My first track meeting was tonight. I’ve been looking forward to playing my last high school sport ever for quite some time now.
When I walked in the room and looked around I didn’t have to remind myself this was different than my former private school — this was Division 1, not Division 5. Each guy in the room had done track before, and most of them looked big.
I can’t say that I’m often intimidated when put in a room of athletes, but I was today. The truth is, I don’t know how athletic I really am. Sure, I may have been one of the fastest kids at my private school, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot with only 130 kids to compete against. On my track team alone there are expected to be 60 teammates. That number is staggering to me. We didn’t even have track at my old school, and the most popular sport — football — has maybe 30 guys that go out for it.
Practice starts on Monday. I’m desperately scared that I’m going to suck. If I’m not as good as the majority of the guys, I’m going to be mad. I don’t want to be the guy racing in the meets that are just for guys who can’t race in the big meets. That’s just not how I roll.
Some people may consider that a little over-confident, but I’m accustomed to being the best or at least being a major contributor to a team. I don’t have to be the very best out there, but I do need to matter.
Overall, I think this experience will be a lot of fun. I’ve never done this sport, but it seems incredibly fulfilling. Another plus of joining track is it will make the school year fly by…at least, that’s what I’m hoping for.
Oh, in other news, I got wait-listed at UW-Madison. Basically that means my ACT wasn’t to die for and they are waiting for either a minority who qualifies or someone who got a better ACT. I hear back on or around March 15.
My guidance counselor says my chances are good considering I improved my GPA this last semester. I hope he’s right. If I get rejected, I did get accepted to UW-Milwaukee.
