Track Meet

A sure sign of spring is a track meet! Yesterday I was privileged to be in attendance at one to watch my son compete in long jump and the shuttle hurdle relay.

I've encouraged my kids to go out for track because its an individual-focused sport, in contrast to the team focus of football and basketball......to add variety to their overall sports experience. As a spectator sport, though, track leaves much to be desired. It involves alot of standing or sitting around, WAITING and WAITING for the event you wish to see. And if the weather is at all cool, as it was yesterday, a winter coat, gloves, and scarf are a necessity......a blanket, too, to sit on on the chilly bleachers.

My boredom was so complete as I waited for my son's long jump attempts, that this poor little oak leaf lying on the asphalt track caught my eye, seeming to shout...."Take my picture before I get trampled by a runner's cleat!" I was more than happy to oblige.

Finally, my son took his turn at jumping into the sand-filled pit:

************

********

*****

**

He was pleased that he placed fourth in the preliminaries, with a jump of 17'11", advancing to the finals, along with seven other long jumpers. There he managed a jump of 18'1" (I always wonder how on earth they can measure the inches accurately in sand.), but placed seventh, meaning he didn't get a ribbon or medal. His goal for this track season is to improve to 19 feet or better.

After another long wait, the shuttle hurdle relay took place. I don't care for watching hurdle races------I worry the runners will trip and take a bad spill.

Actually, my favorite race is the 4x100 meter relay, but, of course, its spot in track meet schedules is always way at the very end, which I rarely stay around for. That race is totally enthralling.......sprinters running as fast as they can.......and then there are the breath-holding moments during the baton hand-offs. Yes, its a great race.....I can see why its at the end of meets.....in order to save the best for last.

When my kids were students at our Lutheran dayschool, I "coached" track for several years. Don't be impressed.......its difficult to get coaches, and often parents end up voluteering just to be nice. But, I did enjoy helping the kids get ready for their one track meet each spring; all the schools in our Lutheran district would compete on a Saturday in May.

My duties included sizing up the kids' situation and figuring out who should run what, throw what, jump what. Our school certainly did not have a track to run on, so we'd get permission to practice at a local high school a couple of times, so the kids could get used to running in lanes and doing baton hand-offs (hand-offs being the most nerve-wracking part of track, in my opinion).

Our small school often lacked enough kids to fill every event at the meets, but one event we always filled was the 4x100 relay. That would be the highlight of the whole meet, and we usually won it, too. One year, I thought we had a fairly good boys' 4x100 team chosen, although there was one kid I had qualms about. On the day of the meet, they started the race well......I was standing at the top of the bleachers, just praying the hand-offs would go well. Everything looked fine from the stands......although there was maybe a bit of iffiness in the hand-off on the far corner, but I couldn't see it well enough to know for sure. Our anchor runner crossed the finish line way ahead of everyone else, and we were all jumping for joy at a victory. So we thought, anyway.

Next thing we knew, they were announcing that our relay team was being disqualified because a runner had stepped out of his lane......during that iffy hand-off.....!! Oh, I was steamed for a moment. But, what can you do. The boys were SO disappointed, although I told them they were the winners in my mind, even if they didn't have a medal to show for it.

Anyway, after the race, one of the mothers......and, actually, she was the mother of the boy who muffed up......came up to me and had the nerve to ask: "Did you work on hand-offs with them in practice?" Like it was MY FAULT that HER SON had stepped out of his lane! It had been a very long day and I was sunbaked, and almost felt like slugging her. However, I simply said, "Yes", and walked away. But, it gave me a small glimpse of the crap that coaches have to put up with.

And, yes, I've done my share of complaining about coaches, but I'll take this moment to say: Appreciate a person who has the heart to work with kids, coaching them in a sport, and hopefully helping them to learn life lessons.

Have a great Saturday!!