Track and Field Team Expands Coaching

Track and field competitions encompass an array of events, ranging from sprints and longdistance running to jumping and throwing. This variety necessitates a large coaching staff to provide individualized training for athletes.

This year, Greenhill has increased the coaching staff to accommodate each individual athlete.

The coaching staff includes full-time coaches, returning adjunct coaches, new adjunct coaches and returning volunteer coaches.

Full-time coaches are Head Track and Field Coach Stacey Johnson, jumping and sprinting coach David Henderson and distance coach Jason Yaffe.

Returning adjunct coaches include pole vault coach Bailey Blunt who competed at Texas Tech University and Steve Kinkead, a former multi-event athlete at Middlebury College.

New hires this year include sprint and hurdler coach Joi Stephenson ’07, sprint and relay coach Reginald MacArthur and throwing coach Salvatore Guli.

Stephenson competed at the University of Colorado, MacArthur competed at the University of North Texas and Guli was an all-conference thrower at Southern Arkansas University.

Volunteer coaches returning from past seasons include sprint and hurdles coach Candida Coulson-Francois, jumping coach Tyron Stewart and high jump coach Randy James.

CoulsonFrancois was an All-American during her time at Arizona State University, Stewart was a Texas A&M AllAmerican jumper, and James coaches at Major Impact Track Club.

Stephenson has aided senior Jaden Watt with sprinting, stretching and hydration. Watt, a team captain, says that Stephenson’s advice has made a significant impact on the athletes.

“It’s been really helpful to see how she’s not only doing that with me, but she’s also giving each kid [individualized] help,” Watt said.

Senior captain Celina Prieur echoes this view of Stephenson.

“She’s been a really great mentor for the female athletes because she ran at Greenhill and was a really incredible collegiate runner,” Prieur said. “She’s been a really good resource for us in terms of improving form and atmosphere, but also how we approach our mentality.”

The assistants and volunteer coaches have also earned the admiration of Johnson in his role as head coach.

“When they volunteer, they bring a lot of energy and excitement with great knowledge of teaching the developmental aspects of jumping and throwing to our kids,” Johnson said. “Each of them brings a lot of new ideas to work with our athletes.”

Practices this track season are more structured, with a greater emphasis on accountability.

“The track program is more rigid this year, and there is an expectation that you are at practice at all times,” Watt said. “You can’t just pop in and out. That being said, it can sometimes be difficult to hold someone accountable for their attendance and preparation.”

To continue promoting an environment of accountability, Johnson created a council of student representatives from all grade levels. These representatives allow student-athletes to voice concerns or feedback.

“It’s about him getting a sense of how things are going from the athlete’s rebuilding the team.

“Track changes pretty dramatically each year, with the loss of seniors and people having to take new leadership positions,” Prieur said. “This year, it’s especially difficult because we lost some really great athletes.”

For Prieur, it took time to fully embody a leadership role. It was a shock to be the one leading warmups, taking charge at meets and organizing the team.

“The younger kids are looking up to me like, what’s next?” she said. “It’s taken a bit of getting used to, but I realized that, oh, this is where I need to step up and lead.”

perspective,” Watt said. “It also holds people accountable for practice, because we have this close method of communication.”

Amid these changes, senior leaders have emerged to aid in regrouping and parts, but we have a lot of quality people who work with our kids throughout the year,” Johnson said. Developing the athletes means using meets as training and an opportunity to grow competition skills and habits, said Johnson.

One benefit of the new coaching staff and structure is greater unity among athletes.

“We want to qualify as many kids as possible for the Southwest Preparatory Conference championships each year,” Johnson said. “We want to be a wellbalanced team with strong relays teams and a well-balanced group of individual event athletes. We use our early season meets as extensions of practice in many ways.”

Another aspect of developing the program includes emphasizing exploration and attempting a variety of events.

“There’s a lot of times where there’s kids who don’t know they can do things, until they have the opportunity to get out and work with some of our quality coaches to develop their skills,” Johnson said.

“We’re becoming a more cohesive unit,” Watt said. “And I think that we’re going to build a stronger bond this year than we had before, just because of how closely the coaches are working with us and the smaller aspect of the team.”

Johnson believes that adaptability is one of the cornerstones of a successful program.

“This year we are focusing on a lot more developmental aspects in training,” he said. “[We are] really focusing on the fundamentals that our kids need to stay healthy and be successful.”

Johnson steps in as needed to help with jumping and throwing, but spends most of his time working with sprinters, jumpers and relay teams due to the concentration of athletes in those areas.

“It’s about 1,000 working and moving

With athletes pursuing multiple events, structuring their training requires intensive planning and preparation. To achieve this balance, early training focuses on building fundamentals then adding intensity later.

“How do we balance out the training for our kids to where they can be successful in all these areas and get enough work in those areas, but also not overtrain to the point of injury?” Johnson said. “We call this ‘the right dose;’ how much of this specific thing is perfect?”

Although the track and field team continues to undergo changes, athletes expressed high hopes for the season.

“It’s all about learning,” Prieur said. “Everything will sort itself out as we mesh more as a team and continue emphasizing accountability. I’m excited to see how it all plays out with the influx of the new younger

Wednesday, April 5, 2023