I just finished searching all my previous principal perspectives and discovered an interesting fact: not once in four years have I written about the sport of track.
You’d think that the topic would have come up at some point. As the junior high activities sponsor, I’ve seen a lot of track meets. I’ve seen many great performances and many memorable moments. Yet, apparently there was always something else going on during the weeks I could have written about track, because this is my first (and long overdue) article about this demanding sport.
Most junior high track meets take place during the day. I knew that this was because that junior high meets tend to last longer, so in order to have a meet of any size, you need to start in the morning. I never really thought about why a junior high meet would be longer than a high school meet until this last Monday, when I was asked to enter into a computer the results for BOTH the junior high meet and the high school junior varsity meet.
After six and a half hours of recording results for the junior high, I switched over to the high school file. I instantly noticed that the list of high school events was much shorter. I quickly understood that the list was exactly half as long as the junior high.
Why? Simple, really. A junior high track meet equals two high school meets because 7th AND 8th grade are split. Compared to high school, 7th grade is kind of like the JV and the 8th could be compared to the varsity team. High school track meets are EITHER JV OR Varsity, while junior high track meets are both. No wonder it takes all day!
Thus, junior high track meets are as much about endurance as they are about performance. The kids are out in the elements all day. If the weather were always perfect, this might not be a big deal, but Monday was far from perfect. The wind gusted at over 30 miles an hour from start to finish, with temperatures hovering just around 60 degrees.
The weather not only tested the kids. Track meets are exceptional in the amount of volunteer help needs to run the meet. From the adults running the field events, to the timers and pickers in the track events, to the workers in the concession stand, to the coaches on the field, there were many adults braving the violent and chilly conditions. I, at least, could hide in the relative comfort of the press box, though the door was opened and closed continuously as results were brought up, and even with the door closed, some of the bigger gusts made the entire box vibrate and ever-so-perceptibly sway back and forth. It was like being on a boat, suspended forty feet in the air.
Of course, every time I thought to complain, I remembered the kids. These young athletes had signed up to compete in this harsh environment. They had agreed to do it for our entertainment and to bring honor upon their team and to their school. And while our adult volunteers only had to work only during this one day, the students were competing in half a dozen meets, dealing with the pressure of competition and the pressure of the weather for six weeks.
And it is not just the weather on the day of the meet that tested our courageous junior high athletes, but also the weather during previous meets. In the previous two weeks, two other track meets (ours and Phillipsburg’s) had been postponed due to the rain. Because of this bad weather, our junior high athletes were now expected to compete in not just one weekly tournament, not two, but now THREE.
So after they survived over six hours of chilling wind, they turned around and had to deal with the scorching sun in Phillipsburg. Thursday found them running, jumping, and throwing again in a rare evening meet in Wakeeney.
Needless to say, they survived. As far as I know, no one quit and few complained. They just gutted it out, doing their best with sore muscles, tired legs, and weather beaten skin. And knowing junior high students as well as I do, I am reasonably certain that they had fun through it all.
Last week was a heroic effort of endurance and performance. After four years, they certainly deserved a public acknowledgement in this column. And after three track meets in one week, I think we all owe these brave athletes and coaches a resounding congratulation for a job well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment