Author Adrian Essigmann and Christian Writing

Title: How I became a writer Part XXIII When I think of deception in sports, I think of backyard football.   There is the fake handoff, the Statue of Liberty play, throwing the ball to a receiver behind the line of scrimmage and then the receiver throws the ball to the Quarter back as he or she runs past the linemen who just stopped counting “steam boats,” a pump fake pass, the reverse, and so on.   In tennis I have a friend Brendo Johnson who can suddenly slice the ball, so that when it bounces on your side, it has a backspin on it.   When I play Doug Myers, he does the same thing with a ping pong ball and you have to be on your toes when he does:)   Pitchers sometimes throw screwballs and knuckleballs, to try and trick you into swinging wrong at the ball.   Pitchers will also wind up as if they are going to throw the ball and then suddenly throw the ball to a baseman to try and catch a player moving away from the base off guard.   When you think of track and field, how can th

Title: How I became a writer Part XXII Have you ever had an expectation that was crushed?   One day I had a sub in elementary who promised us if we were good for the WHOLE week, we would get a special surprise at the end!   We were all on our absolute best behavior that week, in anticipation of the special surprise!   My friend Marc was excited, speculating what it could be!   At the end of the week, the whole class got the special surprise... a single tootsie roll (or maybe we actually got two)!   I don’t know what we were expecting but that was not it!   As humans we have times when expectations are fulfilled and other times where they are crushed into a million pieces! This year I expected that two girl track athletes that I have had for years now, would have a great year!   You might say, “but coach, outdoor track hasn’t even started in New York yet, has it?”   That is correct, my dear reader!   Track starts on March 4 th this year, so how do I know what kind of year

Title: How I became a writer Part XXI Last year in cross country season, we were on a field outback of the Elementary school.   I said, “Team Captain Jilly Bean, show the new runners Vanessa’s line.”   She lined up on the invisible line and other members of the team moved to either side of her.   A younger athlete who had just come up to varsity said, “Actually, isn’t the line here?”   I came up beside him and said quietly, “Vanessa’s line is wherever the team captain says it is.”   “Oh,” he said, moving to the growing line around the captain.   In JT cross country the boys and girls train together so their captains take turns leading warm ups.   When we are at Elementary facility we always assemble on Vanessa’s line and have been for years now. Was Vanessa a legendary cross country runner?   Yes and no.   Vanessa never won a major meet or invitational in cross country but she is an athlete I will mention to new runners a fair amount of the time.   Why?   Vanessa started ou

Title: How I became a writer Part XX In tenth grade a track athlete I called Miss Hyler, came up to me early in the season.   “I want to run the 100 meter dash,” she said, out of the blue.   I blinked in surprise.   Miss Hyler had made state qualifiers in 7 th grade in the 3200 relay!   I saw her more as a talented middle-distance runner than a sprinter.   “Okay,” I said very slowly, “I’ll let you try it.”   The next meet she burst from her blocks and exploded to the finish line.   My eyebrows went up at her time, which was in the 13s.   I smirked at her and said, “Okay, you can be a sprinter.”   Kaitlin Huyler went on to be our star 100 meter sprinter and a deadly part of the 400 relay.   Her sophomore year we were up against a 400 relay team that on paper was better than us but not as experienced.   Our girls didn’t crack under the pressure beating the better team for sectional patches.   The next week at state qualifiers, they beat us, but it didn’t matter.   You don’t ge

Title: How I became a writer Part XIX “Hey, Dad, weren’t we going to try discus today?”   It was one of those rare warm days in early spring, too nice a day to pass up training, even though it was Saturday!   Autumn and I had spent the last two hours at the JT track and field facility hitting hurdles and pole vault.   It was getting late but I love track and field and so I said, “Yeah, let’s try it!” Autumn had never thrown a discus before and my skill at teaching discus was low but I could give her the basics.   The first thing I talk about with a perspective discus thrower is physics ...which, if you have read some of my earlier blogs, is extremely IRONIC:)   I ran Autumn through some beginner drills and then she stepped into the circle.   If you know much about track and field you might say, “Wait a minute!   Autumn at that point already does pole vault and hurdles, two very technical events, so why add another technical event to her list?”   That is an excellent que

Title: How I became a writer Part XVIII Meg Rogers was one of the most versatile track athletes I ever had on my team.   She could long jump, triple jump, and she was really good at high jump, almost winning sectionals one year!   Meg did the 400 relay for awhile, was a great 1600 relay runner, helping get a second place finish at sectionals in 2016!   Since she was a flier in cheerleading I asked her to try pole vault and it turned out she was decent at it!   Although she never did it in a meet, she did work at it for awhile, until finally sticking with high jump.   She was an awesome open 400 meter runner with an incredible stride for the first 200 meters followed by a sprint to the finish!   It was amazing to watch!   Although she never really ran distance in track and field (she did do the steeple once for fun), Meg was an excellent cross country runner, so she could have.   I remember earlier in career her practicing the hurdles but we used her in too many other places for

Title: How I became a writer Part XVII Brooke was very excited the day a very expensive white pole vault pole came in the mail, her senior year.   I had it purchased to “help” her win sectionals that year.   Brooke was an excellent straight pole athlete and I hoped this would help her learn how to bend...after all, it was a better pole.   Have you ever heard the expression, “killing them with kindness?”   This was what happened here.   The school would even show more kindness (again at my request) to Deven Brutsman by purchasing for him the very best pole on the market...a carbon.   Why was this a bad idea?   If the objective was to “bend” the pole, it was a horrible idea.   I now know that the better the pole the harder it is to bend!   I had the perfect pole for Brooke to bend, a 120 mystic, I just didn’t realize it!   A mystic is the best pole to try and bend but again, I was ignorant of that fact.   In those days I went around to fellow coaches in the area for help and

Title: How I became a writer Part XVI Running.   It means so many things to so many people.   According to some adults running can be a form of torture!   They will joke with me, “The only time I run is if a bear is chasing me!” or “I only run to the fridge between commercials!”   Some of these people are athletic and will run if they are playing a game of pickup basketball but what they mean is they don’t want to run mileage daily.   Others think running is bad for you!   They will tell me, “I want my knees when I am older, so I don’t run.   I walk.”   Recreational runners (aka jogger) want to clear their head, get some fresh air, and sometimes listen to music.   They don’t hurt themselves but they faithfully will put a certain distance of running into their day.   Then you have human beings that hurt themselves a lot and seem to like it!   Whether they belong to a high school track team, a local running club, or are a lone wolf, these people run to gain something. “What?”