Track & Field: The Story Untold

Track & Field: The only sport that involves rigorous leg drive and a passion for turning left. Track isn't a very popular sport among most high school students, but I can assure you that it has many perks. For starters Track and Field has a fashionable and comfortable uniform layout. It consists of a lightweight blue and Vegas gold tank top and spandex shorts, just like the volleyball players wear! Another perk about Track is that it has no playing time, making it fun for anyone of any skill level. That way everyone gets to run at meets no matter if you're a rookie or veteran runner. Another great thing about track is that just by participating you're gaining strength, endurance, and speed which is helpful in any other sport. The real hip part about being on the track team is that if you win you get some pretty dang cool medals. Now some people say that seeing all the pretty girls from different school at the track meets is a huge perk, but who has time for the ladies when there's a freshly painted, smooth, and bouncy track right in front of you? Just seeing a nice track should make any boy or girl want to get there run on immediately!
 While track seems like a care free sport it actually can be quite serious. Before every race, athletes warm up and stretch, some even vomit because of the pressure they feel, but most of the athletes tend to throw up after the race. All these feelings of apprehension and fear of letting themselves, teammates, or coaches down are all worth it once the starting gun goes off. As soon as the race starts you can't think about anything except going faster or keeping your pace. The best part of the race is the last straight away, when it comes down to who wants it more. Once you cross the finish line you feel yourself overcome by a multitude of emotions. Accompanying these emotions are usually cramps to every part of your body below the waist. This is just one little drawback to track compared to all the fun opportunities it beholds.
The running events are split in to separate categories depending on the length of the event. All the running events and relays fall under one of the four distinct categories: sprints, middle distance, distance, and hurdles. The non-running or field events are what most track and field athletes love the most about the sport. A memorable quote from Cadillac's best high jumper, Quinn Kaspriak says, "High jump is my favorite thing about track because it keeps me away from events like the 800 meter run or the mile!" Very, very powerful words words from one of Cadillac's finest. While field events are a great way to run away from running, however, they require lots of skill, speed, strength, and mastery of technique. Most field events revolve around jumping like high jump, long jump, and pole vault to a certain extent. The other high school field events are shot put and discus which both revolve around throwing. All of this is information is just a scratch on the surface for all the parts of track and field. With my next posts I will go more in depth on the four categories of running events and all field events.