have less.

And the weird thing is if girls take more testosterone, they can actually end up more moody and more crazy than they normally are. Why? Because testosterone is a precursor to estrogen!

So that seems long enough on hormones. tried to hit the ones relevant to track, but there are also ones for dehyrdation. maybe get to that laters.

thanks for an awesome track reunion: mumbles of an alum

So, I guess I've been part of track and field for as long as Coach Mike has been coaching, but coming back from school at Cal to help make some extra funds for track by posting results and then going to CCS to watch some of the most talented athletes that Live Oak has ever seen, and then to top it off with some traditions and a track party has been a pretty great homecoming, not just because its been 2 years since I've run, but because I'm really glad to have been a part of something at Live Oak track and field family and more so because the memories keep growing.

Even though I was only around for a week here and there, to post results in the press box or help out by being an alumni partner for plyos or to give suggestions for random injuries or tape a shin splint or cheer you on for the 4*400, I appreciate everything you guys did in the season, especially when it came time to hear about pr's and soggy breads (aka season bests).

I know Coach Mike did it, but I want to thank you guys too. I want to thank the athletes, because athletes make it possible and make it worth it. Without athletes, I wouldn't need to come back, but athletes that I've run with and athletes that I just meet, I want them to have the same feelings, the same love, and the same opportunities that I got as an athlete. Because I don't want to be the only alum still coming to practice 2 years later. =D

But enough rambling on, I just wanted to say that you've joined a family - one of the greatest families ever - the Live Oak track and field family. If you ever need anything, midnight madness timers, a tour of berkeley, the inside look of a pac-10 traing room, need to meet a real strength and conditioning coach, someone to run with you up diana, someone to measure your long jumps, lights for the track in the dead of winter -what are alumni for? I'm throwing it out there that if you ask, I will make the time to help you get what you need. You try and I will meet you half way. Once you've run on that track or jumped in that sand, you're family now =D

Congratulations Stephanie!!!!

Hey all -

I know it has been a while since I posted, I was too exhausted Saturday night. Yesterday I spent the morning and afternoon at an A's game (they won)

Anyways a quick run down of the meet:

Stephanie cleared 5'2 and advanced on to Friday nights CCS Finals for the second straight year. She didn't even have to try 5'4" because there were only 8 left at that point. Gret great job.

We had 2 near misses: the boys 4*100 and the girls 4*400 ran season bests but ended up in the unfortunant 9th spot. Which means they will be the 1st alternate. Both teams will practice this week and hope that someone scratches. The killer of this is that there are 9 lanes, and they only let 8 make finals. Not sure the logic.

We had 8 total PRs. Bringing our season total up to 218. Hopefully we can finish with 219.

The girls 4*100 also ran a season best with a 50.40 but would have needed a 50.40 to advance. Great season by them.

Anyways I will post a bigger run down later tonight and post pics that Steve took. But I wanted to get this up now.

CCS Entries

http://www.dyestatcal.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2009/ccst_ent.htm

So here are the entries for CCS. Tell me if you notice a trend.

4*100 Boys = Lane 6

4*100 Girls = Lane 6

Pauline (400) = Lane 6

Erika (100) = Lane 6

Billy (100) = Lane 6

Erika (200) = Lane 6

Pauline (200) = Lane 6

Courtney (200) = Lane 1

4*400 Girls = Lane 6

4*400 Boys = Lane 1

Since it is seeded your lane is based on your entry. So it looks like we have alot of people in the 13-16 range. Remember only the top 8 advance to CCS finals, who is going to do it?

Lane 4= 1-4

Lane 5= 5-8

Lane 3 = 9-12

Lane 6 = 13-16

Lane 2 = 17-20

Lane 7= 21-24

Lane 8 = 25-28

Lane 1 = 29-32

Lane 9= 33-36

Another Video

Here is our girls 4*400 from last Thursday. Erika blew this race wide open and Courtney and Pauline had no one to run with. A couple notes...

1) It is dark so pretty much you can only see the straight aways
2) The person filming was filming another team so once Erika gets us that lead we don't se too much of our other runners.
3) I think this team has as good as a chance of making CCS finals as our 4*100

Videos

So that company sportswurlz put up a video for the boys heat of the 4*100. Also I posted video of Usain Bolt this weekend. We ran the 150 in 14.3 seconds. By comparison Erika just made CCS semifinals in the 100 in a time of 12.87 seconds. (and she is our fastest 100 runner)

BVAL BOYS

Usain Bolt

Sportswurlz

HEy Guys,

So that website sports wurlz put the girls 4*100 into a movie/slideshow. If your interested here it is:

Coaching Opportunity

The track coach at Britton, Jim Green, is looking athletes who are graduating this year to help coach the team in 2010. So if you are going to be around and want a reason to spend afternoons out in the sun, let me know and I can pass along your information. I think it would be great if some of our athletes started coaching at Britton. - Coach Mike

Taper

Well guys. In case you didn't notice we reached our goal of 200 PRs. We are now at 210. Very proud of you guys. I had a post a few weeks ago about tapering (I even made a diagram on Windows Paint, haha)

Well just to give you some numbers. Going into the April 30 Meet against Piedmont Hills we had 128 PRs and 1 Season best. In the 14 day span from our last dual meet to BVAL finals we had 82 PRs and 9 season bests. This is the cool thing about track. You can scrap the regular season to perform better in the post season. We had 15 people qualify for CCS. Some of those athletes qualified in multiple events. Erika in 4, Courtney, Pauline, and Stephanie in 3, Greg in 2.

