Team Policies

The policies and rules on this website are provided by the Los Altos High School coaching staff. Please contact the coaching staff with any questions.

Please refer to the LAHS Track and Field Handbook for complete details on all team policies. 

Attendance

• We expect that Track and Field is your highest priority extra-curricular activity. Of course academics comes first, but Track and Field should be next. If you have another after school activity that is a higher priority and it will conflict with practices or meets, you should rethink your interest in Track and Field.
  
  
• Be on time! Practices will start at 4:00pm this year and end at 6pm. If you are late more than one time in a week, it will count as an unexcused absence (3 and you are off the team - see below). Please be on time and don’t push this rule. If you know you are going to be late unexpectedly, notify the coaches before hand.
  
  
• 3 unexcused absences is grounds for dismissal from the team. After the 2nd unexcused absence, you will be suspended from the team for 3 days. Parents should make a best effort to email the coaching staff of absences *before* they occur.
  
  
• 2 missed meets for non-injury reasons is grounds for dismissal from the team. Runners are expected to be at all meets for which they are eligible. The tentative schedule is posted early in the season so please work around the meet dates.

• While injured or sick, if you’re able to come to school, you still must come to practice. We won’t make you do anything unsafe, but we need to check on your progress. We can also give you workouts on the bike or in the pool if appropriate and often, you can still participate in core and strength routines. You may not leave early unless OK'd by a coach. If you have a doctor or physical therapist appointment, have your parent notify us before hand just like any excused absence. Try to schedule these around practice times.
  
  
• If you miss more then 15 practices for any reason including sickness, doctors appointments, etc. you will be off the team and will not receive credit for the season. 
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• All athletes must warm-up with their event groups and follow the coaches prescribed workouts.  If athletes are unhappy with the workouts they should set up a time after practice or before practice to meet with the coaching staff to talk about workouts that may be a better fit. Athletes do not get to create their own workouts. Not warming up with the team or following prescribed workouts with the team will result in removal from the next meet.

Meets & Competition

• Runners must run in an official LAHS uniform. You may swap out the shorts with identically colored Royal Blue running shorts or spandex shorts if you prefer. Shorts must not be black.
  
  
• Be respectful and courteous to everyone - especially other teams, runners, officials and coaches.
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• You may not leave a meet early unless OK'd by a coach. Cheer on your teammates in other events! During home meets, all athletes are expected to work the meet when they are not competing. This will be part of your grade.
  
  
• ​Track and Field is a competitive team sport where we all pitch in to our best abilities to achieve a optimal outcome in meets. For dual meets, we place emphasize on being competitive and winning with honor. Weekend invitationals place more emphasis on individual competition however we may still try to field competitive relay teams to best represent our school.
  
  To that end, its important for parents and athletes to accept that Coaches decide the events in which each athlete will compete. The coaches will consider the health, doctor recommendations, personal goals, athlete preference, event variety as well as team goals in selecting the right events for each athlete.​


• Relay team participants are completely at the discretion of the coaches. In selecting relay teams, coaches will consider several factors including performance in individual events, relays, team dynamics, attendance and sportsmanship. Because of this, the fastest athletes may not necessarily earn a spot on a relay. This would be an uncommon case however. In order to be on a relay team you must be at all of our Monday – Saturday workouts. Time trials may be used to aid coaches in team selection, but only at the discretion of the coaches judgement. Athletes and parents are not guaranteed a challenge right.
  
  
• All meet registration and communications with meet and CCS officials is the sole purview of the coaching staff. Athletes and parents must not directly contact meet officials, register their athletes directly with meet officials or meet websites or communicate with meet, league or CCS officials in any way. Doing so will result in the athlete being pulled from the meet on race day. Two occurrences of this by a parent/athlete will result in removal from the team and no credit for the course.
  
  
• Coaches cannot guarantee the accuracy of times on various track and field websites (athletic.net etc). Coaches will make an effort to ensure correctness of athlete names for relays but cannot guarantee correctness. Coaches will consider special requests for correctionss only as time permits.
  
  

Rules of the Road

Following the Rules of the RoadThe following rules are required. They exist for your safety. Not following them repeatedly can be grounds for dismissal from the team or lose in one letter grade.

• Always run with a buddy - at least one other person. If somebody in your group falls behind, someone in your group must wait for them until you get to Mt. Hamilton return route.
  
  
• All runners must be back from runs by 5:45pm. Workout officially ends at 6pm. If you stay longer, that is up to you and your parents.
  
  
• All runners must return to the LAHS track after their runs and check in with a coach. We need to know you are back and there is important post-run cooldown and stretching you must do. This part of the workout is part of your attendance and grade!
  
  
• Obey all traffic rules. Tip: Don’t trust the flashing light crosswalks on San Antonio. Just because the lights are flashing doesn’t mean cars will see you and stop!

Transportation

• All athletes are expected to ride the bus unless other arrangements have been made prior to the meet. A coach will take role before the bus leaves
  
  
• Athletes may NOT drive themselves or with any other student.
  
  
• A parent driver may NOT take home any other runner, unless they're on file with the LAHS District.  The volunteer parent driver form can be found here.
  
  
• If you need to take your runner home earlier, please sign them out with a coach at the end of their warm down. A coach needs to see the parent at sign-out.  This may sound silly, but it is a safety issue that wouldn't seem so silly if your child was involved in a situation.

Student Athlete Contract

All student athletes and their parents are required to sign the student-athlete contract. The contract outlines rules of participation and conduct. Athletes who do not sign the contract as-is will not be on the team.