My Non-Academic Discourse

Run, Eat, Sleep and Repeat “Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best,”–Michael Johnson. By definition, discourse means written or spoken communication or debate. My non-academic discourse community is the track & field community and I can relate this, very easily, to my academic discourse. One of the most influential activities that shaped my life, started my freshman year of high school. I remember the first day of intramurals like it was yesterday. I walked out to the track with my worn down running shoes and some running shorts that were two sizes too big. My heart was beating a
million miles per minute. “I am going to be murdered out here today.”, I thought to myself. The girls all had thighs of steel and I had “chicken legs”. The coach, Bryn Davis, called everyone over to the center of the field. He said, “Now every single one of you think you are sprinters but I am here to tell you that you are not. I can train you to get good form and get you in shape but I cannot teach speed. Speed is something that someone is born with. Now all of you are going to line up at the end of the football field and run to the other side. You need to run as fast as you can,”. I was incredibly nervous at this point. My palms were sweaty. The blood running through my veins felt like it was boiling. When the coach said go, I ran out like a bat coming out of hell. Towards the end, I looked over and I was ahead of everyone. I was in utter shock. “How can my “chicken legs” out-run these girls that had the legs of steel?” I thought to myself as my legs were still cycling in circles. My coach looked at me, nodding his head, and said, “What’s your name?”. I was ecstatic. That sentence might sound ordinary but that was an immense compliment from my coach. If my coach took the time to learn your name, that meant that he liked you and was going to take you seriously. In his words, if you got a nickname then that means “you suck” and “I will not take you seriously”. This day was the day that track & field started to shape my life in a whole new way. There were three different types of offseason practices.
The first type of practice we had was “The Hills” practice. During this type of practice, we went to a park with 2 major hills. We would have to do a myriad of different jumps, up the hill, several times. We also had to do multiple sprints up the hills. Some of the sprints would be around the entire park and some were shorter sprints up the hill. We also did strength training on the basketball court. The second type of practice we had was the “Sand Court” practice. Normally, we would run 250 meters around the sand court. We would workout in the sand because if your form was off, your feet would be engulfed by the sand. It is also much harder to run in sand than on flat ground. Another reason why it is better to run in the sand is because it strengthens your legs quickly while you are also doing cardio. In my opinion, this type of practice was the most difficult. The third type of practice that we had was the “Pool Workout” practice. At this practice, we would mainly practice on form. We would have to run 100 meters in the pool. One of the main workouts that we did was that we would start submerged in the pool and we would have to jump on top of the top stair. At the beginning, it takes several attempts to jump on to the top stair because it requires a colossal amount of strength and focus to jump on it. Another thing that we worked on was learning how to control our breathing. Usually, we would do “tuck jumps” for two minutes and then we would immerse in the water. The goal was to stay under the water for as long as you possibly could. My coach told us that in order to slow down your heart rate, you have to “imagine yourself breathing” under the water. Another major part of the overall training process was taking care of our bodies outside of practice. We had to go to bed early in a completely dark room that was sixty-seven degrees. We also had to take fish oil, a multivitamin and vitamin C every day. A
gallon of water was required to be drank throughout the day. My coach’s motto was “You are a full-time athlete. Practice is only ten percent of the time. You need to be an athlete the other ninety percent of the time”. I apply my track & field discourse to my everyday academic discourse. One thing that I can relate from my track & field discourse is that you have to “train” your mind. In track, in order to do well in your races, you must train extremely hard. In academics, you must study hard in order to do well on your exams. If you take track seriously, you must know that you need to eat healthy so that your body can have efficient energy. In your academic discourse, you must eat brain-healthy foods. You, as well, need to “feed your brain” with knowledge in order to keep it healthy. Repetitions are a huge part of training in track. You do not just do something one time and be done with it. You must do it a manifold of times in order for it to actually affect your body. This can also be applied to your academics because you need to study a section numerous times in order for it to “stick in your brain”. Finally, if you do not do good in a race, it is not the end of the world. You just have to pick yourself back up and improve your training process. In your academics, if you do not do good on a test, it’s okay. You just need to re-evaluate your study habits and surpass your old study habits. There are many things in my life that have shaped my life. My family, my church, and my friends have shaped my life as well. Track & field was more than just a sport to me. It taught me a good work ethic, how to discipline your mind, and how to “brush the dirt off of your shoulders”. Track & field has taught me how to be a better student and taught me how to be a better person in life.