During the school year, we start practice at 7:00 AM, and I try to be at the school by 6:45 AM to let athletes into the building and locker room. Like all schools in Texas, our building is completely locked, and I want to make sure I’m there early enough to give athletes time to put away their things and use the restroom if needed.
Once I’ve opened the locker rooms, I head to our team room, which has two large whiteboards, a projector screen, and around 60 chairs. Our team this past year had over 100 athletes, so about half of the kids have to stand in the back. I’m okay with that and think it reinforces the importance of being on time to practice. On the whiteboard, I write the workout for the day, a motivational quote, and any other important information we need to cover.
On our team, we have seven training groups that range in weekly mileage from 15 miles per week to 65 miles per week.
Most of the time, our whiteboard looks something like what is shown below. Well need to add in the bad handwriting and smear since I’m left handed.
Why you should have a morning meeting
The morning meeting is important to me because it’s a consistent daily routine. Our athletes and coaches know what to expect each morning and it’s one less thing for them to stress about in their day. We can use the morning meeting to assess the energy of the team and prepare them for the workout that is to come that day.
One thing to note, I’m probably different from most coaches in that I don’t spend a lot of time talking. I would say on average I talk around 3-5 minutes. I try and get to the point, make my usual “dad jokes” and then get the athletes out the door for their workout. My coaches in high school and in college were great motivational speakers. I tried to follow in their footsteps, but it just didn’t suit my personality.
And good luck to all athletes and coaches this summer. I always like to say if you want to get better you should run farther or faster than you did last year.
Texas Running Coach 