Since track and field is underway at the Olympics, I figured I would dedicate an entry to my favorite sport. Numerous people have tried to explain to me why they don’t consider track and field “a real sport”. People running to a finish line, jumping over a bar or into sand, or throwing a weighted implement apparently don’t compare to shooting a basketball, hitting a baseball, or tackling someone to the turf in football. This is probably more of a thought in America, where an emphasis is placed on team sports. In a country where people are known for looking to place the blame on everybody else but themselves, this makes perfect sense (No, this isn’t a rant about America). While there is a significant amount of personal accountability in team sports for the stars, it doesn’t compare to that which you see in track. Think about it, the stars in team sports can blame the officials or the teammates for shortcomings. In track, one can only blame his or herself for any failures.
Team sports are great to watch. Nothing is better than being at a game supporting your team (unless it’s the New York Knicks) or booing the team that you have come to despise. But what about the players themselves? We often hear of basketball players not showing up at practice, getting to games late, or not getting the ball enough during the game. The same can be said in football. Baseball is a bit different since it’s usually the pitcher vs. the catcher (pause) before anything else can happen. However in track, it is you, the individual, vs. yourself. Yes, you are competing against others, but it’s what you can do yourself that really matters. When you don’t run fast, jump high or far, or throw a certain distance, you really can’t blame anybody but yourself and perhaps mother nature during the outdoor season. Missing a few practice can be the difference between first and fifth place. Bare in mind that there are tiers of athletes. Not everybody can be an Olympian or professional athlete. In our team sports, once you finish college it’s pretty much over as far as serious competition. That men’s or women’s winter basketball league doesn’t really count in my book.
However, in track many athletes compete beyond college graduation to continue improving themselves despite the fact they most likely will not be a big time athlete. Their continued training is just an extension of their previous career. There’s a personal challenge that often drives the athlete to compete until they have reached an established goal before hanging up the spikes or shoes or poles. In team sports, what can a person do but continue to play as a recreational activity? Although in some areas, sports like basketball are really a way of life. They allow people to be the big man on the block/court, but that’s a totally different blog entry.
A lot of people also forget that their favorite athletes were once track and field stars at some point in their career. Given the decreased emphasis on track in the United States, this often gets brushed under the table. But the next time you try to argue track isn’t a sport, ask yourself if you could dedicate 10-20 hours a week to specific event and weigh training to improve yourself in individual competition where you know you may not be the best out there of all the competitors on any given day. You many not even be on a good track team and you still have to dedicate that time to self improvement. Could you do it? If your answer is no, then maybe track and field isn’t “the sport” for you. I, along with my fellow trackletes, suggest you re-evaluate what is and what isn’t “a real sport”. There is no “I” in a team, except for track and field, where everything is focused on the Individual effort.
The reasons that I feel that track isnt a real sport have nothing to do with the team aspects of the sport and everything to do with the idea that it doesnt require the athletic ability that many other sports require. Here, I make a distanct difference between Track events and Field events. There is no need for lateral movement in the running events. Just run in a straight line. I know small disabled children that can do that well. I will admit that the best performers do that much faster than I can ever dream of but whatever to lateral movement and hip explosion and agility and all the other factors that matter in every other sport. Thats why track isnt a real sport.
to you running in a straight line is not much work. but to a runner, there are so many things to worry abut n the structure of that movement. to be honest, when i first started track, i did it to stay in shape, but now it is a competition to me. in my main event, the 800 meter individual, there is a method. your arms must stay strong because theyre pulling you forward. your hands must stay straight, and your breathing must be even.
also, in this staright line you are talking about, youre forgettin cross country. two and a half mile runs over large hills? its a lot of work. and in outdoor season there is steeple chasing. i admire anyone who can get over those hurtles.
so before you open your mouth, i would look at all the events and struggles that a runer has to go through, even if it is just a highschool track team.
Sorry your fat
Are you for real? like seriously, I could probably run circles around you. Not trying to be irritant, but have you ever jumped a hurdle or even ran a 100 meters? I have more athletic ability than my best friend, who is a boy on the basketball team. I have been working on running track for 2 years, and it is not running in a straight line. A track is a circle, smart one.
