Bonnie Richardson: Track And Field Athlete

Impregnated while on the ball of her running career in Louisiana State University track, Heather Van Norman fought to survive as a young woman and athlete. She ran, baby and all, during her career as a collegiate track runner at LSU in the 1990’s. But even before she would sprint to victory as an outstanding track runner, mother of Odell Beckham Junior, and ladies’ coach for track, field, and cross-country, Van Norman had to face the harsh realities of paying for college and working for her time as an on-team performer. Eating, sleeping, and breathing her life as a full-time student, the young woman had to overcome the monetary and physical hardships with only the help of herself, her family, and her community’s support (Reusse 2).

“Final call girl’s four by eight-hundred-meter relay” called the official. The Ontario Track girl’s four by eight-meter team trooped up to lane one, in unison. I would not have wanted to be racing with anyone else but my relay family. We had trained all season for this one race. Every workout, asthma attack, tear, and shin splint has lead up to this one race to break a twenty year old school record. As we jogged with the official from the bullpen to the starting line, the crowd had uproars of excitement for the athletes. An immense smile grew across my face, not only from the ecstatic crowd, but from the anticipation to race. I approached the starting line, in the first lane, while my teammates arrayed along the fence with the other second,

Truitt came to realize her love for children during her career so, she got her teacher certification and went back to school to receive her masters degree in educational administartion. This allowed her to become a exceptional education teacher while still residing in Florida in 2005. She continued teaching there until 2012, when she had he second child. As a single mother of two, she made the decicion to move back home to Abbeville where she knew had a supportive family. Continuing her career as a special education teacher in her home town lead her back to her high school sport of choice, cheerleading. When the cheer coach stepped down, Ms. Truitt was asked to take over and I will forever be grateful that she accepted the task. I was nervous to try out for cheerleading in 2015 because I knew that Ms. Truitt was somewhat of a tough teacher with a backgroung in criminal justice. Classmates that had cheered that year before encouraged me to try out anyway saying that it was not as bad as I thought. When I made the team I was ecstatic but still nervous to be around Ms. Truitt. It did not take long for me to find out just how wrong my first impression of her was. Within weeks of making the team, she had become a mother figure in my

As a casual reader of the sports section of this newspaper, you come across many articles depicting the triumphs of local athletes. However, very rarely do these articles describe the actual athlete behind the success. Athletes come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. They range from the incredibly talented to the horribly uncoordinated. Some are great teammates while others would rather be a one man team. Certain athletes seek out attention from the people around them while others are modest and stay in the background. The fact of the matter is that there is a wide spectrum of different types of athletes that exist in this world and no two athletes are exactly the same. However, each can be put

The highs and lows of competition have constructed in me into an entirely new athlete. My first year of track and field and I made it to Far East by qualifying in the 4x800 relay. I guess you could call it beginner's luck. I would call it dedication and confidence. After almost a week of running and jumping events, the time has come to announce the winners of the banners. With the awkward silence sitting and waiting for the results to be told along with the rest of the crowd, the announcer finally broke the silence. “The D2 Girls Track Champions of 2015 is Zama American High.” This one night as emotional as an groom seeing his bride walk down the aisle knowing that she is all his. Have you ever wanted to take a moment and breathe in the air of accomplishing your

American athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias earned more medals, broke more records, and swept more tournaments in more sports than any other athlete, male or female, in the twentieth century. Within recent years, women have made huge strides in the world of sports and athletics but are still not getting proper recognition for the time, effort, and talent these women have put into their sport. Gender equality is a major problem in athletics, Title XI, sports media, and the sexualisation of females involved in athletics shows the clear divide in gender equality amongst men’s and women’s sports.

As Gabby first walked on stage to observe she “scanned the 16,500 seats. Some were so high that she could barely see” (197). As she left for the Olympics, her host mom, Missy, gave her an enveloped with a note for each day at the Olympics. The first card came from her mom, it read “Breeeeeezy, you’re an Olympian! You did it! When you’re preparing to compete, I want you to always end up on top. Never forget that god has made you the head, and not the tail” (198). This gave Gabby so much confidence that she was ready to take on the floor. Team USA put itself in a strong position with the all around competition. Gabby came in third which is all she needed to stay here and compete with her teammates she has dreamed of all along.

