Central Kitsap Summer Practice

Photographer Russell Moore recently went to take pictures of the Central Kitsap's, home of the Cougars, summer practice. Central Kitsap is located in Silverdale, WA which is across the Puget Sound from Seattle. The Cougars compete in Washington's 3A division and is coached by Alexa Carr. Coach Carr explains the Central Kitsap progam:

During the summer season, how often does the team practice?

We practice 2-3x weekly as a team, for team runs and time in the weight room, in addition to runs organized independently by student runners. 

What are some special summer activities?

Every summer we put on our own team summer camp in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. This is a valuable time for our entire team to come together, do workouts on the forest trails, learn about the fueling, rest, strength training, and other components needed for a holistically healthy training lifestyle, build and strengthen friendships with teammates, and set team goals and intentions for the upcoming season. 

Additionally, this year we are hosting our inaugural Youth Running Camp on our home turf at Central Kitsap High School. We are excited for this opportunity to connect with the many youth runners in our area and get to share a little bit about what Central Kitsap High School Cross Country is all about. The youth camp is open to all (regardless of school) incoming 2nd-8th graders, no prior running experience necessary, and will include team and running-related activities such as running games, Intro to Weight Lifting, an Obstacle Course, and a fun timed trial on the last day of camp! 

How do you build team culture?

We build team culture through regularly setting not only big overarching goals, but also the process goals needed to achieve those, and then holding each other accountable in the journey of striving for all of these. This goes year round, starting at the beginning of the summer where the team comes together to plan for the summer and kick-off pre-season running, maintaining encouragement and accountability all summer long, leading straight into summer camp where we dial in specifically what this year's team wants to focus on and grow in. In the season, every workout, meet, and overnight trip the team does is an opportunity to learn more about themselves and each other and build motivation, moving to the next meet, goal, or season, stronger and believing more fiercely in each other. 

What are some events that the team is looking forward to in the fall season?

It has been a long-standing tradition of our program to take an overnight trip with the entire team to Portland OR for the Nike Portland Meet. We have a hotel stay and go to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner the evening before competing on the fast and favored Nike Portland course. This year we are also looking forward to hosting our Cougar Twilight meet on our local golf course. This meet will combine the unique thrill of twilight racing with a race course meant to simulate the State XC experience, for a fast, fun, and memorable experience.