REMEMBER TO SMILE BEFORE EVERY RUN AND RACE!

This Saturday, November 16th, the Kansas City Area practice will be held in Kansas at the Johnson County location. This will be the last really important hard workout for the team before the national meet. The time for Saturday's practice will be 10:00 A.M. for all Kansas City area high school athletes. All athletes ages 6-14 who are not in high school will meet at 11:00 A.M. Bring your water bottle! The normal Kansas City Area Sunday practice will be held at 4:00 p.m. as usual. Please do your easy runs when organized practice is not held.

All the national meet info and the trip itinerary are now posted!

Please be sure to get a pair of plain red shorts (no other color or trim except for a logo) for your team uniform. We must have them for the national meet. We have plenty of extra but some kids prefer to have their own. DO NOT wait until the last minute to attempt to find them as they are usually hard to find.

Results from the CCCNYC National Qualifier at Grain Valley are now posted. The weather was really nice for running! Coach Ramsey was very impressed with the results and how most of you have been working on your form! Keep working on your form and we will be ready for nationals!

The Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Johnson County practices held at Stoll Park will now start at 5:00 P.M. We will meet at the old tree where we start all hard workouts. This is due to Daylight Savings Time ending and Stoll Park closing before we are done with practice.

Please remember our troops and send them your Halloween candy. Coach Ramsey is more than happy to make sure that they get your candy as they need it a lot more than you do. Just bring it to practice and he will get it to them.

You must have your 2024 YES-Membership form on file with the team and pay your team membership fee before you can practice &/or compete with the team. Just bring the form and payment to your first practice. Please contact Coach Ramsey if you have any questions or just want to come to a practice to see if running is for you.

Any young athlete wanting to become a better runner is encouraged to be a part of the Brocaw Blazers. You are welcome to join at any point in the season! Our practices start the last week of August and end the week before Thanksgiving. Practices and meets are not required but they are encouraged. Our practices for youth ages 6-14 last less than 60 minutes. We had athletes involved in 10 different sports last year. Our coaches work with the parent(s) to make sure that young athletes are having fun and learning more about proper technique while working around their other sports.

REMEMBER the best way to improve your form and make Coach Ramsey happy is to focus on your form in front of the mirror and at practice!

CONGRATULATIONS to Brocaw Blazers team member Quincy Hall on winning gold at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in the 400m with a time of 43:40. Last year Quincy won the bronze medal in the 400m and gold in the 4 x 400m relay at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary! For all those that say that cross country makes you slower, Quincy proves once again that it makes you stronger. When you combine strength training with the right type of speed training these are the individual and team results that you get.

Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day. The three most important times to drink water are when you get up, right before bed and one hour before any run. Please remember to always bring water to every run.

There are several bugs going around right now not just COVID-19. Always wash your hands before you eat to help prevent the spread of germs. Avoid touching your eyes, ears, nose and mouth with your hands. If your throat is bothering you and if you feel like you're getting sick, please contact Coach Ramsey! DO NOT come to practice if you feel sick or have a fever!

WEATHER POLICY - Practice will be held rain, snow or shine! The only way practice will be cancelled is if there is lightning in the area of your practice when practice is scheduled to start. We must be ready to run in any type of weather at the national meet. Also, be sure to stuff your shoes full of newspaper to dry them from running in wet conditions. That is absolutely the best way to dry them so that they retain the same shape and size.

CLEAN & DRY SHOES - With all the rain, the best way to dry your shoes is to stuff them full of newspaper so that they retain their same shape and size. Cleaning your shoes using the Coach Ramsey method makes that task really easy as well.

Anyone who has outgrown their spikes or red shorts please donate them to us so that we can put them to good use next year. We are also missing a few racing jerseys, red shorts, and spikes that didn't get returned after nationals. Please return them to Coach Ramsey.

The 2023 National Meet Team Video, the 2023 Team Photo and all of the 2023 National Meet Race Videos have now been posted. A special thank you to Matt Frye, Dieter Myers, Matt Goeckel and Dylan Hodgson for making all these possible.

Coach Ramsey highly recommends this outstanding e-book on the role and impact of parents in youth sports. Also, please read and share 8 Tips for Sports Parents To Help Athletes Perform with Confidence.

Coach Ramsey highly recommends this outstanding video and article Happiness and Laughter Are Natural Immune Boosters.

We now have a facebook page! Our desire is to share pictures of our Brocaw Blazers kids in action. Join us on our page!

The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance is a great video on the importance of being positive and happy in everything that you do. Enjoy the video and let's get ready to have some fun on the trip and at nationals!

Here are three great running books that Coach Ramsey recommends for your reading enjoyment. UNBROKEN: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, CHASING EXCELLENCE: The Remarkable Life and Inspiring Vigilosophy of Coach Joe I. Vigil by Pat Melgares and BORN TO RUN: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall.

The following article was written by Coach Ramsey and was first published by The Coaches Insider on Sept 8, 2011. The article was then republished on July 30, 2014. He was asked to write the article to help educate coaches and parents about the most efficient way to train youth distance runners.