Track Meet Two 2019 Part I


Title: Track Meet Two 2019
Part I

“The pines were roaring on the heights, The winds were moaning in the night....” is in a poem from 'The Hobbit' about a dragon who attacks the dwarves mountain.  We didn’t get attacked by a dragon last night but CG (the other team:) does wear red and their girls won sectionals last year in CC out of eighteen teams.  How did we do?  Autumn Essigmann scored 16 points, Allyson Hayes scored 10 points, and Jilly Bean kicked in one, to give us 27 points and a seventh place finish out of 17 teams, which I thought was pretty good!  Autumn and Jilly Bean are doing great this season but we are down an Allyson Hayes!  Allyson got a concussion in soccer and then tore her meniscus in basketball.  She’s out for the season and next soccer season as well:(  Facing CG with Miss Hayes would have been rough but without her....

“The fire was red, it flaming spread; The trees like torches biased with light, The bells were ringing in the dale And men looked up with faces pale; The dragon's ire more fierce than fire; Laid low their towers and houses frail....”  On Monday I am working with the hurdlers and one of them who is very promising was doing badly.  “What is the matter?” I ask.  “My knee coach!  It really hurts!”  “When did that start?”  She told me it was last Friday evening after practice.  Suddenly it would just hurt randomly and then it would lower in intensity.  “Have you been taking ibuprofen?”  Yes, she had.  “Have you been icing it?”  She told me she was using an ice pack.  “For knee pain?  Kido, you’ve got to ice bath.”  The young lady did that night and said her knee still hurt.  Sigh.  That sounds like a doctor’s trip to me.  It also puts me down to eleven girls, against an army!  A very good army:) 

Jilly Bean ran the hurdles very poorly last race and I was very unhappy with it.  She got a 23 something, the worst time of her entire career!  We got out the form finder and drilled on it!  I also counted her steps, making sure she was four stepping.  Finally I had her do five hurdles and she looked good.  Last night Jill rocketed to a 19.9, which is much better!!  Autumn tore down the lane and won the event:)  Autumn and Jilly Bean went first and second in the hurdles and the pole vault. 

On Monday night Devon Hawkins raised both of his hands in victory and Autumn raced over.  “Did you PR?”  She asked, excitedly.  “No!” he called back, “but Paige did!  She just threw a 70!”  Autumn was very happy for her friend Paige.  Paige was very happy too but later admitted, “I probably won’t throw that in the meet.”  I shrugged.  “Maybe not but that has got to be exciting!”  She smiled.  “It is!” she agreed.  She did not throw a seventy the next day but that’s okay!  We will look for that another day!  Paige also has taken over shot duties from Autumn (Autumn is in the 400 relay right now) and got her first lesson on Monday.  Autumn was pleased with her first throw.  “She’s just standing there right now, dad!  Wait until she moves and jumps!” Autumn said enthusiastically! 

On Monday Cash came up.  “The 3200 relay did their baton passes, so I’m going to work on high jump!”  I shook my head as I watched the hurdlers.  “No, you are not,” I growled grimly.  “You are going to run some mileage with Pink.”  Pink heard me and came over from the jumping pits.  “Coach, let me jump first, and....”  “No.  You guys need to pound mileage... at least two miles.”  It wasn’t that the girls are trying to get out of running, they just both wanted to be practiced up for their jumping events.  Which is great, but I want them to be ready in distance too.  “Off you go!” I say to them.  Later at pole vault they both run by and I call out to them, “I love you girls!”  They both shake their heads but keep going.  After they are done, like kids heading to the Christmas tree they dash to their events.  It’s not that I don’t want them to practice jumping, I’m glad they are going other events for us.  The next day Cash would go third in High Jump and Pink would PR in triple jump!  Pink also won the 1500 and Cash came in second in the 3000!

Zoe.  Zoe worked hard at hurdles but I was concerned.  “Zoe,” I said, “I like what I’m seeing overall but there are some bugs to work out.  I think you have a lot of potential in hurdles but I’d like you to wait on them at the meet and just do the 100 and the 200.”  CG is great at short distance and Lorena and Zoe were in for quite a day.  Zoe asked me before the 200, “Do I have to be in the fast heat?”  “Yes,” I said.  To her credit Zoe got in there and ran as hard as she could.  I can’t wait to work on hurdles with her over break!

Speaking of Zoe, I should mention that Allyson Hayes was at practice helping the modified coach.  At one point she was just standing watching us.  “Team Captain Allyson Hayes, would you work with the girls on the blocks?”  Allyson lit up and started teaching Lorena and then Zoe about the blocks. 

Lorena worked very hard for me and ran solid times in both the 100 and the 200!  I was reminded though that I originally asked her to join track due to her being a gymnast in her home country.  Can you say, “Pole vault, boys and girls?  Good!  I knew you could!”  I can’t wait to work with her in on vaulting soon!

Harlee.  The last time Harlee ran the hundred hurdles she didn’t make it to the finish line... she didn’t even make it to the second hurdle!  She hit the track so hard her shoe went flying off and her opponent almost stepped on her head!!  Wow!!  You would think this would cause panic attacks, war flash backs, or make her timid in the hurdles.  Harlee was right back in hurdle practice on Monday and on Tuesday, ran a 23 making it all the way to the line! 

