Head Coach Jon Daniel and his trusty assistant Pierre Nealon at last year's Illinois Boys State Track and Field Championship
Run, Jump, and Throw…TRACK & FIELD IS EVERYTHING!!!
Hello track fans my name is Pierre Nealon, I am the assistant track coach for the (Chicago) St. Rita Mustangs. Before I get started I would like to give thanks to Tony Jones and the Milesplit Illinois team for allowing me to contribute to the website. There are a lot of track related thoughts on my mind which I’m sure would stretch this out to 10-15 pages, but I want to get invited back to the Coach"s Zone so I’ll keep this introductory piece a short one.
I got into coaching during my junior year of college at Aurora University. I rode my bike down Randall Road and over to Route 31 a couple times a week to my alma mater (Mooseheart High School) to teach what I learned from my college coaches to the athletes. I really enjoyed teaching the athletes new things and knew that coaching would be in my near future.
When I moved back to Chicago finding a coaching job was not an easy task, of the schools I contacted all but two said they don’t need ANY help. Of those two schools I accepted an offer from St. Rita, I look back at some of those schools that rejected me and say WOW!
In the beginning it was tough being a young first time coach in a school bigger than what I was used to. It took me a few months to get adjusted to the kids and for them to get adjusted to me and my approach. Working together with the head coach, who was also very young, coaching got easier especially when the results began to show.
During my first year and into the summer I, along with the head coach, did everything possible to increase our knowledge about the sport including taking USATF classes, reading books, watching videos, and picking the brain of coaches during meets. With the quality of athletes we had on our team giving them a small amount of knowledge and lackluster coaching would have done a big disservice to them. My five years at St. Rita the experience has been great from the students, to the administration, athletic events to the band. It’s such a great place to be.
Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to share my thoughts in the Coach’s Zone on topics such as track and field in Chicago, some IHSA changes, meet ideas, coaching philosophy, and some other thoughts that pop up in my head.
To end I would like to give a shout out to the following: Tony Sosnowski of Metea Valley HS, former head coach at St. Rita (2009-13), for giving me the opportunity to coach. Jon Daniel, the new head coach at St. Rita for allowing me the opportunity to continue to coach at St. Rita under his leadership. The athletes I coached from ’09 to present day, without your willingness to learn and improve I am not sure where I’d be in my coaching career. To you same athletes, I also thank you all for allowing me to dominate you over the years in basketball and Ultimate Frisbee. My speed, skills, and jumping ability are just too much for you all to handle, you all keep me feeling young.
Follow Me on Twitter @stritatf_coachp for thoughts, photos, info about the team, and retweets from coaches of the top programs across this great state of Illinois and around the country.
Coach Nealon chilling at the 2012 state meet with pupil Cody Leach, former head coach Tony Sosnowski
Head Coach Jon D speaks-
Hello Track Nation!! My name is Jonathon Daniel and I am the Head Track and Field coach at St. Rita High School in Chicago. I would like to thank Tony Jones and Milesplit IL for this amazing opportunity to contribute to the many great articles that are on the site.
There are tons of thoughts and ideas that I would like to touch on such as the importance of summer track to the track and field athlete, how there needs to be more young people taking an interest in coaching and being an official, as well as how meets are scored and ran.
For this piece I will keep it short and sweet. How I first started coaching was simply by chance and I look to this day as it was meant for me to start coaching. I was at my alma mater doing community service for a couple hours helping out where needed and an announcement came on the intercom, “Track and Field meeting at 2:45”. It really sparked my interest because I was 21, fresh from college at Southern Illinois University where I ran for Coach Connie Price-Smith. I also had the record in the 400m so I wanted to see if there were any good quarter horses.
I came into the meeting and spoke to head coach Tony Sosnowski and he told me I could help out though it would be in a voluntary role. During my track and field career I was blessed to be under the tutelage of some great track and field minds such as Jeff Timms (current Bloom Coach), Kareem Jackson (University of Wisconsin) and Connie Price-Smith so I had a great knowledge of my sport.
The guys were really able to relate to me because I’m not much older than them. I was able to easily communicate things to them in a manner that they would always understand. My goal was to turn those guys into not only better athletes but better MEN. My first year as sprint coach, we got fifth in conference and have been pretty good ever since. Four years later I am now the head coach in my first year.
We have done well in the sprint events and believe in the phrase: “SPEED KILLS!” Plainfield North head coach Tony Holler is somewhere smiling if he reads this. One of the key components to the success of the program has been the summer track circuit. Most of my team encompasses football players and some of them still find the time to do summer track because they understand that speed kills and during the summer you can perfect your craft while others sit on their butts and eat McDonald's. Encourage your kids to run summer track!!! They will learn how to go about competing in big meets, gain new friends, and travel to places they have never been before. Summer track gets your kids battle tested and they will not wilt under pressure during the high school season because they have seen the greatest guys/girls in Track and Field.
In closing, I would like to thank Mr. Tony Sosnowski for giving me the opportunity to coach. He believed in me and as a result I am in a great position coaching wise. I would also like to thank Jeff Timms, Connie Price-Smith, Kareem Jackson and Tony Holler whom I learned so much from each one of. Thank you to my athletes for buying in and believing in my sometimes crazy methods! Lastly, I would again like to thank Tony Jones, Milesplit IL and the Coach’s Corner for allowing me to contribute. Have a great season everyone!
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