Track Field Observation Report

After a short-lived and unimpressive career on the basketball team the previous year, I joined the track team with hopes of fulfilling my dreams of being a varsity athlete. Though determined, I was undersized in both

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

“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,

I had no experience as a runner nor did I have the form. This did not phase me however. That year I promised myself to push through all the six mile runs, sore legs, gnarly blisters, and at times, lack of oxygen. At every meet and speed workout practice I pushed myself further and further. I set a goal every time I kicked off from the starting line and never let myself get discouraged when I failed. By my senior year, I was the fourth fastest runner on varsity. That year our varsity team won the district meet, which qualified us to run in the 2016 state meet in Oregon. The transformation over the years were evident. My determination to accomplish my goal of becoming a faster runner was complete. If I had simply just given up that first day of practice, I wouldn't have ran along side of the fastest runners in Oregon or have met the multitude of people that are now my closest friends. Having a goal sets one up for a challenge, whether it being physically or mentally, goals keep us active and thinking in more ways than one. Still, if someone has self-control, confidence, and a goal, they are still not complete.

I would consider myself to have been a very committed athlete in high school because I worked my behind off training for every season. Leaving my blood, sweat and tears on the track, not walking off of it until I felt I had accomplished what I set out to do. We don’t just run, we work. We work on speed, endurance, strength and technique. We work on teaching ourselves how running is mostly about mindset rather than a physical thing. We do this exercise where you run a 400 meters telling yourself you’re a brick, sounds kind of dumb, I know. But after you run another 400 meter telling yourself you are feather, telling yourself you’re like Mayweather “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Without even realizing it, even after running the first 400 and being dead tired, we realize our times for the second lap were faster than the first! You have to tell your body what to do and be mentally in control so when you’re on your final 200 meters you can push yourself to limits you didn’t know you had. You will find very few track athletes who actually enjoy running themselves to death on a daily basis, but we do it because when you cross the finish and look up and see you name on the score board in a top place, you will want to relive the moment over and over again because it is absolutely priceless. Then when I received the letter telling me I had been offered a scholarship to run and jump at a D1 school, all the hard work I had been putting into this sport over the past four years felt completely worth

All the work paid off. During the 2016 national competition in May, I ranked in the top 9 percent of 1,308 competitors, the highest individual performance ever posted by Decatur High School. I’m now team captain and have coaxed a lot of promising freshmen to join.

The runners who were naturally gifted often did not work hard, did not go the extra mile, and when faced with hardships would often quit. The ones who worked hard were dedicated and stronger runners as individuals. I fell in the place of the hardworking group. I became more dedicated than most with my practice, diet, and workouts. Coach would look to dedicate himself to the strongest from the talented and hardworking individuals. When I stayed back with the few other dedicated runners, it became rewarding knowing that I was going the extra mile. I slowly began to learn that in order to keep up with my competitors I would have to work twice as hard as them to only get half of their talent. I taught myself that practice doesn’t make perfect and perfect practice doesn’t make perfect. I knew I would have to practice until I could not get it wrong and that stuck with me during all my practices and meets.

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,

I have always been told that I got blessed with my genes. Everything I do athletically just comes natural to me. I have had the opportunity to play multiple sports whom of which I have had success in. In all of the sports I’ve participated in I have loved soccer the most and track is just the most natural sport for me. I’ve played soccer for over half of my young life. Soccer just makes me happy when I play. I have also been blessed by being average at soccer too. I didn’t do well my 9th grade season so coming into being a Sophomore I wanted to change that. I worked hard in the off-season and I became a varsity Captain and I finished the season 3rd in the area for assist and was a 2nd team All-District player. I was proud of myself but i knew I didn’t give it everything I had.

Since the 7th grade, I have and continue to push and strive to become the most elite athlete I can be. In middle school, I ran the 100m, 200m, and 400m relay, and the main objective of middle school track for me was to not only place, but to also gain experience before entering high school track. As my high school track career began, track and field was not as much fun and games as it was preparing for future track events. One of the most challenging moments as a freshman was being able to transition from the 100m to the 400m. When most high school athletes think of the 400m, they feel it's one of the most gruesome races to run, and it is. Although I had zero experience running the 400m, I was more concerned doing what was beneficial for

I am beyond excited for all the upcoming first-time experiences, but will I feel the same way further on in my track career? In two years, I would be preparing for my junior year track season. I ultimately will have to make the decision, should I stay in track, or should I begin to primarily focus on graduating? Before I began my student athlete career at Midland University, my high school coach told me that track and field won’t make me money in the future, but hard work in the classroom will. What will I find as my main priority in life as a twenty-year-old? As I get older, that issue would take a lot of time for me to find a true, honest

In 2013 Dan Earhart while walking by his local high school athletic field in Chiloquin, Oregon noticed the track team training without a coach. Dan reflects, “I thought to myself, how will they ever get any better?” Dan discovered the school had a track program but couldn’t afford a track coach, so Dan stepped up. “Our first year we sent eight out of twenty students to state.”

The most remarkable thing about the success of the boys who made up the McFarland High School Cross-Country Team is the hard work the boys put in to be a part of the team. The boys wake up before school at 4:00 in the morning to go straight to work in the fields and pick crops. After school they run 8 miles everyday on large and steap hills. They then come home to an old broken-down home with little money to get by. The boys have to watch their parents sacrifice everything they have to give their children the best education possible. However, despite all the the boys’ setbacks and challenges they managed to run on the school’s cross-country team and win first place in the California state championship.

It was the afternoon of the Tri-County League Championship, or, as Coach Harkins called it, TCLs. Despite the usual mixture of sweat, puke, and sulfur in the air of Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center, there was an air of exhilaration. Everyone was excited because we got to leave school at 12:45 and we had practiced all week on the new track for this. My event, the 55 meter dash, was one of the first events. As I was warming up with the other sprinter on my team, I couldn’t help but feel nervous. That day was my last chance to qualify for states, and I needed to shave almost a tenth of a second off of my time.

I was in for a rude awakening. I had decided to run for both the cross country and track teams. Long distance was not my strong suit, however I greatly enjoyed the family feel of the cross country team. Track was another story. The hurdling coach paid little to no attention to me on a regular basis. There was only one other freshman girl doing hurdles and the coach had decided she was more worth the effort than I. She was added to the varsity track meets and I was sent to the junior varsity meets where I, the only hurdler there, had no one to practice with. As the weeks went on my hurdling abilities deteriorated along with my passion and