Personal Essay - WRT 105 - Will Masters

Never did I think that running in a straight line would be one of the biggest parts

of my high school experience and a major part of who I am today. Growing up, I had only

played basketball and soccer, because they were all I found success at until I found track.

I stumbled across the indoor track room at the beginning of my freshman year of high

school, and my whole perspective had shifted. It was like it was meant to be. I had only

been a freshman for a couple of months, and one of my best friends had come up to me

after school and asked me if I wanted to try out for the track team with him. This was my

first time hearing about this opportunity. It was a fluke that tryouts were that day. The

first person I met when I arrived at tryouts was the head coach, Laddie Lawrence. Laddie

is someone I further realized I looked up to as a father figure. Laddie had been the coach

of the track team for around forty years and had been a gym teacher for ten, so he

definitely knew the ins and outs of this new scenery. My initial impression of him was

probably the main reason why I was so drawn to this team and sport. He was a very

welcoming and warm person who knew that being a freshman was stressful enough, let

alone adding a new sport to the mix. From the first day of tryouts I could tell that the

track team of Staples High School didn't just feel like a team, it felt like a family.
 There is a lot more to track than what meets the eye. There is a sense of drive and

motivation that you have to have within one's self. Because there are no teammates to fall

back on for support. You are the one running and no one can push you as hard as you

push yourself. From the first day of tryouts, I was eager to compete with my teammates

to prove I had speed and could hold my own even though I was green. During my first

couple weeks of practice, I started to learn the aspects of running and maintaining good

skills as a sprinter. Even though I was a freshman I was determined to make an

impression. In doing this I made it my top priority to attend every practice and bond with

the older sprinters. I learned from their skills and developed good habits that would allow

me to be successful in the future. With help from older teammates and my coach, Laddie,

I was able to acquire the skills it took to be a sprinter. One of the most notable things

about Laddie is that no one on the track team called him “coach”, he wanted us to be

more personable with him and call him by his nickname. His ability to be personable

truly symbolized the team as a whole and made it seem like so much more than just a

high school sports team. We were a strong and united community, and we were a family.

Most people feel as though running is torture, but it was quite the opposite for me.

I obtained a newfound love for sprinting. When I'm sprinting, whether in practice or in a

meet, I am completely locked in. Many people talk about the runners high that you can

achieve when sprinting, determination and drive completely take over my mind and body

allowing me to perform exactly as I wanted to. Many people participated in school

athletics because their end goal was to boast about winning – I ran because it slowly

became a part of who I was, but also to win. There were practices where I wanted to quit

because of how intense and harsh they were on my mental and physical being. There

were meets that discouraged me because I was not first to the finish line. Yet each time I

put on my running shoes, it was a new day, a new race. When I was running all of the

burdens I was holding faded away. The second my music started playing I was

completely dialed into becoming a better athlete. I blocked off the work that needed to be

done, the friends I could be hanging out with, or the new memories I could be making.

My focus was clear: If I don’t do better than the last race, this isn’t worth it. I wanted to

win, but at the end of the day I wanted to do it for myself.

Being on a team means joining a new family. The teammates I made became some

of my closest friends because they helped me become a better person as well as a better

athlete. We were all driven to improve our skills, times, and racing abilities – surrounding

myself with people who value the same things as myself helped motivate me. One of the

best things to come out of joining the team was walking around school and seeing so

many familiar faces. It helped expand my social life because our interests lined up with

one another. If there was one person who shaped me into the person I am today, it would

be my coach, Laddie. He was a father figure to me in more ways than I can count. Aside

from being my mentor, his positive spirit and drive inspired me to do better with every

day that passed. Outside of the team practices and meets, he asked about how school was
going, offering his help along the way. This changed me in many ways because I realized

that I was more than just a boy he coaches.

If there is anything I miss in this world, aside from my family and friends, it would

be running. Since freshman year, being on the track team slowly became a part of my

identity, influencing my way of thinking and how I went about life. I reminisce over the

people I met, the coaches I had, the meets I took part in, and the gatherings we had as a

team. I miss the atmosphere of competing alongside a team, the adrenaline rush, the

support from those around me, and the pure joy I felt while running. I never expected to

fall so in love with a sport that the thought of doing a different one would feel foreign to

me, but that is what happened with track. It is the things we least expect that change our

lives completely for the better; that’s the beauty of life. If it weren’t for track then I would

be a different person than who I am today. I cannot imagine having the same outcome of

changes to myself if I became completely and utterly invested in basketball or soccer.

While the teams were united and the coaches were outstanding, they didn’t draw me in

the way track did. While track is a team, you matter differently as an individual; people

pay attention to the way you run, how you improve, and how you support others. I miss

the community I was a part of – the family, in better words – because the team went

through ups and downs together. When my friend lost, I felt the loss with him. When he

won, I celebrated like I had crossed the finish line first. I wish I could go back to one

more practice, one more race, one more day on my high school team.
 My family supported me every step of the way through my years of track. My

mom always told me it is a parent's greatest joy to see their child succeed and she proved

that statement to be true. There are a lot of families and parents that are invested

wholeheartedly in their children's sports and my parents were no objection. They attended

every race cheering for me with every step I took. I wouldn't have wanted it any other

way having their support allowed me to push myself to my maximum potential. A core

snapshot I retain in my mind is the face of my family members as I crossed the finish

line. I will never forget how proud their facial expressions were. That alone was

accomplishment enough. My mother may not understand all the aspects it takes to be a

runner but she will do all she possibly can to show she is in support of me and all the

efforts I put into the sport.

There was a point when running was a struggle and the thought of quitting filled

my thoughts. Every athlete goes through this hardship. The motivation is loss and the

sense of dread fills the body when it comes to having to attend another practice and put

your all into something that you don't want to. This lack of motivation came after one the

toughest practices I have ever put my body through. I can clearly remember running the

10 consecutive 400 meter sprints with barely any rest and I pushed through because I

knew that if I gave up, I would never let it go. Everyone in our group, including my best

friends who were some of the best endurance runners I knew, ran so much we threw up. I

felt depleted and drained and definitely did not feel like coming back to practice again the
next day. I was mad at myself because I knew I was stronger than what I showed at

practice. I used that anger and feeling of dissatisfaction to motivate myself into showing

up the next day and performing better, stronger and proving I am a runner and I deserve

to be here. The kickstart of these feelings and the increased burning passion for track

were always the fuel to performing a personal record, as the increased workload and

pressure of running really taught me all about competition that comes with sprinting and

what it means to really be part of a community that I could call my team.