“If I can hold this in until the end of the race there will be a nice portable potty waiting for me at the finish line!”
Relay team or boy band?
Deleted scene from Juno
Awkward.
That feeling you get when you scratch and you jump anyways..,
“I love running, running is my favorite.”
*smashes into invisible wall*
This guy….knows where all the hidden cameras are on roller coasters.
“Teach me how to dougie, teach me teach me how to dougie.”
“Bombs away!!!!!”
This is what catching a shot put like a boss would look like.
“This throw is going to be great, I can taste it.”
(THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS WERE FOUND ON GOOGLE IMAGES)
“I think I’m going to barf.”
“Ugh, I can’t believe the runners say all we do eat… look at this body!”
NOM NOM NOM
![funny-shotput-faces-3d8065[2]](https://trackprobs.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/funny-shotput-faces-3d80652.jpg)
That throw left a sour taste in my mouth.
Gangnam Style – Shot put edition
Out with the evil spirits!
And the best shot put face goes to America’s sweetheart, Kurt Roberts
“Ugh, I wish I had his form!”
“What do you mean 3 mile cool down???”
“Oops, just fartlek’d.”
Got kicked off the dive team…for the same thing.
#ThoughtWhileRunning – Run fast, turn left, don’t drop the baton, get my fish face on, win.
“It’s a miracle, it stayed up!”
“HAHA, it’s hilarious. You distance kids laugh all you want, but wait until the sprints.”
“WOAAAH I’m half way there, woahhh living on a prayer!”
“I see dead people!” (“..and I’m still allergic to sand.”–inside joke, see first edition of #TrackFaceTuesday)
Ehrmergerd..Shertpert!
I got a wedgie, but I can’t pick it…don’t want to drop the baton.
Oh man, who fartlek’d!?
You know you are a true tracklete when you take prom pictures with your #TrackFace on.
It’s just a 5k, they said. It will be fun, they said.
Wait, is the Pope Catholic or not? I don’t get it..
Now that’s what I call high quality H2O.
Just keep running, just keep running..
OH MY GOSH WHAT IS THIS? I thought this was the 100 hurdles…
Let’s face it trackletes, you don’t get beauty points for how your face looks in the wonderful sport of track and field.
Thank goodness, because for most of the track population–we are too focused on our events to worry about how our face looks. Embrace the #trackface and learn to love it because laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.
Here’s to the first #TrackFaceTuesday!
@BaileyMaus – It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a Maus!
@catsherwood14 – OMG, not sand!?
@chennooaa – I used to have a fear of hurdles, but then I got over it.
@downtownBbrowne – Nooo, I’m allergic to sand!
@LarryC25 – Apparently LeBron was a pirate back in his track days..?
@Lkazz34 – No words can do this picture justice.
@m_ax_we – just a hop, skip, and a what?
@RunnerNerd – Join the cross country team, they said. It would be fun, they said.
@Sebferko10 – I don’t always get out fast, but when I do.. I look like this.
@StarScr3amChris – Coach said, “Don’t hold your breath.” I’ll show him.
@StashMan94 – Wrong sport Stashman, the Heisman is for football.
@TinaBruenJes5 – I hope I didn’t scratch.
@trackboss518 – #ThoughtsWhileRunning: I should have picked a field event.
@EvanKeil – What? My mom makes me wear this helmet!
Picture courtesy of @jonchiang – http://jonchiang.com/i-play-javelin/
Maya Angelou said, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Rise above it. Those three words have defined Andy White’s track and field career. Andy will be a senior track and field athlete this coming fall at the University of British Columbia. The opportunity to compete collegiality at UBC and the fact that both of his parents attended the university all played a part in his decision to be a Thunderbird.
Track and field was never a foreign subject to Andy, as his mother was also a track and field athlete at UBC. “What brought me to track and field was ultimately my mom’s passion for the sport.” Secondly, a trip to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 sealed the deal for Andy. “I’m pretty sure this is where I caught the Olympic Bug. This is where I first discovered javelin. I remember hearing the throwers yell when they threw and I was sitting on the opposite part of the stadium from where they were throwing. It was so cool!”
In high school Andy competed in cross country, track and field, wrestling, rugby, and mountain bike racing. As a high school track and field athlete he competed in a variety of events such as the 100m dash, the 200m dash, the long jump, and the javelin. “I loved to do different events, and I think that also attracted me to the sport.” Despite Andy’s versatility, when he arrived at UBC he had to make a decision between long jump and javelin. “I picked the event that was most fun, javelin.”
Right before Andy began his career as a varsity athlete at the collegiate level, tragedy struck. He lost his mother, Linda, to breast cancer on January 14, 2010. “At this point in my life I truly felt that I was alone, and at times it really seemed pointless doing anything if my mom wasn’t going to be around.” With much love and support from his family and friends, Andy was able to muster up the strength to rise above adversity. “I did what my mom would want for me and has always wanted for me, I followed my dreams.” That year Andy was not only nominated for Rookie of the Year at UBC, but he also finished 4th at the NAIA Championships. “I got to see that with honoring her wish for me, I would be honoring her and the loving person she was for people.”
