Braves,
We had a great showing at the meet on Friday and Saturday. We
had over 50 athletes compete in over 140 events (that was nearly 100 more than
the next most from an individual school) and we had 9 relays to end the meet.
These stats tell us a couple of things. First, we have a lot of kids who are willing
to and understand the value of hard work. A lot of you did 3 or 4 events, and
that is awesome. Race experience is invaluable at this point in the year,
especially with how young our team is. Second, our TEAM is doing what it takes
to get better. On many teams there are individuals who will work hard but true
success won’t happen until the team works hard together. We don’t have 9 relays
or 140 events unless the TEAM is committed to working hard as one group. Third,
you are making this a positive experience for your teammates. Few things make
our lives as coaches better than seeing each of you supporting your teammates
while they are competing, and enjoying yourselves during the course of the
meet, even when you have 3 hours between races, while still preparing
yourselves for your own events. Not every team has that kind of support and
positive attitude that I saw from this group on Friday and Saturday. Fourth, we
have a team that wants to get better.
This isn’t about showcasing how talented we are, but rather taking a step
forward each day so that we can reach our full potential at the end of the year.
Along the way we know you will have a lot of fun because of the high character
individuals that abound on our team.
At the end of the meet on Saturday I mentioned the ups and
downs of every track meet. There are always going to be good things and bad
things, the trick is learning from the mistakes or struggles and getting better
from there, while continuing to improve on the good results as well. Whether
you had good performances, or poor performances, or a mixture in between, what
we do on Monday doesn’t change: we get back to it, and get better. We learn
from our good races and we learn from our bad races. We learn from the good
marks and the bad ones. We get back on Monday and get to work to keep getting
better.
The effort we saw on Saturday was as good as we could have
hoped, and we are thrilled about that, but in the long run that won’t mean much
if we can’t continue to build of it. Now is not the time to be complacent, just
as it is not the time to be discouraged. We are excited to see what this team
can accomplish if we can keep improving. We have been impressed with the work
ethic thus far this season, but if we still must find ways to improve.
This week we do not have a meet, but we will the following
week at Weber State. We will talk some about that this week due to the short
week of school next week.
I hope each of you is proud of the effort you put in this
weekend, because we certainly were. I didn’t see a single race where someone
didn’t give everything they had. Keep that up and keep up the awesome effort
you have been giving at practices. We took a lot of pictures at the meet, and
if you took any you can add them to the album. Below is a link to the album,
via our website, so you can view the photos. I apologize for missing some of
you, and for the quality.
Coach Jacobson
