Category Archives: Cross Country

Practice Like a Warrior

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Soldiers in every country train for battles.  Sports players practice for games.  What they do is very different but the reason they do it is not.  There are psychological and physical benefits to practicing for situations of high stress like battles and games.  Psychologically we train to build confidence under pressure.  We also train so that we become offensive and head into battle rather than shrink from it.  While sports are less life threatening than battles the same principles apply.  A football scrimmage with other team mates will help you mentally prepare for a game with an opposing team. 

But the real benefit of practicing is the physical side.  You can have all the confidence in the world but if you can’t get the ball in the goal you do not have a chance.  Muscle memory is where the big advantages come in.  Doing a task a few thousand times will help get it ingrained into your muscle and into your brain. Shoot a layup 2000 times and you will be able to do it like clockwork.  The greats of the greats like Michael Jordan spent a lot of extra time on the basketball court practicing.  He was out on the court after everybody left and this simple fact made him possibly the greatest basketball player of all time.  Once you do something enough it almost becomes an instinct.  Soldiers practice shooting, rushing bunkers, and jumping out of planes.  They do this so that when they go to battle they will have that instinct and the edge over the enemy.

The more you practice the better off you will be.  You do want to make sure that you train or practice the correct way as well because if you do it wrong 2000 times you will not have the advantage but a great disadvantage.

I would suggest checking out some coaching videos that will help you learn how to practice the right way.  You can find hundreds of them at www.morleyathletic.com.  There are videos on baseball, basketball, field hockey, football, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track & field, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

Morelyathletic.com also has the equipment you need to practice with.  Get the gear and the info and start practicing like a warrior today.

Get In Shape For Summer Sports!

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If you play sports all year long you may be in pretty good shape but you may not be in shirtless shape.  Are you in shape for the shirts against skins games?  Who knows who will be watching from the sidelines!  If not it’s time to start working on that as the summer is about to heat up. 

When it comes to finding the right ways to lose that extra chub all it takes is a little extra effort.  An effective way of exercising is interval training.  This is pretty much a period of hard exercise followed by a period of rest.  There are many other articles out there that will get you the specifics on interval training.  I just want to give you some ideas on the exercise equipment that will help you get it done.

A basic item that has been used for years in training boxers and martial artists is the jump rope.  You’re laughing…?  When was the last time you tried jumping rope?  It is a simple cheap device that can get your heart pumping to the max.  Do a 5-10 minute interval training exercise with the jump rope and you will begin to respect it.  You can also get weighted jump ropes to help work out your arms.

Another basic item for interval training and working abs is the medicine ball.  The medicine ball has many variations these days but they all serve the same purpose.  They allow you to use a lot of the small stabilizer muscles in your body.  This will help tighten your abs and the rest of your body while making you more agile on the field.  Medicine balls are also great to use with a partner!

You can also use an agility ladder in your interval training program.  Your sports program may already use this but working it into an interval training program will get you results.  It will help your agility and increase your fat burning capacity.

One item that is required with any interval training is a stopwatch.  You can get a regular stopwatch, a table timer, or the jumbo wrist stopwatch.  The jumbo wrist stopwatch comes with a wrist strap, a lanyard, and a clipboard clip.  I would recommend the jumbo wrist stopwatch just because of its versatility.

So whether your in shape for the shirtless games or not it would be a good idea to try some interval training.  Summer is right around the corner and you don’t want to be one of the players with a shirt on when its 100 degrees out.

For more information and pricing on fitness items that will help you lose some flab go to www.morelyathletic.com.

Stopwatch or Transformer?

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Do you have problems seeing your stopwatch?  Do you have trouble figuring out what each button is because they are so small?  Do you wish your stopwatch had bigger digits and was easier to read?  How about versatility, do you wish it could go on your wrist, be held on your hand, or even be clipped to a clip board? 

Well there is a solution to your problems; it is the Referee Jumbo Wrist Stopwatch.  This stopwatch offers a big digit display. Each number measures ½” high by ¼” wide.  It is great for sports like football, soccer, wrestling, basketball, lacrosse or any game and fitness timing.  Referees and coaches alike are just raving about it.

