Imagine yourself drenched in sweat in the draining afternoon heat. Onlookers are staring and watching your every move. You crouch at the starting blocks, take a glimpse at the sun-baked track ahead, knowing that soon, you have to sprint every bit of it. You feel your opponents’ heavy breathing beside you. You can sense the jitters in the air.

On your marks, get set, go—the gun fires. You sprint until the death of your lungs, and everything is left to fate.

It may only take a few seconds to win a gold medal in the 100m dash, but the training and hard work that an athlete invests just to be at par with the standards of the sport can take months or even years of pious commitment.

In the many events of track and field, the quality of mental, physical, and technical preparation that athletes put in training are ultimately tested in four days of grueling, nail-biting competition. Whether it is in sprinting the 100m dash, throwing the javelin, darting the 10km run, or clearing the high jump—athletes are made to push their bodies to the limits, surpassing even their own expectations.

Over the past few months, the Blue and Lady Tracksters have made great strides. The Blue Tracksters triumphed over other universities across the nation in Dumaguete, winning their first ever Unigames championship crown, while the Lady Tracksters grabbed second place.

Earlier in the school year, the Blue and Lady Tracksters found themselves standing on top of a different podium in the 57th Sabah Open in Malaysia, edging out the Malaysian National back-up team.

Improved systems

A large reason for this recent success can be attributed to the revamped coaching system. With over 30 athletes training for different events, track and field requires coaches to be in multiple places at the same time, sometimes leaving a handful of athletes without the proper guidance. But this year, all athletes were being attended to by coaches who specialize in different events—creating notable improvements both in form and performance.

“It’s not a perfect system, but it’s working,” shares Head Coach Mick Perez.

“Athletes are also putting more faith into the system. In short, this is a more committed team.”

Off-season work

This season, training started early for the Blue and Lady Tracksters, preparing them for their pre-season meets.  Last April, the Tracksters went through a rigorous program that consisted of long runs, uphill sprints, and weights. Training was conducted twice a day, and general conditioning was tested every three weeks.

This was different from previous years where training during the summer was more focused on the technical aspects of events.

“Coach Mick went back to the team’s track and field fundamentals as he designed a nine-week program during the summer which focused on foundational training aspects like aerobic power, strength training, and overall athleticism and core strength,” junior EJ Valera shares.

“This really helped a lot as everybody was really fit going into the pre-season training and also helped in avoiding injuries and proper progression.”

The proper mindset

But the prime catalyst of the recent success of the Blue and Lady Tracksters is their proper mindset. “Athletes are still as determined and serious about their sport as former athletes were and this is what I’ve always believed to be commendable about Ateneo track athletes,” Coach Perez says.

Regarding the women’s team, Lady Trackster Jam Valenton says, “Each individual tries to step up in her respective events, constantly pushing herself to do better and improve each day.”

She continues, “Aside from training, the members of the current women’s team have taken their roles as athletes to a whole new level by watching their diets and even taking protein supplements to help them recover after killer training sessions.”

As a whole, the Blue and Lady Tracksters never cease to spend time learning and mastering the sport.  “Passion and commitment is simply spending time to perfect track and field,” Valera shares. “[It’s] giving time and effort to train hard and to do track and field training.”

“It also involves heavy sacrifice in terms of diet, social life, and even studies,” he adds.

With their newly revamped coaching system, the hard work they’ve put in, and the proper mindset to bring it all together, the Blue and Lady Tracksters go to the 73rd UAAP track and field season geared up and ready for battle.

On your marks, get set, go!