No Track, No Field, No Problem!

As I mentioned in my last post I have begun working with schools in the Northeast Kingdom, or specifically in Hardwick, VT. Hardwick is a small town halfway between Stowe and St. Johnsbury on Route 15, and home to Hazen Union High School. Hazen Union has a track and field team, and starting two weeks ago I began working with them as an assistant/conditioning coach. I don't know a whole lot about track and field (I was never on a track and field team) but I can certainly help them with conditioning and getting in the right physical shape to perform. The team is great and I am excited to work with them. Only one small issue with the track and field team; Hazen Union doesn't have a track or a field. Needless to say we won't be hosting any events. However, this far from deters the kids, in fact they embrace it. Their team shirt from last year reads "no track, no field, no problem!" Pretty sweet.

To be accurate Hazen does have a jumping pit and a throwing area for the discus and shot put, and at the end of last week they have a semblance of a track. Roger, an older gentleman who is also volunteering his time, and I began marking up the school parking lot with a white spray can measuring out distances for all of the events our athletes would be competing in. So far we have the 100m, 110m hurdles (men) and 100m hurdles (women), and the 4x100 relay which is actually two laps around a 200m track. Measuring out the 200m relay track was especially challenging as Roger and I were trying to keep as much of the turn/straightaway proportions the same as a 400m track while staying on the slab of asphalt. It was actually lot of fun, and instead of being bummed out about our unique situation, the kids were psyched to have fresh distances measured out for them (turns out our 100m dash from the beginning of the week was only 90). Also, this also may have been the first time in my life that I have actually needed to use Pi in a real world situation, thank you high school geometry class.

We have our first meet this Thursday about an hour south of Hardwick. If anyone has some helpful tips for the team let me know!