We joined Oaks Christian on there first afternoon practice of the season. Coach Wes Smith wanted the athletes to get acclimated to the afternoon training they will have to do when starts the following week. The team returned from their team camp at Flagstaff, Arizona and the plan for the day was an easy running day on the track and in the neighborhoods.
Oaks Christian is a private school located in Westlake Village which is on the Los Angeles and Ventura County line. Both teams competed last year in the division 4 race at the California State Meet. Before the start of practice, the athletes received their team t-shirt. Coach Smith shared information on the Lions of Oaks Christian:
During the summer season, how often does the team practice?
Oaks Christian Cross Country practices six days per week during the summer. Mon-Sat.
With weight room Mon, Tue, Thu.
What are some special summer activities?
The crescendo of the summer training is a run camp retreat. Historically, the Lions go to Mammoth Lakes, CA, for the retreat, but this year, the Lions traveled to Flagstaff, AZ, from July 28 to August 4. The Lions traveled with 30 athletes and 5 alumni. The alumni who attended and assisted are competing for UC Santa Barbara, DePaul, Northern Arizona University, Duke, and Grand Canyon U.
How do you build team culture?
Weight Room is a great tool for building culture. We hold summer and year-round weight room with the cross country and track & field teams, together. This is a time for the coaches to breathe into the athletes about the values and character skills expected in the Oaks Christian Lions program. The athletes are face-to-face working and struggling together, and they learn to encourage, trust, and respect each other in the process.
Run Camp is an important time for team culture building. At camp, we dive deeper into the team culture playbook and the values held forth by the school and the program, but the team also gets to identify their own values to focus on developing during the upcoming season.
We also have weekly meetings to discuss the values we hold. We have teachers, coaches from other teams, and special guests speak regularly to the team on team values and on general character or cultural growth.
What are some events that the team is looking forward to in the fall season?
The focus for the Lions is limited to the Woodbridge Invitational and Clovis Invitational in the regular season. The priority is the postseason with the Marmonte Finals, CIF SS Finals, and ultimately the State Finals.
Click HERE to view photos from the day's practice
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