Friday, March 24, 2006

High School Track Season



My son had his first official meet of track season yesterday. I love the energy that permeates these events - the kids are hyped, the coaches are cool, the parents are eager. Even though Riley runs cross country, in track he focuses on high jump. (I was trying to insert a video of him jumping yesterday, but it didn't quite work, the best I can do is a warm-up picture (he's the one with his leg stretched out behind him) and one blurred shot of his approach). Yesterday, he cleared 5'6" without ever scratching, then scratched on all three attempts at 5'8". He was able to clear 6' once in practice and his goal is to do it consistantly in meets. Our little digital camera that we got for Christmas has a video feature, so I caught his jumps for him. He came home and loaded it up on the computer and instantly saw the error in his form, so he is eager to get to practice today and work on it. (After I took these two shots, through the chain-link fence, I snuck out on to the field so the videos would be closer).

Back when Riley was a freshman and went out for cross country, I was thrilled to discover that the same camraderie and support that we find in the greater running community also applied to cross country. The kids are all helping each other out, they are all polite and cheerful and it is so much fun to go watch them. Seems like the track team is more of the same - of course, lots of the cross country kids are on the team, so they carry that spirit with them. It was so much fun to watch the guys at the high jump run over to cheer on the hurdlers, to shout across to the long-jumpers and dash across the field to yell for the relay teams. These kids are awesome! I also think it's great how much the kids interact with the coaches and parents. Most of them are chatty, walk right up and say hello, run over to the fence to discuss the event with their parents and are just plain old friendly. There are a few who are "too cool" for words, but the majority are great.

I think the school had an aura of energy around it yesterday - every field was in use. The school property is sloped, so the fields are kind of terraced. Yesterday on the lower field there was a soccer match, then moving up one terrace, there was a tennis match, then up one more to the track where the track meet was happening, then on the same level, next field, was both boys and girls lacross practice. The only teams I didn't see were the golf team (I bet they are never at the school) and the baseball teams. Pretty awesome day on the fields.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You mean Riley is not "Too Cool." I hope you behaved yourself and did not yell obscenities at the other team.

Olga said...

Go, Riley!

onepinkfuzzy said...

cool beans!