More to Watch

My daughter played high school soccer, but she was also ran high school track.  Uh oh, now we sound like pushy, type A parents.  We may may have been, slightly, but I don't think we were competing vicariously through her.... because we had experienced our own success.  I wanted for her to experience what I had, as an athlete, because it helped mold me into the person I became.  My athletic background certainly helped me recover, as well as I did from my my head injury, and I wanted to give my oldest child all the tools she would need, not only to survive life's traumas. but to enjoy everything life threw at you.  That being said, let's continue.

The Western Washington collage track is where she got her start, and as most tracks look about the same, it was easy to find our way around.  Each week on meet day I would haul my kids, and even there friends a time or two, to the track in the big city.  They would run, and jump, competing against other children who's parents were introducing them to their 1st taste of competition, and they loved it. After my over-the-top response at her 1st race, I learned to restrain myself when ever cheering was expected. But, as she became more involved with soccer, and I began coaching, we attended the meets less, and less.  The meets became a memory but her track career was just starting.

Around that time she also began to express interest in tennis, encouraged by a young man I coached track with.  He had been a talented tennis player, and was the high school tennis coach.  One .afternoon I drove Rachel to Bellingham for her 1st lesson.  We left the car, to make our way to the courts, when she informed me that she had changed her mind.  I was rather unhappy, and probably let her know, but I understood entirely.

My own mother had driven me to AAU cross country sign ups each year, and each year, while still in the car, I would tell her that I had changed my mind.  I'd tell her that I'd be ready to run the next year. Then we'd go for ice cream, or a pop at my dad's bar

Although I was disappointed that Rachel had wimped out of tennis, I tried not to show it, and on our way to the car a man stopped me.  He told me that he could see my daughter was athletic, and asked if he could teach her to pole vault. Women had only recently began vaulting, and one of the best was from Idaho.  No thanks, I said, fearing the event itself 1st, and then the strange man.  We returned to our small town, where I'm pretty sure ice cream was involved.

When I was coaching track in our little town, both my kids spent lots of time with me on the high school track.  They weren't old enough to be left home alone, so in the beginning they rode a school bus from their intermediate school to the high school.  Then, a trusted high school athlete would pick them up and deliver them to the track.  Because we coached middle school athletes 1st, the chosen escort did not miss any practice.  My best hurdler was Marty, and at the end of practice we would lower the hurdles and my kids would run over them.  Marty helped me coach them, and I watched all my kids have fun.

Marty ended up running at state, but never became consistent running 3 steps between the hurdles. The 300 hurdles were her better race.  It's strange how my little girl's experience with hurdles mirrored Marty's.  But my Rachel didn't just hurdle, she was a sprinter to the core.

She started grade 6 in Boise, she ran in an abbreviated cross country race against all the other 6th graders. It was an introduction to cross country, and an attempt to lure more kids to the sport. The husband and wife team I coached track with, were also the cross country coaches for both the middle school, and high school. Rachel placed 2nd in the mini X country race, behind a good friend she played soccer with.  But before the end of the school year we moved again, this time to Idaho.

Mr. Fast was her 6th grade teacher in Idaho. It may have been an omen, because all Boise elementary schools ran track programs for 5th and 6th graders, and of course, Rachel signed up.  After winning her 1st race, she told me quietly as if  confessing, that it felt really good to win, and she was faster than she thought. Once again, her main competition came from a close friend/soccer team mate. They began trading wins, and both girls qualified for the city championship on Boise State's track.

We arrived early for the meet at BSU. A beautiful all weather surfaced track, surrounds the famous blue football field. The girls were hesitant, telling me they didn't think they were allowed on the track till others got there.   Not true, I said, follow me.  I hobbled down to the track, and let them know what I thought they should be doing to warm up. (FYI: young runners don't know how to warm up.) I stayed with them until other athletes arrived and they got caught up in the excitement of running City.

Rachel took 1st, and her soccer friend Maddie was 2nd.  And yes, I got the same feeling I had watching her run, and win her 1st race in Bellingham.

But there's still more, and I have to finish what I've started.