Preseason Meeting Info

2026 NHS Outdoor Track & Field Preseason Meeting

Important Dates

How To Register
Fill out registration form on newingtonathletics.com
Your last physical must be from February 21, 2025 or later. Physicals from before that date are outdated and you won’t be cleared.

If you cannot get an appointment with your doctor or your insurance won’t cover a visit before 3/17, you can schedule a physical with the school nurse. This must be scheduled by 2/27.

New this year: athletic fees required for all 3 seasons. Checks/cash/waivers must be submitted on or before March 17.

Communication

All information will be found here. Be sure to check our page daily for updates.
Here’s how to do that:

All communication will be done through here by both coaches and students who need to contact coaches.

Preseason

Preparing for the season before it starts is imperative to injury prevention and to season progression.
Distance preseason sessions have already begun. Coach Jen is here every day at 3:00 outside of the auditorium. If you can’t make those, send me a message and she can provide instruction.
Sprint preseason conditioning should include strength training (even body weight squats/lunges/core is perfectly fine), warm up jogging, striders, and accelerations. Coach Armour may possibly have preseason sessions, that will be posted on StudentSquare.
Throwers and jumpers should focus on core strength, lifting and plyos.

Attendance

We are buckling down on attendance this year since it’s been such an issue in the past. It’s going to be very easy to understand: if you miss practice for an unexcused reason, you won’t be competing at meets.

Excused absences include illness and school functions, doctors appointments are case by case.
Excessive excused absences will also prevent you from competing.
If you have to miss practice, notify a coach. You are responsible for this, not your friend, parent, or sibling.

The one time there is an exception to this is if you have a family emergency, in which case, we would like to hear from you parent/guardian.

If you know you have something after school, let us know, then come to practice after. We are there late, you’ll most likely have time to get your workout in.

Practice

All you really need in order to practice is running shoes, clothes to work out in, water, and any medical devices (inhalers, epipens, etc). Distance athletes have to have a watch.

Unfortunately, if you don’t have the proper/aforementioned necessary equipment, we can’t let you practice. This is for safety reasons.

Practice will always meet at the track unless otherwise posted on StudentSquare (we may need to make alternate plans for the beginning of the season depending on the snow!)
Practice times will be posted weekly on StudentSquare. They will TYPICALLY be consistent week to week, but double check just in case.
If you plan on doing a field event, plan on being at practice later than everyone else. It doesn’t matter if you’ve finished your track workout early, if you want to be in a field event (that isn’t throws), you have to stay for field event practice.

Field event practice schedules will be posted on StudentSquare each week so there’s no question as to if your field event is practicing each day.

Blue Teams & Gold Teams

Since track roster numbers have drastically increased (we had 40 more indoor track athletes this year than in previous years!), the coaches have put together a new plan in order to have the most efficient practices and to develop each athlete to reach their highest potential.
We will be dividing the team into two teams: Blue Team and Gold Team.
We will create a Gold Team standard that athletes will have to achieve in order to practice/compete with this group.

The standard will be based on the time trial results.
People who have hit this standard will compete at both home and away meets, and at invitationals when applicable.
Gold Team athletes who aren’t compliant with Gold Team standards (including effort, attendance, and attitude) can be moved to the Blue team until we can get those issues resolved.

If you are placed on the Blue Team, you’ll still be practicing with the Gold Team, you’ll just have a reduced practice a few times a week.

Hitting the Gold Team time standard in a new time trial after a week/during a home meet
Showing immense effort and drive to compete

If you are doing track to just stay in shape and to hang out with your friends, WHICH IS TOTALLY FINE, and want to be in this group, you’re welcome to as well.

We don’t want anyone to be discouraged by the two teams. You’ll still be warming up/stretching/practicing as one large group for the most part. This is merely to give everyone the best opportunity to do their best. Think of it as Varsity and JV.
Everyone will still receive coaching and instruction, we are just a little bit more lax with the blue team in regards to attendance and effort.

Meets

Final Thoughts

With the amount of talent returning, and new athletes showing so much potential, NHS track can do some incredible things this year. As long as everyone stays committed and driven, this could be one of the best seasons in a long time.
Don’t come into the season comparing yourself to others. As long as you give 100% of what you have to give, you’ll see yourself get better and stronger throughout the season. Your self-improvement is all that matters, and you might be surprised with what you can do if you’re willing to do the work.
Not many people have Newington Track on their radar, let’s show them why they should.