Dual school track meet promotes leadership among high school athletes
It was a unique day on the track for members of the Monsignor McCoy High School track and field team as they invited elementary students from St. Francis Xavier School to participate.
The student-led meet allowed kids as young as kindergarten to take part in several track and field events and hopefully get inspired by one of their high school peers.
Amber Hamilton, teacher and head coach of the McCoy Colts track team, says the meet was a positive experience that promoted mentorship and leadership skills.
“It’s good for the little guys to be able to see that the big guys can hang out with them and show them things and they’re not that big and scary,” says Hamilton. “And it’s also good for the big guys to be able to see that they can be mentors to those little guys.”
The dual school track meet also provided younger students the opportunity to try events like a 50-metre sprint, ball throw, frisbee throw and long jump at the Rotary Track and Soccer Complex.
In the morning the high-school track athletes held workshops for students between kindergarten and Grade 2. During the afternoon students from Grade 3-6 attended similar 25-minute sessions with the athletes before capping off the meet with 400-metre relay race.
Hamilton says it’s important that high school athletes see themselves as role models for the younger generation.
“If you’re an athlete, you’re not just an athlete, you’re also part of a bigger community,” says Hamilton. “So all of the things that you do when wearing that McCoy Colts shirt matters. And it matters to the community.”
The meet also helped introduce elementary students to a number of events that can be used to build a foundation to grow as an athlete in several other sports.
Hamilton would like to see the sport be used more often for dryland training to learn how to sprint, jump and throw properly.
“Like, for football or Olympic lifting and things like that. I think these kids and the younger kids are starting to kind of figure out that track and field isn’t just track and field,” says
Hamilton. “It’s teaching you the basis of all the things you can learn going forward, increasing your speed and your technique.”
Thursday was the first meet with both Catholic high school and elementary students but Hamilton says they hope to run similar events for more students in the future.