At the beginning of the season, an offer was made to middle school athletes if they wanted to join the high school JV track team. Some of the athletes were personally asked to join the team while some joined on their own will.The JV team was slightly different to the middle school team in that they would take the bus to and from training with the high school, trained with the high school, an extra practice a week and went to a high school meet.
The middle school team is made up of 68 students, and over a dozen athletes from seventh and eighth grade joined the JV team. Practicing with JV meant that the middle school JV athletes would have some extra training each week. For the middle schoolers on the team, it was a great bonding experience not only for just for the fellow middle schoolers but also with high schoolers. “Though it was my first season in track I had loads of fun learning about the sport and having loads of laughs. It gave me a chance to meet high schoolers and kids I wouldn’t normally hang with,” said eighth grader Reeves Bradford.
Although the middle schoolers who joined JV only had one meet with the high school, it helped the coaches decide who would be going to ISSTs. About half the middle schoolers on the JV team went to ISSTs from the 21st to the 23rd in Paris, France.
The JV middle schoolers also competed in the middle school meets as they were still part of the team. Showing up to the meet with 68 athletes feels like a big family. At the meets there was a lot of standing around which meant that there was a lot of time for bonding among everyone. “Though I was on the edge of trying out at first, I’m so glad I did,” said Bradford.
