I was sitting in the car on the way to school when all of a sudden my mom asks me the question that I had been dreading. She turns and says “Do you want to go out for track and field again this year.” My brother nods his head yes in agreement. I respond with “Not really.” My mom’s head snaps to look at me as though I have just sworn. I quickly justify the fact that I would rather work instead and make money. Then she explains that I need to do it to stay in shape and that I won’t if I didn’t go out for track. I shrug it off and ride the rest of the way completely silent. When signups come around she signs me up without asking and I know I’m stuck for good. I was upset that she had done it without asking, but I had to give it a try.

The first practices are always boring because we always had to teach the new kids how to do everything and this irritated me. Starting off with never-ending stretches and embarrassing running technique drills. Next, with jumping exercises that wore the team down so much, we could barely walk. After that was core that burned and felt like someone lit a fire inside of my stomach. Forced to run out in the cold rain even though our legs felt like they were going to fall off. I hated the first few weeks because all we did was this same cycle. The only thing that was fun at this time was to hang out with the older kids, but that wasn’t compared to the misery of waking up with sore, tight muscles. But the one thing I know now is that all these pointless drills, exercises, and running was that it was training me to be one of the best freshmen in the HVL.

When it began to warm up outside the coaches finally allowed us to jump into the long jump pits. So, I took my steps, “7 on my right” I yelled to my friend helping me count my steps. I ran and he put my mark down. I waited to catch my breath, but when it was time I ran as hard as I could and jumped out giving it my best shot. My friend took the tape measure and I grabbed the other end to put at the end of where my feet landed. I had jumped 17 feet and 4 inches! This point in time is where I thought I could actually do something this year because this jump was way farther than what I had jumped last year. I started taking practice more seriously and worked to build muscle in my legs in the weight room. This helped out significantly for meets yet to come.

In a junior varsity track meet I was warming up getting ready to jump on a nice sunny afternoon. My legs felt nice and loose and I knew that today would be a good day. I was the first person to go on the runway for my jumps. On my first jump I had set a new personal record with a jump of 18 feet 5 inches. My jaw dropped when I heard them announce it. I was in disbelief, but sure enough, the marking was true. I felt on top of the world that point in time. To make things even better, I later ran 12-second 100-meter dash which was also another personal record. At the end of the year, I had beaten my old personal records with a jump of 18 feet 8 inches and running the 200-meter dash in 24.9-seconds. Accomplishing all these goals have made some of the best moments in my life so far.

It’s sad for me to think about the fact that I almost didn’t go out for track and field this year. I wouldn’t have been able to have fun with all my friends and get to set new personal records. Most importantly what this season has made me realize is that in the future I could do something great. The school record for long jump is 21 feet 9 inches and with the way I have improved I think one day I can beat it. I had beat my personal record from last year by more than 2 feet so if I can continue to make that rate of improvement I will be able to break the record. To do this I must put in the work and practice to accomplish this big goal. I am beyond happy that I went out for track and field this year and I hope to one day break the school record.