The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Once a year, school day would be fun for duals
As full as the stands can be for district, regional and state competition for track and field, there is one rather sad element to it.
Even if the partisan support may be there through teammates, coaches, family and friends, and even if the community aspect of support comes together for appreciation of noteworthy performance, track and field student-athletes will never know what it’s like to have an atmosphere that mimics their fall and winter sports counterparts.
The reasons abound for that, of course — but it doesn’t make it right.
Especially when there might be a simple fix hidden in plain sight.
We’ve been dealing with some heavy topics recently in this space — and let’s face it, we could all use something more fun to discuss every now and then that doesn’t elicit vehement and/or venomous disagreement.
With that in mind, here is a fun and friendly suggestion for one of my beloved sports, track and field, to give those studentathletes a school-driven raucous atmosphere they so richly deserve.
Once a season for a midweek home dual, against your biggest rival, schedule the meet during a school day.
Put your student body in the home stands. Bus over the rival school’s student body and put them in the visiting stands.
And have at it. Wrestling has provided the blueprint, with the Chardon-Riverside Assembly Dual and a handful of West Side schools scheduling duals in the last few years during a school day and filling the gym with students to watch the action on the mat, cheering on their classmates.
Such a concept isn’t out of the question for track and field.
We can’t have that atmosphere for weekend invitationals obviously. On a Saturday morning with possibly less-than-ideal conditions and upward of 12-16 teams at a meet, there is competition but not necessarily a direct head-tohead, one school vs. another type of element to it.
The stands are littered with parents and well-wishers for specific student-athletes and schools. If the invitational is further away, those low numbers of attendees understandably drift down even more.
It’s not that people are generally indifferent to track and field. It’s just that track and field can be an acquired taste in its application.
You can’t reasonably expect a large crowd of people to sit around for four, five, six hours — no names please, but I’ve been witness to meets in years past that have taken nine hours — and not at the very least grow impatient and bored.
Everything would have to line up properly to bring it to culmination. But it’s doable. In 2019, the Diamond League professional track and field circuit saw the need to make the sport more attractive for television audiences.
The Olympics is another matter altogether, especially on a time delay when NBC can be selective and condense the action to what will interest its viewers the most.
Field events fall victim in a sense to this tendency, because those are usually condensed to a few select performances and medalists in a brief cutaway from running events. Although strides have been made with live streaming of those events available for viewers interested in watching a given field event from beginning to end.
Expecting a casual viewer to sit through prelims, lag between events and general downtime at a track and field invitational is a bridge too far.
Even diehards will admit that. For example, I can happily stand around covering a high school track and field invitational on a Saturday for hours on end and not give it a second thought. Not everyone feels that way, though, and that’s fair.
So the IAAF, the world governing body for track and field, floated the notion of condensing the number of events at Diamond League meets, the intention being to fit an entire meet into a 90-minute window.
We’re not talking about every dual, tri or quad.
We’re talking about one dual meet every spring against the biggest rival you have on your schedule.
So if an opportunity for all student-athletes on a track and field roster isn’t as prevalent for one fewer meet — and the tradeoff is an unforgettable atmosphere, wouldn’t you be willing to give it a shot?
Here’s how you do it in generality, after getting the students in place in the stands to cheer on their schools:
Make sure the clerks, starters, officials and meet administrators eliminate all but the necessary lag time between events.
Put the timeframe on a tight rolling schedule similar to the one AustintownFitch operates so effectively for Divisions I and II regional competition every year. Have each team put their three best and/ or most strategic studentathletes in each field event — and by teams, separate boys and girls teams of course. Have each team put their four best and/or most strategic student-athletes in each running event on an eight-lane track.
Put field events in, say, the first half-hour. Start high jump and pole vault at a competitive height. Hammer through long jump when it’s not in an openpit format. Have shot put and discus be three throws apiece. Once field events are concluded, start those running finals on a crisp, rolling schedule.
If the window feels too long, put a break in the middle for teams and fans alike. Put the live team score up on the scoreboard.
Imagine this scenario with a dual between two rival schools. What would it be like for those studentathletes digging deep for a homestretch kick in distance or on the blocks for sprints hearing that noise of their student bodies encouraging them? And for the “kids shouldn’t miss education for sports” counterpoint, again, this would be one weekday afternoon per spring.
These track and field student-athletes would probably float home and then through the remainder of an arduous season after such an experience. They would have the stories for years to come about it and how it made them feel.
At the very least, to those who can make these decisions happen, ponder it.
It would be so fun yet have such deep meaning.