The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The dedicated athletes of the Creighton Community School Track and Field team have been hitting the pavement and field for the last month. Running coach Ryan Trumbley, who has been coaching for three years now, says this is the first year the school has a serious track and field team. ÒIn the past weÕve started two weeks prior to the NESSACs and the kids did their own thing,Ó says Trumbley, Òbut this year...we had a really good turnout. WeÕre treating it like a basketball or volleyball program.Ó With of team of nearly 30, the coach says he sees a lot of potential within the athletes. ÒWe have a lot of really good athletes. We had three make it to Provincials (last year) with very little training, so weÕre really hoping we can double those numbers,Ó he says, adding that if it doesnÕt happen, it doesnÕt happen. Thirty-eight athletes came out for the team this year, but as it stands now, between 25 and 30 will be heading to the upcoming pods. ÒFor a school of our size to have 30 people go to an event, thatÕs a pretty good number for us,Ó Trumbley says. Trumbley says he sees a lot of inner competition between the athletes, which are both male and female. ÒThe older ones that have done this in the past, for sure there is (competition), but they also help each other,Ó says the coach. ÒOne thing I love about Creighton kids, and IÕm sure itÕs kids everywhere, is how they help each other out.Ó But Trumbley says itÕs not just the track and field athletes who are like that. He says the school preaches that the older students help out the younger students any way they can. ÒThey arenÕt only out to help themselves, they are out to help everyone,Ó he says about both the track and field athletes and the students. ÒWeÕve heard the comment from kids, ÔIÕm going to take her under my wing,ÕÓ he says. Trumbley says helping another athlete just makes both of them that much stronger. ÒWhen you are helping someone and coaching someone, you have to become that much better,Ó he says. ÒYou have to be focused on what you are doing. ÒIf you are teaching someone to start, itÕs going to to reinforce how to start. If you are teaching a Grade 1 kid how to throw a ball, all of a sudden all of those bad habits arenÕt allowed to be there.Ó The athletes, who practice four times a week for an hour, are working towards the pods at the end of the month. The team will head to Hudson Bay for their first pod of the season on May 20. Athletes who qualify there will head to Melfort for the NESAAC Championships on May 27. And for those who qualify once again, they will head to the Provincial Championship in Regina on June 6 and 7. The track and field season is a short one, and Trumbley says, if there is a bad spring, it makes for an even shorter season. ÒIt could be two weeks long,Ó he says for practice time. Trumbley says it doesnÕt matter to him if the athletes place first every time. ÒWe just like to see them develop into athletes. ÒIt takes a special type of person to be a track and field athlete. ItÕs not like soccer, basketball or hockey where youÕve got a ball to play with. To have someone come and run for an hour a day and all you do is run and focus on how to run, if you donÕt love it, itÕs a really hard thing to do,Ó says the coach.
