Winter Running Update #1: Last Email Before First Session

Dear Winter Running Families,

Happy New Year! We are very excited to begin 2022 with some healthy, outdoor fitness! 

As promised, this email has everything you need to know about the program (and then some). I am also sending a duplicate message via gmail, in case either version ends up in your spam folder. If you do not see TWO identical messages today, you might want to check your spam folder and indicate that the message is not spam. Moving forward, I will use our Family Portal email system to send updates (this version has been sent from the Family Portal). 

In this email:

1. Your Coaches, Jill and Jake
2. Family Portal and Subscribing to Program Updates
3. Remind App for Winter Running
4. Winter Running Schedule
5. Policies and Procedures
6. Additional Information

Coaches:

The fabulous team of Jill and Jake will be teaming up to keep your kids moving this winter. 

• Jill Chestnut: Jill has been an essential part of SJTFC since its first program launched many years ago. She volunteered with our summer camp when it was run through HTAA, and she became an official coach last winter. Jill had a successful running career at Rutgers University – Camden, and is a certified USTFCCCA coach. With Jill’s help, the club has grown to provide year-round programs, and basically wouldn’t exist in its current form without her. 
• Jake Dinerman: Jake joined us as an official coach this past fall and helped us pull off a program that expanded by over 200% over the previous fall. To say that he is up for a challenge is an understatement. Jake attended Haddon Township High School where he excelled as a track athlete. He went on to graduate from TCNJ, while heading up his own adult competitive track club, Moody Park. He continues to compete in track and cross country at a very high level. 

Family Portal:

The Family Portal is a neato system that allows you to subscribe to updates about any of our programs. Updates will will also be posted to the site so that you can go back to re-read past announcements any time you want. If you are new to the club, or have not visited to the website to update your subscriptions, you are currently subscribed to “Winter Running Program” and “Club-Wide Announcements.” You can subscribe and unsubscribe to any list any time you want. You can do this by going to our main website, www.southjerseytfc.com, and clicking on “Family Portal” in the main menu, and “Join Now” on the launch page. The site loads a little slowly, so please be patient. I will move to a faster host later this year. Once you are in the Family Portal you can sign up fo any updates you want. If for some reason you do not see the updates, check your spam folder, and if necessary, set up a filter to make sure they land in your inbox. 

Remind App:

We will use Remind for last minute information. If you do not see an invitation, please go to Remind and enter code: @ehbk4a

Schedule:

We maintain a live google calendar, and you should subscribe to it in case of any changes during the program. Click here to go to the SJTFC Google Calendar. The google calendar includes links to locations. The schedule is a little complicated. We like to include plenty of variety in this program, which means lots of locations. 

***If necessary due to weather, we will reschedule the Cooper River Races, which means that we might cancel one of the opposite Saturday park runs in order to do so. The races will be a priority over the park runs. 

Here is a static version of the schedule, but again, please subscribe to the google calendar so you are aware of any changes:

Alternating Wednesdays beginning 1/5: 4:00pm, Pennypacker Park, Haddonfield (we meet at the small parking lot by the baseball field, 1/2 mile east of the County Park Office/Environmental Center on Park Boulevard).

Opposite Wednesdays beginning 1/12: 4:00pm, Knight Park, Collingswood (we meet at the intersection of Park Avenue and Collings Avenue). 

Alternating Saturdays beginning 1/8: 12:00 noon, Various Locations:

1. 1/8: Newton Lake, Collingswood (we will meet at the playground on South Newton Lake Drive, near Lees Lane). 
2. 1/22: Blueberry Hill Trail, Gibbsboro (we will meet at the main parking lot, 50 Haddonfield-Berlin Rd). 
3. 2/5: Palmyra Cove Nature Park, Palmyra (we will meet by the visitor center)
4. 2/19: Camden Waterfront (we will meet by the Rutgers-Camden track on Pearl St). 

Opposite Saturdays beginning 1/15, Cooper River Park, Pennsauken (we will meet at the stadium, near the restrooms at the end of the La Scala restaurant/playground parking lot, North Park Dr). We will host fun, no-frills races as part of these sessions. Participation is optional, and kids can either race, or just warm up with the team and spectate:

1. 1/15: 1-Mile 
2. 1/29: 1.5 Mile
3. 2/12: 2.5 Mile
4. 2/26: 5K (3.1 Mile)

Policies and Procedures:

Safety is our primary focus, and we must adhere to the following policies and procedures to assure that all of the kids are safe at all times. 

1. Due to the nature of this outdoor, winter program, all participants need to be in good health, and ready to run with the group. If your child is not feeling well, or simply doesn’t want to attend a given session, please consider keeping them home. During our other programs we have plenty of supervision, with multiple groups, but this program requires a willingness and ability to run with the group. 
2. We will cancel sessions if it seems likely there will be icy conditions on the paths at any location. We apologize in advance for any last minute decisions, but this is a nature of a winter program. Cancelations will always be announced via the Remind App. 
3. We will always finish sessions at the same exact location where we begin. 
4. All regular sessions are 1 hour. If it is very cold, the coaches may ask you to remain close to the meeting area so that you can meet your child after a shorter session. (Races will conclude when the last participant finishes that race).
5. All participants must follow the instructions of the coach/coaches at all times.
6. Kids must adhere to the following rules. Please review this list with your child:
   • Always keep your hands to yourself, and no rough play.
   • Always stay with the group.
   • If you are having any issue at all, speak up and ask for help.
   • The group will progress gradually, but if you are unable to stay with the group you may need to drop out of the program.
7. If one of the races is canceled, we will reschedule it for the next Saturday, which will replace the park run scheduled for that day. If the same race is canceled two weeks in a row, we will move on to the next race/distance. 

Additional Information:

1. Races and competition: All races and competition that we associate with or host as a club are optional. We encourage fun competition as part of our overall philosophy, mission, and goals, but kids should be personally motivated to compete. If you want your child to compete, but they are hesitant, please let us know, as we will coach them and encourage them join the fun in appropriate ways. Ultimately, it is perfectly okay if a kid enjoys participating in every part of the sport except competition. 
2. Parent participation: Parents are welcome to participate in the winter running program with their kids. It is always helpful to have a few additional adults around! We have to be careful not to have parents serving as volunteers unless they have been background checked and have completed our coach and volunteer application. With this in mind, we will not ask parent participants to assist in any way, unless there is an emergency and doing so would be common sense. 
3. Winter Race Series: A mentioned, we host a race series in conjunction with this program. Kids who are participating in the Winter Running Program do not need to do anything to register for the series, but any other family members, as well as the general public, need to register here: Winter Race Series RunSignUp Website.
4. Other Programs: If you are new to the club, we run programs throughout the year. Please visit our website, www.southjerseytfc.com, to learn more about Spring Track & Field, our Summer Track & Field Camp, and Fall Cross Country.
5. Volunteer Opportunities: Not only do we strive to provide younger kids with excellent athletic opportunities, but we also take a great deal of pride in providing older kids with high quality volunteer opportunities. If you have a high school-aged child who would be interested in helping out, please have them contact me. (We do require that volunteers have the confidence to contact us on their own to request a volunteer position). Additionally, we also have adult volunteers that help with most of our programs. If you are interested, please let me know. 
6. Club Sponsorship: If you would like to sponsor South Jersey Track & Field Club, helping us to achieve our ambitious mission, we have several options. We will have more information on our website soon, but in the meantime, please contact me to discuss. 

Thank you, and see you soon!

Coach Craig