About XCStats.com


The benefits of Cross Country:

Cross country, at the high school level, is unique in so many ways. It’s one of the few sports in which everyone can participate, as most schools don’t limit team sizes. And everyone can succeed when one measures success within his or her ability. Race Start Cross country demands much from individual participants, requiring the discipline of regular practice, immense determination in the face of often painful exertion, and the ability to persist no matter how the season’s performance evolves. It allows all students to be part of a team, to motivate each other, and to face challenges together. Running cross country provides an opportunity for healthy competition. It can establish the habit of lifelong fitness, provide a real sense of accomplishment for teenagers, and give kids practice with goal setting. And the sport can be a lot of fun.

Challenges to Cross Country Coaches:

This sport also brings many challenges to coaches, parents and athletes. The large team sizes, the difficulties of motivating teenagers, (especially since most consider A Team Sport running a form of torture), and the fact that most runners’ times don’t count toward the official results all contribute to the challenges maintaining team members’ enthusiasm. Yet, coaches need to help and motivate all runners, not just the top 5 on Varsity. This is where XCStats can help. By keeping track of the performance of every runner against their past races, the coaches and runners can set appropriate goals and help the kids succeed. As anyone who has tried it knows, keeping XC statistics is difficult and time consuming. As a result, many teams resort to recording the best times from the best runners, which doesn’t address the needs of the vast majority of runners. And without record-keeping for all runners, teams, parents and athletes miss an opportunity to celebrate success and reinforce accomplishment at all levels of the team.

Statistics that motivate:

From this purpose sprang XCStats.com and the particular metrics we measure. The most important is keeping track of PR’s (personal records) for every course, since each course is unique, even if it’s the same distance as others. Next, since Cross Country Results is a team sport, we track team results (and team PR’s). XCStats has developed a novel approach to team results. Whereas the “official” team results are based on the top 5 runners of each division, XCStats has extended that concept to all groups of 5 runners so nearly everyone can be on a team and feel that their results matter. With these measures, and the many more in our reports, the information is available that can encourage and motivate runners regardless of their performance level. Perhaps best of all for the coaches, all of these statistics come with a very minimal time investment by the coaching staff, on the order of 1 to two hours for the season. Coaches don’t have to enter results, rosters, spend hours with spreadsheets or uploading data. With XCStats, Cross Country teams get amazing stats and coaches get to focus on coaching.

The origin of XCStats:

XCStats was developed by me, Mike Sherwood, the father of some cross country runners at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Ca. It started as a modest spreadsheet in 2004, with the goal simply to keep records of my kids’ performances. As the kids progressed through high school, the project grew and became more sophisticated, moving from spreadsheets to databases and now to the web. Developing XCStats.com not only satisfies my hobby of writing XCStats computer programs, but also allows me to expand the availability of the stats which have been so greatly appreciated at Mitty and Castilleja in Palo Alto.

Acknowledgements:

XCStats has benefited from the input from several key advisors. Hank Lawson, the champion, historian and leader of cross country in the Bay Area and the track and cross country coach at Lynbrook High School in San Jose, has guided the definition of the reports, provided valuable feedback on the navigation and usability of the site and provided introductions to other influential members of the running community. Hank works tirelessly for the benefit of Bay Area high school cross country and track, including the development and management of the Lynbrook Web site which is the primary source of running information for this region. Dr. Margo Thienemann, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and close friend, has listened to and provided valuable feedback to nearly every aspect of the project. She challenged early assumptions, that when revised, have lead to vast improvements in the site. Her professional experience has helped shape the philosophy and focus of XCStats. And finally, my kids, Scott and Sarah, who have helped with the graphic design, defining the business model and, of course, by choosing to run cross country in high school. Thank you all for helping create XCStats.com.

I encourage you to read more about the service, and, of course, to give it a try for 2008. Feel free to contact me should you have any questions or comments.
Best regards,
Mike Sherwood