Track and Field

Track and field has been one of the most enjoyable extracurriculars I am a part of. Although it was originally just a sport, it has now become a link to friends and a chance for me to push myself past my limits.

When I first tried out for the track team, I was really out of shape. On the first tryout run in my 8th grade summer, I had a time of 16 seconds for the 100m. By the time I reached the fall, I ran a 15-second 100m and a 30-second 200m. I still didn’t know what event I wanted to do, but I continued to do track, trying to improve my time.

That was when I discovered the long jump and triple jump. After we were introduced to it, I liked it right away, initially convinced by the individual nature of the event: one isn’t competing with anyone next to themself; it’s just the athlete, the runway, and the pit. Even though I liked long and triple jump, I was worse at them than I was at them than at sprinting, and not for lack of trying. We had intense workouts and form drills, but nothing seemed to add up initially. By the end of the season, I had a PR of 13’ 10” for the long jump and 31’ for the triple jump, far from where I needed to be.

Over the summer, I started training more for track, going to off-campus workouts, and putting in time in the gym. I also started building friendships with some of the jumps members, and we became a close community. Our jumps team was relatively small, only about 10 or 15 people, but we knew each other very well. This combination of team comradery and persistence helped, and I improved my PR to 15’ 11.5” and 34’ 4”, a large improvement. The triple jump mark even landed me a 3rd finishing in the LA Frosh/Soph Championships, which was a huge boost in morale.

This pushed me to train extensively on running mechanics and drills and work on getting faster instead of solely focusing on jumps. However, our coach left this year, and the jumps group became primarily student-led. Despite the setback of not having a formal coach, we were lucky enough to have a few good teammates lead drills, and I was still able to progress throughout the season. I was able to reach 17’ 5” and 36 10” for the triple jump for my final marks this season.

After my third year of track, I intend to keep pushing further next season and have begun working out independently to refine my technique. Was this experience worth it? Definitely! I value track for the friends I made and the physical fitness I have achieved along the way. Every once in a while, I look back at my first jumps and I’m amazed at how far I have come.