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Over spring break we asked Ellie if she wanted to go out for track. She looked at us like horns had sprouted out of our heads. BUT…she didn’t say no. She tried throwing up a few road blocks (‘My best friend isn’t doing it.’ and ‘It’s too late to turn in the forms.’) but she didn’t protest too strongly. Excellent!
Honestly I didn’t think she would stick with it. We didn’t mean to misrepresent track, but somehow she got in her head that it was like a club and only met once a week. She also thought she was really only going out for the high jump so she wouldn’t have to run very much. Oops. False on both accounts. Track is four times a week and there are so many kids out there that she didn’t even qualify for the high jump.
Amazingly though, she has only complained once. (Ellie is NOT a fan of fartleks.) She is running relays, she is running laps she is trying the shot put and hibiscus. (That is really the discus but Kate called it The Hibiscus and now the name has stuck.) Allen and I are so proud!
Ellie is not the fastest runner, or highest jumper or farthest flinger. But she is totally excelling at the event that I wanted her to do. MY main motivation for encouraging her to do track was purely for the social aspect. She has met all sorts of new girls that she didn’t know. She has had to team up with them, work together with them, run in the rain with them. Let’s face it…there is a whole lot of standing around in track. With six heats (8th grade boys, 7th grade boys, 6th grade boys, 8th grade girls, 7th grade girls, 6th grade girls) of every event there is plenty of time to hang out. It was pure joy for me to watch her at her first track meet. The running was good, but the giggling and chatting were the BEST!
A big thank you to all of the coaches (there are at least 6) who incredibly manage to encourage, teach, organize and corral these 100 some odd kids every day.