Here is the list of the BVAL schools in order of enrollement. You can see there is quite a high correlation between attendence and performance. It really is just a statistics game. Say 1 out of every 20 students enrolled is a good athlete, and 1 out of 100 is a great athlete. A school with an enrollement of 3000 is going to have quite a few good athletes to spread around to the different sports and a good amount of great athletes.

BVAL Enrollements :

3646 Independence
2628 Evergreen Valley
2586 Oak Grove
2435 Silver Creek
2397 Santa Teresa
2237 Andrew Hill
2220 Piedmont Hills
1945 Mt. Pleasant
1858 Leland
1716 Yerba Buena
1709 Leigh
1707 Overfelt
1680 Westmont
1662 Lincoln
1564 Ann Sobrato
1536 Pioneer
1479 Willow Glen
1402 Branham
1336 Del Mar
1320 Prospect
1315 Lick
1250 Live Oak
1149 Gunderson
997 San Jose

BVAL 2009

Great Great Great Job. So here is the run down of the meet.

Stephanie 'won' the high jump. Like I said before though the goal was just to get in the top 8. She also had a big PR in the 300 Hurdles. (We ended up scratching her from CCS so she can focus on the high jump). She also made it in the 4*400 team.

Erika was my pick for athlete of the meet. She competed in 4 events, had 4 PRs, and made CCS in 4 events. She made it in both Relays, in the 100 she broke 13 seconds for the first time with a 12.86, the wind was over the legal limit (2.4 meters/second) (her old PR was 13.12). In the 200 she ran a wind legal 26.30 which was a huge PR (her old one was 27.02)

Courtney advanced in the relays and the 200. She has qualified for 8 CCS events in her 4 years here. She had to get a good stretch to get that baton to catherine in the 4*100.

Lauren and Catherine each made it in the 4*100. Lauren reeled in the runner from Evergreen (new public enemy 1) Just a great leg, good thing she is fresh. Really happy with this girls 4*100. A windy day like yesterday really puts a dent in 4*100 times (If you look at the entries and the results we were one of the few teams who ran even faster) Very excited about these girls at CCS. If we can get a warm day with no wind and hit all 3 handoffs I like our chances. (I know thats alot of ifs, but none of those are big ifs) I think it has been decided that Catherine runs that turn like her hair is on FIRE. haha

Pauline learned what it felt like to die at the end of a 400. She still battled to win her heat. She ran that first 300 exactly how she needed to but with a 3.0 head wind it took too much energy. If we can get good conditions at Gilroy, which we usually do (although the weather this year has been weird to say the least) SHe is looking to advance to CCS Finals again. She also qualified in the 200 with a .5 second PR which is huge. Not to mention a 59.97 leg all by herself in the 4*400.

THe boys 4*100 needed a dive to advance and James ran a little more relaxed as far as I can tell. Big big kudos to Jeff who dove for Gregs hand knowing if he missed it their season was over. Very clutch, all the pratice running the Veer in football allowed him to read the defence and make split decisions like that.

Jeff also hit a PR in the Long Jump with a 20'2.5" jump, which came up 2 inches short of CCS, but like i said, its hard to be bummed with a PR. I mean what else could you ask of yourself.

Also in the Long Jump Greg popped off his first 21' jump which puts him into CCS. HE does just about everything wrong which goes to show his talent level. (No warm up, no landing)

In the Discus a DQ put mason from 9th to 8th and bought him another week of track. Like i predicted he is such a natual talent and so early in the learning curve taht the longer he goes the better his chances. Well he wasn't supposed to make it out of the santa teresa division, but he PR'd then and was the last person to advance. Then this week he wasn't likely to advance either but PR'd again and was the last person to make it. Now he has another week to learn some more and see what he can do against the best in the section.

IN the boys 4*400, our team of 3 sophmores and 1 junior ran their hearts off and were the last team to make it with a season best 3:34.6. (Then their hearts were almost stomped on by Evergreen)Viz broke into the 53s. Tolson had a bit of a slower time but that is only becasue he was starting the race (the lead off leg usually has the slowest time because they are starting from a dead stop while the other three have a 'flying start'. Montoya ran a 52.00 which is a .4 PR.

HE battled to keep us in the 8th spot just holding off Westmont.

Steve has sent me some pics which I have posted here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/msullivan.kin163/BVAL2009#

Also that company sports world took alot of pictures which I have posted here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/msullivan.kin163/BvalSW#