GOALS OF THE TIGERS’ TRACK & FIELD PROGRAM 1

Goals Program

Mathew L. Ferris

Master of Science - Physical Education: Coaching of Sport

Goals Program
March 2018

Southwest Minnesota State University

Education Department
Marshall, Minnesota 56258
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This is my first year coaching at Marshall High School. For a roster, we have a lot of

younger athletes such as freshmen and sophomores but not a many juniors and seniors which is a

good thing and a bad thing. Having younger athletes’ means we are more unexperienced than we

want to be but at the same time we can look forward to the future! The coaching staff has a wide

variety of ages. I and another coach are the youngest coaches on the staff which is good for the

staff because we are able to relate to the athletes better than the older coaches can. From what

I’ve been told and looked into, our conference/sections has been tough in the sprints area and

weaker on the distance area for track. This is tough especially for me since I’m working with the

sprinters and hurdlers. Throughout the year, we will have to keep working hard in practice to

place in conference/sections. As of right now, we have around 120 total athletes on the track and

field team between the boys’ and girls’ team. Hopefully, we keep everyone out this season and

maybe gain a few within the next week.

Last season, the boys struggled to get athletes to state because only one boy made it to

state and he didn’t even place at state. The girls on the other hand and multiple events make it to

state. This is a mindset we as a coaching staff are trying to change. We have goals of wanting to

win conference/sections for the boys and girls. We want to be realistic with our goals. We think

if we can win conference/sections than we will qualify multiple events and individuals to state!

Even if we don’t, we would like to place higher than previous years. If we do, that is still a

successful season in a way.

From the other coach’s descriptions, we have two events in our program from last year

that standout from the others. These events are the girls distance runners and a girl hurdler. The

female distance runners are by far the strength of the team. We are trying to change this. We

would like the boys to get a taste of success again. Once an athlete gets the taste of success,
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others want to taste the same success. With that being said, our program needs to do a better job

on developing boy athletes to compete for state. Since we are so talented in one area of track, we

know we need to spend more time working with the other areas of track such as hurdles, jumps,

and throws because we want consistence throughout the program every year.

This year, the head coaches made a track and field handbook. This hand book goes over

our expectations and goals of the track and field program. Soon, we will be asking the athletes

their individual goals. These goals may range from running a personal best, throwing a personal

best, jumping a personal best, and/or wanting to three step the 100/110m hurdles instead of four

stepping. From the athletes I work with, I want to choose three athletes who come into practice

focused and work their butt off to have a better season than they did last year. The first athlete is

a female hurdle who is a senior and went to state. The second athlete is a male 400m runner who

always is a senior and went to state. Lastly, the third athlete is a freshman pole-vaulter who

hasn’t had the taste of success, yet.

On the roster, we have a senior, female 100m and 300m hurdler. This athlete is internally

motived which is hard to find in athletes these days. I think she is internally motived because she

said she wants to run in college after high school. Also, I think it’s because she went to state last

year and she isn’t satisfied with her results. During hurdle practice, she is like a sponge.

Everything I talk to her about she absorbs than does it which is amazing. Hopefully, over winter

she played basketball, ran, or lifted to prepare herself for the season. One thing she needs to get

out of her head is that she isn’t a distance runner. During the fall she ran cross country and she

was fairly successful with her season but during track she is a successful sprinter. She needs to

stop going on distance runs with the long distance runners because she needs to be working on

her speed and condition herself to sprint, not run distance. It’s a work in progress but we are
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working on it! With her skill level and her being very coachable, she is able to achieve whatever

goals she wants.

The second athlete, is a senior, male, 400m runner. From practice, I only work with him

during running workouts so I don’t know what he is fully capable with, yet. Last season, we went

to state in the 400m but didn’t place. This year, his goal is to go to state in the 400m but to place

in the event. In practice so far, he has shown the coaching staff that he is a leader and he leads by

example. Hopefully, we can get him stronger by hitting the weight room a little more. Also, I

hope to work on his running mechanics so when he gets to the final 75-100m of the race he

doesn’t break down which will cause bad running mechanics.

The last athlete I will talk about is a freshman girl who has the toughest mind set I’ve

ever seen from an athlete. She is a pole-vaulter. She will do anything if it betters herself for pole-

vaulting. Over the winter she went to the cities almost every week to meets and clinics to work

on pole-vaulting. I have never seen so much dedication from a young athlete in my life. Her

goals are to break records, win multiple state championships, pole-vault in college, and go to the

Olympics. Again, from a freshman in high school, I have never see this or heard of these types of

goals. For her, we need to focus a lot on core strength and upper body strength so she is able to

control her body in the air as she vaults herself over the pole.

As a program, we coaches are looking to build a team environment where we are a team,

not individuals. Also, we want to win the conference/sectional meet and send multiple athletes

and events to the state meet. We want to put the athletes in a situation where they can best have

success. In order to do achieve these goals the coaching staff and athletes must be on the same

page. For younger athletes, it’s tougher because they don’t really know what to expect yet but for

the older athletes they know what to expect. In the past, the team has missed a lot of points in the
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field events area such as throws, high jump, long jump, and triple jump. This area is the hardest

area to score in. There’s a lot of technique involved with the field events. Overall, we have set

our team’s expectations for the season and now we have to make sure the athletes stay focused

and motivated.
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Work Cited

Elliott, Eliane S. (1988). Goals: an approach to motivation and achievement. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 54(1), 5-12.

Eccles, Jacquelynne S. (2002). Motivational Beliefs, Values, and Goals. Annual Review of

Psychology, 53(1), 109-132

Kasser, T., Ryan, Richard T. (1996). Further examining the American dream: differential

correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,

22(3), 280-287.