Background

At the time of writing this, I am not officially on the track team, but I have attended a pre-season practice. This is my experience; keep in mind that I have never done a running sport or sport during highschool. I was asked to look into joining track due to the lack of throwing event participants. I gave it some thought and decided to check it out.

Warm ups

The first thing that happened was 8 laps around the inside loop of the high school. I was able to keep up with the group for the most part; around lap 5 or 6 I started to get a bit sore and light headed. By the time that we got to the end of lap 7, coach Clark had us stop and start to stretch. I didn’t realize that I was so out of shape until I was struggling to do most basic stretches.

The start of the fun

After the stretches we did pushups while we waited for someone to get back. The pushups were surprisingly easier than I thought it was going to be. We followed Coach Clark as he called out “up, down, up, down, half way down, hold, and so on and so forth”. While we were doing pushups, we were having some banter with Coach Clark. I realized that my core was starting to get shaky. Coach Clark had us run another 8 laps at a minute lap pace. He had me only run 5 due to my inexperience and being less in shape. 

Throwing

After the running Coach Muller had me join him so he could show me the basics for throwing shot put. I was struggling at first due to my shaky legs and core, but I pushed through. Step by step I realized that I was starting to enjoy this. 

Workout room

The last thing that I did at practice was going to the workout room where we did exercises; I had zero idea as to the name of them. One worked out the core and arms, and then we worked out our legs with what I can only describe as box jumps. 

The end

We all finished up with everything, and slowly we went home. I was the last of the athletes to leave. I made sure to give both coaches a handshake and thank them for the experience. The drive home was a little rough due to my body aching and feeling completely worn out. Overall I would rate the whole thing with a 9/10; I would and am going to do it again.