As the spring season begins, so does the beginning of this year's Outdoor Track & Field season. With a number of strong captains and determined athletes, the Outdoor Track & Field Team is anticipating a great season and a strong team bond
“The captain practices are pretty fun, normal, you just do your own warmups; the workouts and just leave. It’s pretty much like a normal practice,” said Zion Chikel, a sprinter on the team.
The outdoor season began on March 18th. Prior, the players on the team used captains' practices as a pre-season warm-up to get into shape and to essentially integrate into the practice routine.
Throwing captain Damien Josaphat stated, “I’d like to put it like this: you come if you want to get better. If you’re good with where you’re at then don't come, if you wanna get better, get better.” There's a bit of confusion when it comes to the practices, some believe the captains' practices are something fun to do to be prepared for the season but some believe it’s something mandatory to improve in performance.
Though there are mixed opinions about the practices, their main purpose is to help players improve their performance while having fun but the most important part is the chemistry and team bonding. The whole purpose of sports is to enjoy the game with your teammates and just have fun. “I'm hoping to build on the team culture we built during indoor track. By the end of the season, the team had forged a tight bond, and I am hoping outdoor will be the same with our slightly larger team,” said Girls’ Distance Coach Megan McCormick.
“Track overall is a very fun and great sport. It’s not really a teamwork-based sport which I really like but it’s also you gotta know a lot about the team so it’s bad and not bad at the same time,” said Joasaphat.
“I want every runner to set a PR in at least one event, and I hope our newcomers find an event they enjoy,” said McCormick. It’s truly a hard sport that takes a lot of commitment, especially from the new athletes, however the team can all agree that the results are rewarding. “For the team, I have high hopes that our girls can repeat as GBL champions,” McCormick expressed.
“I just hope for a good season for myself and my teammates and also I hope to qualify to States for my first outdoor season,” said sprinting captain Alex Martin.
“I think captain practices are good ‘cause it’s been some time since an actual practice in indoor season so a lot of people, myself included, are tired and out of shape,” said sprinting captain Vivian Onyejiaka.
“Being around so many people doing different events as well as meeting other people from different schools and just trying new events even if it’s not even in the competition, I think it's really fun and I like the mental aspect of track ‘cause not only do you have to push yourself physically but it takes a lot of mental strength to do these events,” said Onyejiaka.
But not all athletes join Track & Field as a main sport—some people join this sport as an off-season training or to just stay in shape. “Track is a very good sport for people who wanna start getting into shape ‘cause, well, sports is a lot of running and track is just running so it’s really helpful for building that stamina,” said Raphael Sanchez Martinez, a sprinter on the team.