Thanks for the comment. Much appreciated.
In other countries, track and field is called Athletics. You can’t excel in track and field without raw athletic ability. Anybody can dribble a basketball or run with a football to a line. Someone who practices enough can learn how to kick a soccer ball as well. There is just as much skilled required for each event in track as in other sports. Many football and basketball players were trackletes. Skill and athletic ability are too different things sometimes. A spot up three point shooter can just shoot real well, but may not be quick in either direction. If you need to physically and mentally train regularly, and someone just can’t walk off the street and do it competitively, then it’s probably a sport. You’d probably also argue that swimming isn’t a sport either.
If anyone could hit a baseball or dribble a basketball they would not be getting payed millions. In track you run inbetween two lines team sports you need skills and statigies. You need to know the game and know the competitors Stratigies.
Tack is footballs, baseballs. soccers, volleyballs etc. warm up
yeah… track and field is a real sport… i mean, do people realize how much these people have to train to reach/break world records?? come on… the average person can’t run as fast, or throw something as far as some of these athletes.
anyway, i def have to big up the Jamaican track and field team for their EXCELLENT performance in this year’s olympics. I was so happy to see Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser win those gold medals!
Statisticly the world cup gets double the audience as the Olympics. The game between Mexico and Argentina 2008 got a bigger audience than the olimpics. The super bowl is getting millions more people watching every year and the olimpics keep losing people watching. Tack is every sports warm up. Team sports incorporate track in their sports. They also strategize and think. All you do in track is run inbetween two lines. There is this mentally retarded kid at my school that runs faster and longer than the whole track team.
…late but i can say stuff
If you don’t think track is a real sport….. Go to a few real track practices…. track athleats are the bigest masocists I know (and I am proud to be one of them!)
track is a real sport!!! it envolves running with the muscle in your legs. it is a hard workout and to those who say it isnt realy shud try to get up and run non-stop for 40 mins. i can easily compare track to a sport like basketball, like woah i just shot a basket ahah no. try running a 2000 meter steeple chase in less then eight minutes and 45 seconds and then well tlk. im a proud trackie
i just hav 2 say tht i just had an hr debate w my friend in burger king about if track is a sport or not and i regret the minute when i said im joining track because ive never been a stupid argument in my whole life. i had some very positive valid points in why track is a sport and the idiot friend of mind kept mentioning babies and basketball and it was getting through him but w.e i told him tht i promise u i will find and article just 4 u 2 show tht track is a sport and tht it wuldnt b from wikapedia so yeah thanks sooo much 4 making this!
Track is definitely a sport no questions asked. It just doesn’t require leg strength you need your whole body to be strong. This means core and upper body. It is not just running in circles its a whole physical and mental game. So I dare you to go to a track practice and then compete in a meet and then we will see who thinks track is not a sport.
Oh. My. Fucking. god. How many times is this stupid argument going to be used? Peyso, or whatever the fuck your stupid screen name is, IT DOEST FUCKING MATTER WHETHER OR NOT BABIES CAN PLAY A SPORT. What matters is if you can do it WELL. Babies can also throw baseballs and hit them with bats, except they can’t do it WELL. Paralyzed people can play basketball too, just in wheelchairs. You have a fucking small brain if you actually think that’s a valid argument, you sad, scummy douche lick. Fuck you.
I am a division 1 thrower. Track has been a big part of my life for sometime. I too believe that it is a pathetic sport now that i have opened my eyes. Track athletes take one skill, for example running, that every other sport incorporates, and they try to excel at that ONE skill. Just about everyone on this planet can run or jump…. CONGRATULATIONs you can do it a little faster or a little higher. There is no strategic application and there is no team work. Every other sport for ex. basketball/football/soccer requires you to RUN, JUMP, SHUFFLE, and thinkkkkkkkkk. There is more pressure and it requires you to adapt to different situations. As far as THROWING, we train ALLLLLLLLLLLL year…..hard as hell……for about half an hour of performing, and 15 to 20 mins of that is standing around. TRACK IS NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS OTHER SPORTS.