How Track Changed My Life

“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle or last. You can say, ‘ I finished’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that” - Fred Lebow. I began cross country in eighth grade shortly after my brother joined the year before. He enjoyed it a lot, so I thought it would be fun. I’ve been on the team for two years. I would like to run for the rest of my life. Cross country changed my life positively forever. It taught me to push myself past what I thought was my limit. It revealed to me a great community of people and it taught me to leave my comfort zone.

In all my life, I’ve never had a commitment that required so much of me as track and field, both physically and mentally. Towards the end of my high school career, track and field for me meant having to push through a difficult physical condition known as tarsal coalition, a condition that causes inflammation in my feet. With help from my coaches, I had to learn to endure past physical limitation and strengthen my faith in my abilities. By doing so, I became more confident in myself and I was able to help lead other team members to do the same. Not only did track and field teach me to lead, but it also taught me how to be a part of a team. I learned the value of teamwork through building relay race teams. In all relay races, I was either the

Many say Track & Field is an individual sport, but in my opinion it is not. When I am nervous before a race, I turn to my team mates. When I need help on perfecting a Field event, I not only can turn to my coach, but I can turn to my team mates. I have realized that Track & Field is my favorite sport because the bond I have formed with my teammates is like no other. I do not even consider

Laying down in bed the night before the meet was always nerve wracking, wondering who was going to show up to the meet the next day. The drive over to the track was often long and silent. Often thinking of every outcome of each race could drive a runner insane. Finally arriving and seeing all the athletes, spectators, and the crowd. The roar of the announcer echoing through the stadium. I stepped on the track hoping to see a few familiar faces. The cold breeze blowing against my tracksuit. I began to warm up and tuned out

I was able to become the person I never thought I would be by running my way to being happy. My team is always there for me and continues to push me to be the best version of myself no matter what. Running was able to save my life by giving me a

Distractions are massive, multiple students can spend long hours practicing for a game. According to Amanda Ripley “students can play long night games and they can go to late night pep rallies” (11). University's even think that “kids do better in schools when there are later start times than having to wake up usually for athletic practice before 8 a.m. ” (11). This shows that many kids are getting distracted playing sports than doing school work. This is important because now you know how distractions from school sports can affect students in your neighborhood.

In the world today, people have created different hobbies for themselves. Many people like to read different books from different genres. Some like to do life changing experiments for science. Some like to engineer robots that could help us in the near future. Some people like to run and run and run until they know that they accomplished something. This includes me. I enjoy running because it helps me ease of stress, in a way, and helps me grow my strength. And because I enjoy running, I decided to join the Cupertino Middle School cross country. Here I started to on the weekdays, not including Thursday, with a lot of other people. We would run around 2-3 miles everyday thinking that “good enough” is not enough. We went to many meets against

We were out for vengeance, and as the first heat came to a close, the three remaining teams lined up. Our team was Brandon Reid starting off the blocks, Isaiah running the second leg, me securing the third, and Bawa trying to end the race in strong fashion. As I loosened my legs up, the gun sounded, and I watched Brandon get off to a quick start. Before I knew it, Isaiah was 10m behind me and was ready to pass the baton. As I grabbed the baton from Isaiah, I noticed I was a few meters behind a kid from Avon. Never, ever again I thought. My legs planted and exploded off the ground in a simultaneous motion. I was like a cheetah chasing after a gazelle. As the wind blew through my cleanly cut hair, I began to close the gap between myself and the man ahead. In the closing 20m, I tried my hardest to catch the Avon kid, but I couldn’t. As I passed the baton to Bawa, my heart sank. As my chin dipped to my chest so I could only notice the ground, I realized I did not run the fastest 100m. At the end of the race, we finished second behind Avon, again. My arms tensed and my stomach dropped. Losing to Avon was the worst possible ending to my track season. However, my head would be picked up by a more important event that followed days after the Founders League Tournament.

Nothing in life is given to you. Maybe things were given to you at a younger age. But even then, there were still things that were hard that you had to keep practicing, such as walking or riding a bike. I should have known this when I attempted track for the first time in high school.

Track & Field: I was involved my Freshman and Sophomore year. My positions were long jumps and the 100 m. I learned how to build teamwork with others in such a team-oriented sport and also learned to be involved with school activities.

I remember the first year i did track, i was a freshman unaware of how this sport would change my life for the better. When I was born I was diagnosed with asthma, a respiratory condition that causes difficulty in breathing. I figured i would try track and see just how it affected my respiratory system. Practice was a constant battle for me, breathing twice as hard as everyone else. Giving it my all as i could feel my chest getting tighter

Sports have helped shape me into the person I am today. Both cross country and track have increased my knack for supportiveness and taught me the importance of hard work. Furthermore, I value the dedication I have learned from cross country and the self control and perseverance I have learned from track. These acquired skills, which I will continually strive to apply to all areas of my life, are beneficial not only to me, but to those around me whom I effect and, consequently,

Arriving there was culture shock, thousands of teams were practicing for their big moment in any patch of grass or open area they could find. We arrived at our competition tent on Saturday morning with a rush of emotions. We started with flawless warmup, giving us the confidence to hold our heads high. With the thought in the back of our minds that “ no one has done or attempted this before”, “ we are only one of four teams in northwest Indiana to make it this far”, or “ what if were not good enough”. I stepped up realizing the team was looking at me to guide them through this bittersweet moment. I said calmly “ Ladies we are the best of the best. We have accomplished an incredible amount this season and the outcome of this competition will not take any of that away. I will not ask you to go out there and hit every stunt and throw every tumbling pass perfectly; but I will ask you to go out there and give it all you’ve got. If you walk off that floor without any regrets, thats all I could have ever wanted.”

The clamor of a gunshot resounds amongst the silent crowd; your feet bounce off the starting blocks, and with a sense of vigor you have never shown before. You soar toward the finish line, only to come in last place. At the end of the track meet, you are bequeathed a medal as a testament to your participation, and a reminder that although you lost you still get a trophy. As the year continues you accumulate a multitude of these awards; you decide that you should stop trying to improve your performance, because after all you still get rewarded when you lose. The track season comes to a close you're given a varsity letter for your participation, and from that moment on you begin to believe that even if you fail you deserve a reward. You go on to live a lackluster never reaching your full potential, and what more could someone ask from you especially since you participated. Toward the last years of your far from spectacular existence, you begin to question where your award for barely living life is, because after all you’ve been taught you always get a prize once you finish a race.

Anyone who plays sports knows that occasionally students can’t focus on their grades with sports in the way of their academics. According to an article by Amanda Ripley, “sports do have many benefits providing exercise lessons in perseverance and just plain fun but the emphasis has gone too far”(10).