Hope of a Dream

 Track and Field Times

Hope of a Dream

Track and Field is one of those sports that captivates the imagination. This is for many reasons, some for obvious reasons, others for not-so-obvious reasons, but all the reasons are inspiring and valid. My track and field career stretches all the way back to 5th grade. I remember I was so excited to compete in a race against other kids. I think it was a 75 yard dash. . I do remember getting soundly beaten. I did not really know how to take that. My elementary school did not really teach us anything in 5th grade about track and field, they just threw us out there and told us to run. Fortunately, I switched to another K-8 school in 6th grade that had a much better sports program that actually taught us things and they were better organized, so the next time I competed I had a better understanding of what I was doing.  But those were such small steps into a giant world of track and field. Little did I know that many of the track and field events stretched back to ancient Greece, so I was rather unaware of the rich history until about my 8th grade year. 

That was the year it all came rushing at me in an olympian wave. It was summer of 1984. I had just graduated 8th grade and the Olympics had just arrived in LA. They were all over the TV, with the US track and field team taking center stage, Carl Lewis leading the charge with his 4 gold medals that matched Jesse Owens' 4 gold medals from Berlin in 1936. I was completely mesmerized by everything. It was there that I launched a dream of making the Olympics.  I had no real plan or method or anything to follow, just a big dream, a feeling of what it could be like to be there, and a goal of running track and field. 

Through 4 years of high school,  I dreamed of representing the US in the Olympics for track and field, but our track program was really not all that great. I was the school record holder in triple jump by the time I graduated, but I had a lot to learn. Fortunately for me my sprint coach referred me to one of his old teammates that coached at CSU, Chico. That is where everything really started to progress. I was not that special even though I did hold a school record in triple jump. My school record really was nothing to discuss once I got to college. I had a lot that I had to unlearn because I jumped for 3 years with very little coaching in the event. 

Even in college, my dreams may have been big, but I learned that there were a lot of people with the same dream, and that a journey to the Olympic games, or even just the Olympic trials, is an experience unto itself, whether you ever make that far or not. It really is a mindset, and that is perhaps the greatest thing I learned in my entire athletic career.  Just to be clear, I was never that close to qualifying for anything in my track and field career as an athlete.  But I did find my personal limits and reached beyond my potential in terms of athletic performance, and I am incredibly grateful for all the people and all that I achieved.  What I did realize is a dream is more than just a goal, it is a journey that you must be present in to appreciate the full experience. I also realized, how many people around the world dreamed like me, but were never really that close? Are not their stories equally important in the Olympic movement. I 100% believe that there are countless untold stories of Olympic dreams that do not get heard because the more glamorous ones usually get the attention, but that does not make them any less important, because I know several of the people who had dreams like me and never made the Olympic trials. The Olympics is more than event, it is an ideal to be lived on each of our own levels, if we so choose. 

Now I have the blessing to teach other athletes about what I learned and what they are able to do, if they choose to do so. Sport, the Olympics, the races, the training, and everything in between are all just part of the journey that teaches us about life along the way as we go through the experience.  I would argue the most important aspect of all that is the chance to meet all the people on your journey the friendships that you make.