Picture courtesy of @jonchiang – http://jonchiang.com/i-play-javelin/
Since 2010, Andy has made two additional trips (2011, 2013) to the NAIA championships. Unfortunately, due to yet another roadblock, those were not consecutive trips. In 2012, Andy encountered multiple ankle sprains that eventually turned into an unpleasant bone spur–an injury that required surgery to repair. Because he did not want to lose an entire year of competition to injury, he decided to red shirt. “It was definitely hard to stay away from competing, especially during a time when my training partner Curtis Moss was qualifying to compete for Canada in the Olympics.” Fortunately, Andy was able to make the best out of a less than fortunate situation. With a huge passion for photography and as a Visual Arts student at UBC, Andy was able to channel negative energy into something amazing during his red shirt season. He attended all of his team’s track meets that season and gained a new perspective on the incredible sport of track and field. He has since helped organize an annual photography show, The PRINTS Show, to raise money for an alternative cancer care organization–InspireHealth. So far he and his colleagues have raised over $6,000 in under two years. Another situation in Andy’s life where he could have given up, he again decided to rise above it.
2013 has proven to be one of Andy’s most successful track seasons so far. He received the NAIA Champions of Character Award and was ranked first going into the NAIA Championships. There he was the front runner during finals with a throw of 65.59m until his competition tossed his last javelin a little over one meter further. Although he didn’t finish with the gold, he still took an honorable silver and is more hungry than ever for his senior season. Andy competed in the Canadian Track & Field Championships in June 2013 where he threw a new personal best of 69.77m, placing 5th. Because Andy threw over the qualifying standard of 69m, he is hoping to make the Canadian team for the Francophone Games in Nice, France this September. One of Andy’s biggest dreams is to represent Canada in the Olympics. With a heart as big as his talent and his extraordinary ability to rise above whatever obstacle is in way, Andy White is most certainly on the road to success. In the mean time Andy will continue to train, study, and support his community. No doubt Andy’s mom is watching him, proud that her son is following his dreams.
Picture courtesy of @jonchiang – http://jonchiang.com/i-play-javelin/
Biggest #TrackProb: When people ask me, “What sport do you play?” My response, “I play javelin.”
Follow Andy White and his journey @iPlayJavelin
Are you a student athlete who has overcome roadblocks in your career that have made you stronger? Do you know an athlete who has persevered and come out a better individual? If you would like to apply for the August TrackProbs Student Athlete of the Month or nominate someone, fill out the following form. Make sure to leave a current email address and factual information (with sources that can be verified) about the athlete being nominated in the comment box. The student athlete must be in good academic AND athletic standing, be sure to provide information that confirms this.
lanes at Franklin High School track (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
20. The worse nightmares contain thoughts about getting shin splints or stress fractures.
19. Trackletes know you don’t jump hurdles, you hurdle hurdles. You don’t throw the shot put, you put the shot. You don’t put spikes on your shoes, you put spikes on your spikes.
18. Fartlek-ing in public is completely normal and healthy.
17. “PRed” can legally be used as a verb (in the track world).
16. Dead last finish is greater than DNF.
15. Middle distance events are like the middle child, awkward.
14. Up, on deck, and in the hole make complete sense to a tracklete.
13. Trackletes don’t waste time Facebook stalking like normal people. They study people on milesplit, tfrrs, direct athletics, etc.
12. That awkward moment when someone asks a tracklete what he or she plays.
11. Trackletes can convert the saying hop-skip-jump into an action.
10. It doesn’t matter if it’s freezing cold at a meet or blazing hot–trackletes warm up with warm ups on (said the coach).
9. Taking too much time away from track can lead to running withdrawals or restless leg syndrome.
8. The Fosbury Flop is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
7. Telling a tracklete it’s outdoor season is like telling him or her that he or she won the lottery.
6. The feeling (or lack of feeling) in a tracklete’s legs after he or she gave everything in a race.
5. Spring break really just means no class and more practice.
4. TRACK!!!!!!!!!!! = You are about to get trampled.
3. Hearing a baton hit the ground is WAY worse than nails on a chalkboard.
2. Ice baths feel incredibly amazing, tomorrow.
1. Track tans are the best tans.
What else makes you say #ItsATrackThing? Tweet about it and see what everyone else is saying!
In 2011 one of my friends who played soccer at the same university as me tweeted about her #soccerprobs. After clicking on her hashtag, I came across hundreds of hilarious tweets about, well, soccer problems. Ironically, I was icing my knee (post ACL reconstruction) after track practice when I decided to search for a “track probs” twitter handle. I was disappointed when I was unable to find what I was looking for, so I decided to start my own! Creating @track_probs was therapeutic for me. I was able to vent about all of the silly troubles of being a student athlete and also read about others going through the same things.
2 years, roughly 1800 tweets, and more than 37,000 followers later, @track_probs has exceeded my expectations. I am ready to move the twitter handle to the next level with this blog. I may tweet about annoying issues trackletes face (they are SPIKES not CLEATS #trackprobs), but I want to show the world that we are not just a group of complainers. This blog is designed to showcase, inspire, and contribute to the incredible (and highly underrated #trackprobs) sport of track and field.
Track Probs 