Elena Bullen is a junior at Struthers High School heading into track season. She runs the 4×100, 4×200 and 100m.
As the season approaches, the track team is starting to do open gyms to help them prepare as much as they can. The players are very motivated to get better times than they had gotten in the previous year. They have set many goals that will lead them to the top.
Off-season is the most important part of getting better for any sport.
“I feel like we will be prepared for the season because our coaches work very hard to teach us new things, and as a team we all work hard to get to where we are,” says Bullen.
Losing seniors is a huge challenge in high school sports, but someone has to rise to the challenge and become a leader. Juniors start to feel the pressure of becoming an upperclassman and gaining a huge spot on the team.
It is important to understand your rule as an upperclassman and to try your hardest to fill the spot you need to.
“I want to be an upperclassman that the underclassmen can look up to, or talk to whenever they need. I grew close bonds with upperclassmen as an underclassman, so it means a lot to me to do the same,” says Bullen.
Enjoying the sport that you do is the most important part of playing a sport. High school sports can drag and be very hard with time management, so loving the sport that you play can have such a great impact.
Running can be a very hard thing to consistently do, so having a love for it would make the season go way better.
“When I was little, I always wanted to run for fun. I’m not sure why, but I just loved it and had to join it,” says Bullen.