Kelsey and Dezie!  Both signed up to run MORE!!  That brought Kelsey up to three running events and Miss Dezie to FOUR!!  For a new track athlete running the 3200 relay, the 100, the open 400, and the 1600 relay is a tough schedule but she takes it in stride.  In her last event Dez got the baton and it was clear that we weren’t going to win.  With a determined look on her face the last runner in the relay rocketed off in her last event as if we were neck and neck!  Into the vicious headwind she went and battled it around until reaching the line exhausted!  I love that kind of work ethic!!  Kelsey didn’t have as good a day in her events BUT she ran a solid 100 and I like her work ethic too!

Miss Autumn, aka the Bear.  Autumn goes over 7’6” in pole vault.  “You won, Autumn, what do you want to do?”  I expected, “Can I be done, dad?”  But that did not come out of Autumn’s lips.  Despite the horrific wind pounding us and the cold attacking our extremities, Autumn growled, “Jack it up to nine feet, dad!”  Although she didn’t get over nine feet, her last hit looked really good!

Andrea.  Into the wind Andrea went following CG’s best 800 runner.  I glanced over nervously from the pole vault.  “I hope she can keep that up,” I thought nervously watching.  We were getting pounded in the points department and getting a second place finish would be nice!  When she got around the second time I yelled, “Your almost done, Andrea!  Keep going!”  Nervously I watched the two behind her but they never caught Andrea.  She did get second!

In the beginning I compared CG to a dragon but I want to say, that the analogy is only about their skill.  Many of them were very polite young ladies and good sports.  Their Coach is a great guy and he runs a fantastic program!  He doesn’t always win sectionals but I’m glad he did last year!  I’m proud of my team taking on that level of program and not falling apart emotionally.  In fantasy literature, a common trope is the outnumbered army who has to hold the line.  Terry Brooks uses this to great effect in many of his books and so do other fantasy authors.  If I say, “The battle of helm’s deep,” you think of a cold night, where a tiny army is faced with impossible odds.  One of my favorite parts in the movie is when Strider comes across a young boy, who has to help hold the line.  Strider takes the boys sword and examines it.  "This is a very good sword," he says to the boy.  There is no mention of the boy not fighting... they need every "man" they can get their hands on.  In track and field this week, a very young team faced a very good team, and did their best.  The girls filled every slot against CG, not leaving one open despite being so small!  I am looking forward to see how we do at the county meet against CG and other league powerhouses.  I am hoping my girls will grow in their skills and do well but even if they don’t... sometimes a person is measured by their courage to get in the ring and take on a stronger opponent!

  *** Author Adrian Essigmann has eighteen books in print on Amazon.com, soon to be nineteen!  All of them are $.99 cents on Kindle, with the exception of “An Assumed Risk” which will be (Lord willing) an e-book before summer.  All of his books are available in soft cover too!  Type Amazon Adrian Essigmann and his author’s page should come up ***



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I became a writer Part III

As night was falling, Dad and I got out of the car, and headed for a trailer.   I was used to buying items from Hills or Kmart, in brightly lit stores, with friendly staff manning the cash registers.   (Yes, this was pre-Wal-Mart and the sad thing is, when Wal-Mart started it was just like that too.)   Sometimes Mom would stop at a garage sale and start examining boring clothes and stuff.   I went for the important stuff, like video games or toys!   These two places along with the mall are where I primarily shopped for things.   I tried not to mail order much because of the eternity you had to wait for such things (six to eight weeks!)   When I asked my parents about a “home” computer, I never imagined the quest for one would take us to a stranger’s trailer.   There on the kitchen table sat the object of my hopes and dreams...a Commodore Vic-20!   My Uncle Mark had shown it to me, made his own video games, and now I HAD to have it!!!   Dad immediately acted like he DIDN’T WANT TO BUY
Read more

A Writer's Journey Part II

Title: A Writer's Journey Part: II I sighed as I climbed out of my car at C-G’s parking lot (a neighboring school).   It was spring break, which meant many athletes were away on family vacation, and those that were still home, wouldn’t be coming to the very cold optional practice.   As I had guessed only a few had shown up from my program.   My top 400 hurdler, Sadie Button, was there and my top pole vaulter, Brooke VanSkiver, and a seventh grader named Deven Brutsman.   (I think Sara was there too).   C-G had quite a few kids out and that made it a little more depressing.   Little did I realize that the future of JT boys pole vault was standing right before me on that awful day.   Deven’s grandfather got out of the truck and I knew him by reputation.   His name was Herb Baker and he was probably the best coach in JT history, which included three track sectional title banners in the gym.   “Deven would really like to pole vault,” he told me.   I perked up at this.   I a
Read more

The Old Track Dog

Title: The Old Track Dog When I was a kid I learned cultural wisdom through little sayings.   Sometimes those sayings contradicted each other, like “the early bird gets the worm!” and “Haste makes waste!”   I guess as you grow up, you learn when to get the worm and when hurrying is a bad idea.   Some sayings though are a mystery to a younger person and they just have to take them on faith.   Sayings like, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”   The first problem is that you don’t really understand the concept of old.   I used to think that fifty was an older age and now that I’m forty-seven, I don’t think it is.   What is old has shifted.   I used to think that being a grandparent made you old. Now that I am on the edge of that and I have friends becoming grandparents, I no longer consider grandparent’s “old.”   Now that I’m an older coach, (a puppy compared to some and a venerable ancient to others) I have realized that maybe it’s not the old dogs fault he can’t learn new
Read more