When asked about his college athletic career, Kendall Spencer, a former track student-athlete at the University of New Mexico and chair of the national Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for Division I, explained and discussed the “student athlete experience” and how it helped him grow and achieve great things (NCAA). Moreover, the NCAA state the following reasons why a young man or woman should participate in college athletics: college education, academic success, scholarships, elite training opportunities, exposure and experiences and preparation for life (NCAA). According to Eitzen (2012), “the most important reason for universality of school sports is the widespread belief that the educational goals are accomplished through sport”. Image hearing these things as a 17 or 18-year-old hoping to star a big time university. These positive attributes easily draw in hundreds, but unfortunately, there are…
I Corinthians 9:24 states, “Do you not know that those who run a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you obtain it”. This Bible verse has had significant meaning to me particularly while running track in high school. Track is a sport that requires hard work, determination, speed, focus, and self-discipline.…
My Cross Country/Track coach is one of the best men I know. He not only betters his runners by teaching us, but he also runs with us. Pushing us to greatness with words of encouragement, he implores us to leave all energy on the course/track and teaches us to be exceptional people outside of running. He expresses to us that no matter what we do, he will always be proud of each member of the team; therefore, our actions can’t change his love for us. That’s why it was devastating when he told us before the past track season, that he would not be able to coach for the remainder of the running season from February until we initiated winter conditioning November.…
During track season, my seventh grade basketball coach thought that it would be a great idea if I joined the track team and competed in the 400 meter event. I attended every practice and I was motivated and convinced that I could win first place. However, on the first track meet that I attended, I was in last place. I was so far behind that the girl in first place passed me up.…
Before Brayden arrived to pick me up, I worked both of the horses for a hour each. Afterwards, I bushed them and turned them out to the field for the day. They deserved a day off relaxing and grazing under the sun. Before turning them loose to their own devices, I spray them down with fly spray on and slip their fly masks on. Both horses trot around the field before settling down to graze.…
Running All scars have a memory to go with them. Some are great tales, some are little stories, and some are just little slips while you are making dinner. But every scar gives the person who has one a story to tell. Running. I remember running.…
As spoken about earlier, we have decided to racially prime the white identity in Black-White Biracial individuals because this is the identity that does not dominate track and has historically been given a negatively prescribed stereotype. For this study we used 105 Middle school aged males that are Black-White biracial and participated in Track. The study took place over the span of two days and was housed in an indoor track. The decision to house the study indoors was made in order to keep weather changes and track density from being a limitation of the study. Furthermore, participants were instructed that they would be running the 100-meter dash one time on each day of the study; all seven lanes were to be used during races and automatic timers were put into place to limit human error amongst the recorded times.…
You decide to take a jog you put on your shoes lace them up and head out the door. You take a few stretches and start running throwing your arms in the air pumping her legs and breathing in and out. You as you run with the Lake on your right-hand side the sun beaten on your face. Trying to keep your mind clear of all thoughts you continue this pace for some time you start to sweat breathe heavier and your legs are starting to burn. You realize you ran longer than you thought you actually ran to a supermarket a little supermarket.…
We all have something to be passionate about. Whether it's a sport, a career or a hobby, everyone has that something that they do and love that is deeply woven into our lives. This "thing" is so important that taking this one "thing" away would tear any person apart. My passion, my hunger, my "thing" is running cross country. There has never been a moment wasted on my sport due to its inherent ability to build a person's character and teach the athletes the importance of goal setting.…
The temperature was 83 degrees outside and the humidity was quite high. I just finished swim practice, and I was exhausted from training in the pool. I wanted nothing more than to go home and rest. But, unfortunately, my calendar reminded me that I had eight miles to run. So I proceeded to run down the driveway.…
What drives one to perform better? There is no right answer; for some people, they need to work hard in order to achieve success, and for others, they need to look inside themselves to make the most effective decisions. Not only productive decision making, but self awareness of putting one’s self in the best environment will get one the most desired results. Maybe everyone else knew this and learned from a book, but the true experience makes someone who they are. This “true experience” is actually called the hard way for me.…
“They can’t stop what they can’t catch” This very Nike quote explains where my love for running began. This story is about me winning my first Track race. The day started well going through my classes as usually just as commonly as I do. During lunch I was thinking all about what I was going to eat; healthy or not-healthy. I also had to think about hydration and how much I wanted to eat.…
I have never taken interest in track and field. Never in my mind have i thought that i would be joining track and field on my junior year. But when feeling the wind it’s like if you had wings. When running your surrounded by air the only things you hear are “WHOoooooo” of a melody.…
Competing for Division I school and maintaining the highest GPA on the team demonstrates my commitment, dedication and time management skills. Years of intense work and devotion to the sport of track and field culminated when I earned a chance to compete at the highest stage. I represented my country, Lithuania, at London Olympics, World Championships and European Championships. I gained a lot of valuable experience as an athlete, but I also had an opportunity to coach and teach many young athletes about the sport. I was the head coach for Downers Grove South girls track and field team for three years and lead the team to six Conference Championship titles and two Sectional Championship titles.…
I waited at the starting line for my split in the relay race. I felt sweat drip down my temples from the blazing sun. There were two laps for each of the four people in my relay, I was the final runner. My heart was beating out of my chest from the pressure of the crowd. I extended my arm backward, ready to receive the baton.…