The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Intense infield traffic will adversely affect a race
You never want to be — or sound like — that generation whose time has passed, lecturing young people in the wrong way.
Generational condescension is unnecessary and is one thing. Lessons in an effort to be helpful are another.
In high school track and field, we have to do a better job as a sport in controlling one element of enthusiasm amid a meet.
The urge for student-athletes to be on the infield and insist on being right up next to Lane 1 has to stop before it becomes impactful on a race.
Because if this keeps up — to this extent — it will.
May 13, I made my annual
trek west for the Greater Cleveland Conference meet, this time at Strongsville instead of its usual home at Brunswick due to a scheduling conflict.
Even though we only have two News-Herald coverage area schools in the field, Mentor and Euclid, there is no question the GCC meet is one of the best league meets in Ohio, particularly in distance, and is worth making the drive.
You’re used to seeing some kind of control over who patrols the infield at a meet — and obviously, some people belong there.
Announcements are made. Coaches instruct their studentathletes who are not competing to go elsewhere. Administrators and officials have been known to lay down the law, too.
It’s not as if the student-athletes who just kind of make their
way onto the infield at one point or another mean any harm.
They want to cheer on their classmates. They want to see the finish of close races.
They want to make a positive impact.
And it’s not as if this is some “kids these days” issue.
Years ago, I was conducting microfilm research on an unrelated topic. There was a picture from the 1953 Mentor Cardinal Relays in the Painesville Telegraph. It was taken from behind the long jump pit as a jumper took off from the board.
What was perplexing about the picture was the runway was lined on each side with people
multiples deep — within about two feet of the board. Could you imagine being a jumper trying to navigate that?
Talk about affecting a jumper’s
line of sight.
Getting back to GCC — and to be clear, it’s not any one person’s or school’s “fault” — but the infield crowding was as bad as I’ve ever seen.
Some meets prohibit all but mandatory infield traffic. Some meets dictate people remain behind the football sidelines.
Some meets are cool with not passing the soccer sidelines — and by the way, depending on the stadium layout, that’s typically the most ideal compromise.
It’s not in any way, shape or form about tempering enthusiasm.
That part of it is wonderful and, if we’re being honest, is sorely lacking in the sport, particularly in the regular season.
It’s about positioning in doing so.
When a competing student-athlete rounds the turn toward the homestretch, the edge of the track is like a magnet for their teammates.
Not only do they remain on the infield. Not only do they surpass every sideline in place — even, at times, when hurdles are used as a barrier — but they go to the edge of the track.
They yell. They gesture. They lean out.
Then, several meters before the competing student-athletes pass, they step back.
The problem is, not every person on the infield pays close enough attention.
Case in point: At GCC, as finals were taking place, several student-athletes from a non-area GCC school just stood there next to the track.
They were talking selfies. They were recording video of themselves and talking on their phones.
That’s great … except for the fact they were paying absolutely no attention to the track.
What if, amid a selfie, in order to get the right angle, they unknowingly take a couple steps backward, just as someone in Lane 1 is coming down the homestretch?
As a late-year Gen-Xer, I know I sound old making this point, hopefully not to the extent of being cranky about it. But it’s better than staying quiet and this having consequences.
How difficult it is to manage this in real time instead of preemptive action was on display at the Euclid Relays. Adults were telling student-athletes to get off the infield if they didn’t belong there. The public-address announcer made the request several times. Longtime Euclid girls coach Larry Nosse tried his utmost to handle the matter personally, directly addressing studentathletes to get back to the bleachers.
There was even more than one threat to not continue the meet until all student-athletes who didn’t belong on the infield departed.
It worked temporarily — and then another wave came along.
Maybe they’re not listening and will if they hear the plea. Maybe they’re indifferent and couldn’t care less. Either way, it’s not good.
At this point, it is inevitable. There is going to be a key race — a highlight event with state-caliber student-athletes or, probably more likely, a 4×400 with a team title, bragging rights for the event or both on the line.
A tight race is going to come down the homestretch, and one of two things is going to happen:
Either the student-athlete is going to be thrown off by the traffic leaning over the side into Lane 1, ruining the quality of a race.
Or someone is really not going to be paying enough attention and, cringing at the thought, directly make contact with a competing student-athlete.
It is going to happen. Perhaps that will be the point at which — finally — everyone learns the lesson the hard way.
Enthusiasm is awesome. Celebrating friends and teammates is a credit to yourselves and your school. Please, be young.
But that impact can still be made a few yards back, behind a soccer sideline, and not crowding up on the competitive surface.
You never want to be that generation perceived as talking down to younger people.
But even worse, you also don’t want to be the cause of a problem that can be avoided with common sense.