The Referee Jumbo Wrist Stopwatch features: 1/100 second precision, maximum count up 9 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds.  It also counts down making this timer very versatile.  It counts down from maximum 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.  It has 3 count down modes:  count down and repeat count down from preset, count down and then up from zero, and count down and stop at zero.

It has standard 12/24 hour format and a daily alarm with hourly chime.  Also when it gets a little darker out The Referee Jumbo Wrist Watch has electro-luminescent black lighting.

It also comes with a wrist lanyard so you can hold it in your hand.  Last but not least it comes with a clipboard clip which allows you to attaché the timer to a clipboard, your belt, or your clothing.

Also I should mention it is water resistant which means that if it gets a few raindrops on it there is no need to worry.  It doesn’t mean that you can go swimming with it. 

Check out the video review at www.morleyathletic.com  Order yours Today!

Got A Team – Take A Bench With You

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Ok is there any of us in the room that haven’t seen one of those handy bag chairs before.  You know the ones that fold up into a nice small bag with a handy shoulder strap.  You can toss it into the back of your car and it’s always ready.  Boy are they handy, right?  Well if you like those little honeys I’ll let you in on a little secret that’s going to paint a big ole smile across your face.  They make them in bench sizes now!

Ok so it’s not as cool as a secret that would help you lower your health insurance costs or mortgage but it can come in handy when you have a team that’s in need of some seating.  You have to admit lugging a 15’ aluminum bench around in the back of the minivan really isn’t an option.

There’s three models of these benches featured at www.morleyathletic.com ranging from a 6 seater down to a 3 seater.  Obviously the larger the folding bench the heavier it gets so bigger is not always more convenient.   The Bag-A-Bench , which seats 6, weighs in at only 34 lbs.  I guess that’s really not that bad considering how much nicer it is to have a seat with a back rather than being sprawled on the cold, wet ground.

If you’re only looking for a few seats for your next outing to an air show or the family reunion the Tail Gate Bench which seats four or the three seat Kwik Bench may be perfect for you.

So whether you need to seat an entire team or just a few family members a folding bench may be perfect for you.

A Timing System For Any Budget

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When it comes to timing your average road race most memory stopwatches can’t handle the job.  Your average road race has hundreds if not thousands of participants making your average 300 to 500 memory stopwatch ill-suited for the job.

Which in the past has left you wishing you had a couple thousand dollars to invest into a timing system.  Well what if I told you that you could buy a system with all the features needed, including the ability to save times for up to 8,000 participants, for under $500.

Sounds too good to be true right?  Well guess again!

The Ultrak Roadrace Timing System can be used to time track races with up to 10 lanes as well as road races (cross country, 10k’s, marathons, etc.) with up to 8,000 participants. A link gate is provided which connects the ten lane buttons to a separate unit, eliminating tangled wires to the lane timer itself. Four digit bib numbers can be pre-assigned to lanes in track mode and entered at the finish for road races. Data can be uploaded to a PC or printed out during or after an event for later review.

The built in printer can print a full 13 digits per line with a fast printing speed of 1.5 lines per second.  Not bad for a thermal printer huh?  Automatic printing of date, run number and record type can be programmed.  A small feature that can save you from big trouble is the ability to pause printing to change paper when needed.  Believe me this feature is very important when your timing a road race that has had a good turnout.  The Ultrak Roadrace printer comes set up and ready to use extra large rolls of thermal paper so you can get up to 2500 lines on each roll.

Check out some of these specific features and you’ll see why this system is right for you.

Here are some of the features of the road race mode: 8,000 memory for individual finishers in single or multiple events, store multiple events in memory for later review or printing, four digit bib numbers, bib number entry at finish or add/edit after event, four digit place counter, automatic print out during event, final result print out after event, single and multiple start times, up to 99 waves in multiple start race.

Check out these race mode features: use up to 10 lap/split lane buttons, link gate allows single wire to lane timer, eliminating tangled wires, 8,000 dual split memory for single or multiple events, store multiple events in memory for later review or printing, four digit place counter, pre-entry of bib and lane numbers, bib number add/edit after event, two digit lap counter, test mode for verification of lane set-up.

So there it is, one timing system with all the features you need to run your track & field program, cross country program and host some serious marathons or road races and it can all be yours for less than $500.  Now that’s a serious bargain.

Learn more about the Ultrak Roadrace Timing System at www.morleyathletic.com today.