Practice Starts July 11th for Middle School

August 7th for Wilder 

Cross- Country season 2023 will be here before me know it.  The Middle School teams will accept about 30 runners each and the elementary team will be about 40 runners.   Will there be cuts?  Does my child have to try out?    All runners will be required to have an "up to date" sports physical that is good within the last 12 months to come to any practices.   After attending practices I will keep the top 30-40 kids from each school.   Last year the Elementary kids needed to run about a 12-minute mile to be able to participate.  Your child needs to want to be there and run.  Should you practice or do some running this summer?    If your child has never run before learning how to pace themselves can be beneficial.    

Please check out the REQUIRED TO RUN steps.   

If you are not on the App. please download it below.   All runners and or families will need to use the app.  If you have any questions about joining please email   Coach Meyer.    Cindy.meyer@jefferson.kyschools.us

team app for communication 

After the team is determined a team fee of $50-80 will be required and buy the team jersey, and T-shirt.  Wear your own BLACK shorts.  Fees will be collected in August after the start of school - Team Store coming soon

Kammerer / Westport and Wilder's cross-country team is a place for kids to learn what it is to be a part of a team.    I want to instill a love of running in them but also teach them how to work hard.  Runners are expected to WANT to be on the team.   Any family that has a runner that is resistant to being a part of the team needs to talk / email coach Meyer prior to the runner starts.   This year I will only keep 40 runners for Wilder Team and 30 Runners for each middle school team.  

Runners need to represent the team at school and at meets.   Runners will be suspended from the team if there are behavioral or academic problems.

Runners will be a part of a K-8 program.  How will this work?   Many sports in the city are K-8 or K-12.  Swim teams, cross-country clubs, track clubs etc.   Due to the fact we have a K-8 program, the expectations will be high, especially for our older runners.   Practice will be a PG area.   Conversation and actions need to be appropriate and clean.  This does not mean that the season will go on flawless without any issues.  We are human and mistakes are made.   When mistakes are made conversations will be had with runners that are affected and new strategies/disciplines will be implemented.  Our school's administration and athletic director to help deal with any issues at runners' schools.   I want the program to be a positive experience for all runners.   This will be more successful with a consistent expectation of runners and the village of volunteers.   To make this happen I am very thankful to have a bunch of Volunteer parents that will run with our runners during practice or manage the team's needs.   Beyond myself Cindy Meyer, Brandon Meyer will Head up Westports team.  We will also have Zac Ruppert, Ashley Goff, Jeremy Angermeier, Laura Angermeier, Jay & Becca Custis, and Angie Woods.   If you are a parent that wants to attend the majority of practices being hands-on managing kids let me know.   I love all the help I can get, it allows us to have a bigger team.  These volunteers really help facilitate our team and I could NOT do both programs without our village of volunteers.   If your runner experiences something negative on the team please reach out and let me know so I can help.  When we have so many runners it can be hard to see everything but we do our best

Keep in mind Wilders team is 100% volunteer positions.   JCPS does provide a small stipend for middle school coaches.   Although JCPS coaches do not coach for the money.   We do it for the love of working with kids, to share the love of a sport with them, and to impact them with skills that make them more successful individuals.   I would credit many of the life skills I learn from being a part of a TEAM.   Sports teach kids grit, to face hard challenges, to win gracefully, and to deal with shortcomings.   Teams teach kids how their performance impacts others, and how to balance a busy schedule.   

Will our Wilder Runners be doing MIDDLE SCHOOL level workouts?   They already have been working that hard in years past.   Many of our current Elementary runners are running at the same speed as our middle school runners.  Our K-8 team will motivate the older runners and provide inner team competition that helps make runners grow.  Runners are not like baseball players with arms that could be ruined if they pitch too much.   I will work hard to push runners to run hard but not push them past their inner emotional willingness.  If a runner stops at practice because they feel it is more than they can do I will expect them to stay with the team but watch.   They may be asked to walk the rest of the time.   I will talk to them about what they are feeling and try to adjust their workout to feel successful.   Every runner is in a different spot so different runners will have different workouts. Can runners be overtrained?   Yes, if they are not paying attention to their bodies and aches and pains.   Typically an elementary runner does not have many injuries, but a growing Middle school runner has to pay attention to their body and fuel their body for recovery with good nutrition, hydration, and sleep.    This will be a constant conversation.   

Runners are expected to go to the practices and meets.  If your family has a conflict please discuss it with Coach Meyer at least 2 weeks before the conflict.  I am flexible about runners doing two sports, missing our practices for another sport or church.  Please be respectful and communicate this upfront if you know that your runner could have conflicts.   Runners can not be on the team and only attend practice.  Runners will attend meets under their own adult supervision.   Coaches will be on the course helping runners who are performing but not supervising runners waiting for their races.  All runners need to have an adult present at the meets and provide their own transportation.

Runners need a good-fitting pair of running shoes.   Swags is a great location on Westport road to get your child fitted for a shoe.   There are many other running stores in town.  When runners run in shoes that are not best for their feet they will develop an injury.  This is especially important for growing runners in middle school.   Please take your runner to a running shoe store and pick them up a running shoe that fits their foot.   I take our kids to Swags, sit down with an old pair of our kid's shoes, and Swags employees go and pick out a shoe that is best for their foot.  Our kids try on a few shoes and pick the best fit.   When we school shop for shoes our kids pick a color, style, etc.  Running shoes come in a variety of colors but a good-fitting shoe is not the shoe they get to pick off the wall, it is a shoe that an expert fits to their foot.  Growing runners in a pair of shoes from Dicks, or shoe carnival will more likely develop an injury.   Running shoes from running stores are not the same shoe that is at our department stores.   PLEASE - PLEASE - PLEASE do not just put your runners in a shoe from Amazon / dicks.  We dealt with several injuries last year due to growing kids and improper-fit shoes.   

All runners will buy a jersey and run in their own black bottoms.   Tights, or shorts of their choice.