BU track

 The BU Track and Field

 

Most people don't try out for track and field because of the skills you would need to obtain for running. Even though some people don't mind or maybe love running, the sport isn't all about running. There's also different kinds of field events that don't require running, like jumping and throwing. For example: discus, javelin, pole vault, shot put, long jump, and plenty more that don't involve enduring amounts of running. But the first couple of weeks of trying out and training, everyone has to put up with endless amounts of running work outs.  

 



 But Heather Homola was talented at the events javelin and pole vaulting in high school. And she was very dedicated to running and training with the rest of the team at every practice. Running is not and never has been a struggle for her. In fact she does it frequently on her free time, especially during stressful times. All her teammates adored and appreciated her as a friend and as a captain. With the help of her teammates and coaches, Heather wanted to further herself by joining and being apart of a college team. She came to the conclusion that Bloomsburg University had the right track team for her.

Coming to this conclusion wasn't easy for her. But the track field and track team won her over.
She knew this was the best possible university for her, educational and team wise. She adored the field set up and how welcoming it felt. It was easy for her to imagine herself supporting and being apart of the Bloomsburg Huskies track and field team.

Looking at Robert B. Redman field, it looks like a normal track and football field with the normal extremely large bleachers. Grass always cut and pampered for the good look. "I could sleep on this grass" chuckled Heather. They paint the lines on randomly, but always painted fresh for the track events. "Most of the time the grass is muddy, lucky you", trying to give the impression that its a good day to come. Walking on the grass, you feel divots in the ground. Heather mentioned "watch your step." You later realize that you're walking through the shot put event area, easy to figure out by the different sectors of the field. Heavy balls being thrown as far as possible could leave some distinguishable holes in the field. On the side of the field is the Nelson Field house, where the track teams equipment is located. In reality, this field was just another comfortable football field that's shared with track and other sporting events.

Humbly walking on the field at 3pm, Heather was eager to start practice. They started their work outs with their typical warm up laps. They run 3 full laps around the field. Which looks breathtakingly hard, trying to keep up with the team as you're controlling your breaths. After that, everyone gets together and starts to stretch using dynamics. Across the field you see athletes doing lunges to high knees. All of them look kind of ridiculous but its good to stretch every muscle before a decent work out. Heather then breaks off with the group of javelin throwers and starts to practice flicks with the javelin. While performing flicks, the javelin throwers aren't actually throwing their javelins. This works on the handling and formation of their body and javelin. Then each of the javelin throwers take turns practicing throwing with different steps each time they throw. Heather takes one step during the first step, takes three steps the second throw, and five steps for the last throw. Giving her practice with her steps, throwing, and handling of the javelin. By the end of the day and after the long practice, Heather no longer feels eager but she does feel fulfilled and accomplished.

"Not every practice is this practical" Heather said. Then she started telling a story, "One time our coaches had us running circuits." Then she explained, "Circuits are when people run drills that the coaches give to us. Started with high kneeing over ladders, then flipping a tire, performing hurtles, jumping rope, and finally finishing with running through cones." After pausing and kind of giggling, "one of the girls on the team trip and splattered into the mud." Trying not to laugh,  heather admitted "I had to hold my laughter, but I felt her pain and embarrassment."

 

But beeing an college athlete is one of the hardest ways to spend your stressful four years of college. Through exams, papers, and everyday practices. It has to be exhausting trying to have good time management skills. But Heather formally wakes up every morning and finds a ride to her 7am practices. Sometimes she has two practices a day, one at 7am and another 3pm. She expresses how these two a days are time consuming, leaving her with a little to none of free time. At the end of these days, she mentions how all she wants is a hot shower and a few episodes of her favorite show on Netflix. She also says how she knows that its not going to happen because school work is more important. So I asked her "Why do you stay on the team when you could have some extra free time for studying or other activities?" She replied "Being apart of a team is the best feeling, especially this team. And I love running and staying active!"