My high school son, Peter, recently started competing in track and field after many years of playing soccer, and, as a former cross country and track guy, it's brought back a lot of pleasant memories. And it's humbling to realize that after less than four weeks of training and three meets, he's already within 5 seconds of my best 800 meter time, which I achieved after logging about 6,000 miles of running over three years.
But watching track meets has also reminded me of the many strengths of timed and measured competitions. In soccer, everyone is part of a team that wins, loses, or draws. No matter how well one plays, the outcome essentially determines whether or not you were successful. As the players age, they learn that needling your opponent or trying to injure him or her when the referees are not looking is often part of the game. But the players generally behave with much more civility than their parents do. Some years ago Oregon's head of refereeing told a group of coaches that he had a simple suggestion for improving the quality of soccer matches: ban the parents.
In track, on the other hand, one can finish last but still celebrate a "PR" (personal record). There is a team score, but it's hard to keep track of. The girls and the boys compete separately, but at the same meet, and everyone seems to cheer for everyone--parents and athletes.
Not only does everyone get to play, but politics (how much clout one's parents have) don't much enter into the pecking order. "Stopwatch don't lie" means that the results clearly show who deserves to be on varsity in a given event.
Best of all, there are no controversies over playing time; the slower you are, the longer you are out there.
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