Afomia Tensae, Staff Photographer
Track is a sport that has been around for many years consisting of different levels ranging from middle school all the way to an olympic level internationally. Within this, track is a sport that accommodates every person that contributes to the activity. The underlying aspect of people's perspective of track is that it’s consistent with just running and how it's only about how fast someone can run and the limit to where people can push themselves in order to run across a red oval. However there's more to it. With the mental battles student athletes face or the bonds, friendships or communities in it there so much more that goes into that people don't realize.
Every sport has something in store for each student athlete that accompanies their strength whilst their weakness they work to overcome. Whether they can put all their effort in it from the arms, legs, confidence, etc. Track is a sport that offers multiple events ranging from high jump, shot put, hurdles, short distance, long distance, javelin, relays, pole vault, triple and long jump. Each allows students to work towards goals they set for oneself while being able to find a place and or area where they can display their talents through it. But in the process, the mental blocks student athletes in track have to face is what keeps their determination and a passion for the sport in order to succeed and reach goals they have set for themselves. To some track may be seen as easy, but the hardest part is being able to overcome the mental blocks in order to continue and believe that one can be able to do anything they put their mind to even if that's setting a new pr, jumping further, or not falling over any hurdles, it's those little things that change everything and people's perspectives in their events they do throught the whole season.
One thing is for certain: despite all the lactic acid workouts, the anxiety before student athletes in events or the mental block they face, they still continue to work hard. They work even harder the next day because of the passion they have for the sport by giving all their full effort and time into it daily. This video depicts the emotions and opinions of those from different events from the perspective of track and their stories throughout their own personal journeys they go through in track and field and how the sport truly is more than just running.