Zack Clements was a strong and healthy 17-year-old boy, and high school athlete. He played football at Victory Life Academy in Brownwood, Texas.

Shortly after the race started, Nikki Hamblin from New Zealand tripped on the ground, causing US athlete Abbey D'Agostino to collide with her, who also fell. D'Agostino quickly stood up, and gently patted her opponent on the shoulders and asked her to get up. Then both started running again, even though they knew that they had lost hopes of winning the gold.

In field hockey she led the team to win the school's first state championship, as well as helping them in other playoff runs. In basketball she helped her team reach the Western Maine Championship. In softball she was the Southwestern Main Activity Association’s batting champion with a .444 batting average, that same year she was also the team MVP. In her senior year of high school she was an All-State, All-Conference player and captain of every team she played for, an amazing feat. Due to all these accolades she won the Brother Richard Herbert award, which is the award given to the best female athlete each year. She also had success with field hockey and basketball in college, helping both teams make it to the playoffs in multiple years. Her success on the field as a player corresponds well with her success as a field hockey coach. Her record as a coach is 164-45-6, anyone who understands sports knows have over 100 more wins than losses is an amazing accomplishment. During her tenure as a coach she has won seven Southern Maine championships, five Western Maine championships and lastly and most importantly two state championships. With all of her non-stop hard work she has gained all of this deserved success and

Jack Nimble was the fastest hurdler on his high school track team. In fact, he was so fast that he was able to win the state championship in New York. As a state champion, Jack was invited to compete in the national championship. However, being his first time competing in a national championship, Jack was overwhelmed with anxiety and had lost his confidence. As he practiced for the national championship, Jack was not able to focus as he ran. His coach noticed how he wasn’t able to run as fast as he normally would, as well as jump over hurdles perfectly. As the days grew closer to the Championship, Jack’s coach decided that they shouldn’t practice, instead they should have a talk to help Jack with his anxiety and help him regain his confidence.

After another great year of running and training, Chino Hill’s Cross-Country team ended with an amazing season. Throughout all the hard-core training and rigorous races, both the boy's and girl's teams had successful results. Injuries had been a recurring problem, as some runners didn't train during the summer. Despite struggles and injuries that had occurred throughout the season, there were many improvements and achievements in the team. In League the Girl’s Varsity Team won first, and the Boy's Varsity Team achieved second. The Boy’s JV, Frosh/Sophomore, as well as the Girl's JV placed second. In Boy's Varsity the top runners were, Andrew Arvizu, Jake Bergmann, and Noah Rehfeldt, and the Girl's Varsity the top runners were, Rachele Sunagawa,

Simone biles had a very tough childhood. She and her siblings were put up for adoption at a very young age. Simone had always relied on her brothers to take care of her when she couldn't sleep or needed help. Finally, simones grandparent decided to adopt them. Simeone loved her grandparents very much. Simone loved that they had a huge trampoline that she could spend hours and hours flipping on. One day at daycare something changed her whole entire life, they were supposed to take a fieldtrip to farm but it unexpectedly started raining. The only place to go was a gymnastics gym. One boy said: ¨bet you can do a better flip than me!¨

Hundreds of family and friends drive hours just to see a eighteen minute race with the possibility of winning being slim but, knowing this race can change someone's life. We get to the meet earlier than we should’ve thinking the traffic would have been horrible on the day of the State Cross Country Meet. Off in the distance we see big fancy busses with tons of runners from experienced facilities stretching in nothing but, the newest brand of athletic clothes. Feeling insecure about our ability to perform as everyone else that earned their spot their.

There still was a belief that women were too frail physically and mentally to participate in intense competition like Olympics. However, in 1932, Mildred “ Babe” Didrikson disproved this belief by winning two Olympic gold medals and one silver medal in track and field. She had also won every golf tournament she competed in. Her great victories influenced the acceptance of