Expectations of Mendham-Chester Cross Country Club Participants

The goal of the club is to promote running for youth as part of a healthy physical, social, and mental lifestyle. We hope that all participants enjoy the workouts and competition. For all participants to get the greatest benefit from coming to practices, we ask that all runners and parents comply with the following expectations.

For parents:

If you bring a younger sibling of the runner(s) to the practices, you must supervise them. Younger children often want to run with the group during warmup drills, but are at risk of getting trampled by runners. They are safest when they are kept to the side of the group.

If you bring your dog to the park(s), please keep it on a leash at all times.

If your child has special needs, either emotional or physical, please make the coaches aware of them. We will try to accommodate them within our ability to do so.

Please be sure that your child wants to participate. It serves no one’s interest if a child is coerced into running.

Make sure that your child comes to practice with a water bottle for hydration and proper running shoes and weather appropriate attire. Please ask the coaches if you have questions.

For participants:

All participants are expected to compete in at least 3 of the 6 meets and attend at least one practice per week to qualify to run in the Championship meet.

All participants are expected to put out effort and complete the workout at each practice. If a runner decides he or she is unable to run, they will be returned to their parent or directed to return to the start to wait for their parents to pick them up.

During distance runs, runners are expected to run continuously or walk for short periods (key is to keep moving forward). If running with a friend, they should be able to talk and run at the same time. Coaches cannot keep track of stragglers.

Runners who are acting aggressively towards other runners will be asked to leave practice.