By Rachel Renou
The Odyssey
Troy Athens HS
1st Place
Division 1, Yearbook
Sports Feature Writing
With 30 rookies, the girl’s track and field team was shocked to find that their coach would not aim for a winning season. Instead, their season was focused on learning and improving. The sole purpose to prepare for future seasons kept the girls focused on trying new events and contributing their time and sweat into working toward accomplishing the next year’s high standards.
Coach [Michael] Stallsmith was ecstatic to work with a young team. The 12 new freshmen and 10 sophomores on the team left him filled with promise for the years to come. Stallsmith took right away to dividing them based on their skills
“The secret to being a track and field athlete is to be patient as a rookie. You’ve got to understand that growth and progress in a specific event or specialty is going to take time. As coaches we need to bring them along slowly, so they understand the sport and appreciate even the smallest gain,” Stallsmith said. “That’s how a team and individuals grow and get better. The more experience we have as a team the more success we will have. It can be fun, it can be hard work, and it can take lots of time. In the end, any commitment that one makes, requires these attributes.”
Sophia Georginis, junior, was quick to favor the sprinting part of track competing in events such as the 100 and the 400 relays. This meant practicingwith her teammates to work of each other and improve on their running ability. At times, Georginis found it difficult, but was eager to develop her skills further.
“At first it was hard to keep up with everyone but now I have gotten more in shape so it doesn’t seem as hard as it used to. Sometimes I would get discouraged but I knew eventually it would become easier. Things that helped me were learning how to use
starting blocks, pacing, and moving my arms faster to propel me forward,” Georginis said.
In the long run, Georginis would be more equipped for competitions and setting a goal to compete on varsity as a senior. Though for her first year, it was all for the experience.
“Right now it’s a lot of fun because even if you don’t do well in your meet no one rags on you; but, next year, I look forward to a more competitive season where I focus more on winning.”
A bump in the road came early for sophomore Kaylee Allen, when two weeks into practicing she pulled her hamstring. With the setback, the upcoming meet would be out of the question for her; however, Allen didn’t let herself become discouraged.
“I pulled my hamstring so I wasn’t able to sprint. I ended up missing a lot of practice which meant I didn’t condition before the season started. Now it’s just recovering and improving my skills, so next year, I will be able to do better,” Allen said.
It looked like the odds were in the rookies’ favor. The years to come after their year of hard work and improvement would carry them far in their meets. Though it was the veterans that did the majority of work at meets, everyone else waited for their time to shine.