Track is one of the oldest sports in history. The first Olympic race was held in Greece in 776 B.C. The track was 600 feet long much different from today’s track. The first college track meet was held in London in 1864 between Oxford and Cambridge. The track field today is an oval-shaped is oval-shaped and has eight lanes.

Track and Field consists of many activities including sprints, middle distance, long distance, relay races, hurdles, jumps, and throws. Pennridge High School has its very own Track and Field team that plays competitively against other schools. Track is a year-long sport held either inside or outside based on the weather. Pennridge High School Track and Field season is about to come to an end before the end of the month of May.

Kaitlyn Novak, a senior and former track team athlete, said, ‘Track is more of an individual sport and I feel as if there isn’t as much team unity compared to other sports.” Novak also gave an example saying everyone does different practices based on their event, instead the basketball team does passing drills and other exercises together.

Track and Field is an exhilarating sport and is especially thrilling during meets: it can also be very stressful, but the excitement makes up for the stress. What makes this sport more interesting is that there are many different sub-sports, so you can specialize in what you are comfortable with. Another thing to keep in mind about this sport is that it involves a lot of practice, like everyday-kind of practice. The harsh training is the one thing that Novak hated about the sport. The coach of the Girl’s Track and Field team at Pennridge High School, Matt Firuta, says this season has been more enjoyable because attendance has been consistent. All the athletes are putting in their best effort for this season, which is paying off; Firuta confirmed that this season has been excellent and said, “4-1 qualified for districts and 4-4 and 4-8 all relays for district.”

Practicing can include all sorts of different drills for different aspects of the sport; for example, for sprints, your practice may consist of biking, pool jogging, and weight lifting; For jumpers, sprinting, cross country, and jumping drills. The different races to run are 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m, and 10000 m. Hurdles may include 100m with 33 hurdles for women and 110 m with 42 hurdles for men or 400 m with 30 hurdles for women and 36 hurdles with the same distance for men. That looks intense and really stressful, but the look on the faces of the athletes after they are done shows how exhilarated they look, not to mention it makes a great workout.

Firuta’s coaching philosophy, in his own words, “I want to win; I want to make people grow as an athlete and person; I want everyone to learn something from every race, and always have fun.” This is a great philosophy that most coaches should have toward their athletes.

Sources
https://pennridgerams.org/main/teamschedule/id/3681634/seasonid/4696837
https://www.athletic.net/trackandfield/SchoolRecords.aspx?SchoolID=6564
https://athletics.mtholyoke.edu/sports/news/2014-15/releases/DIIIWeek2015/diiiweek2