What is a dirt track without dirt?
My name is Michelle and I am a 4-year varisty track runner at Cajon High School in San Bernardino. The problem that my school has is our track and field. Currently, our "dirt" track has barely any dirt and has big pits in the running lanes. Also, all the edges are mud and there is no place to run without tripping over a rock. This is EXTREMELY dangerous for me and my teammates. The poor condition of our track may (and has) led to multiple injuries. I have personally recieved a stress fracture and multiple pulled muscles from running on my school's track. This year, my track is in the worst condition that i have ever seen in my four years at my school. It is in such bad condition that, if the track is not fixed, our track team will be forced to forfeit all the meets that are supposed to take place at our home field. This means a certain last place in league for our team and will GREATLY reduce our runner's chances on continuing to finals.
Cajon High School is the best school in our district. We have the highest grades, the highest scores in testing, the greaest extracurricular activities, and the best students and faculty. Yet, our school recieves the least amount of money from our district. Why should my school be punished for being the best? Why should we be punished so much that we cannot even buy dirt to put on our track? Something is very wrong with this picture. Thank you.
PRIMARY ISSUE : CLUBS & AFTER SCHOOL
SECONDARY ISSUE: MONEY MONEY MONEY
THIS STORY’S TAGS
track and field
What actions could students take to help make a difference?
Safety issue with Cajon's track
02/26/2008 | Rated +35
My name is Ariana Vanderveer. I am a senior at Cajon High School and I am a hurdle runner on the Cajon's track and field team. I may also run other short distance races for the team. This means that I will be on the track most of the time during practice and the games. The track at Cajon is in the worst condition that it has been in since I have been a student at Cajon. There is no dirt on the track making it very hard on the legs to run on. Where there is dirt, after the rains that we have been having, it only turns to mud. When we try to run on this mud, it leaves holes. When it dries, the holes are still there leaving it very dangerous to run on. This can lead to injuries for the members of the Cajon team as well as any opponents who come to run at our track. This leads to the issue that, by law, there can be no home meets because of the possibility of a runner being injured, meaning we will forfeit all our home meets. This is not fair to the runners on the Cajon team as well as those participating in field events.
I propose that we should get an all-weather track. This way the runners will not have the possibility of injuring themselves and it helps motivate them to do their best and run faster in meets, and at practice, because they are running on an all-weather track that doesn't have any rocks or dirt to slow them down.
Good Job
02/26/2008 | Rated +20 It was thoughful to put the story on this site for people not on the track team to know what's going on. Maybe now something will get done about the track's conditions.
Cajon High School Athletics
02/27/2008 | Rated +24 Well My name is Daniel Rivera, and though I am not on the track and field team, I have run on the track many times for both Physical Education class as well as for Tennis. As previously stated, the current condition of the track certainly is not sufficient for use and action should be taken to ensure that the safety of all who use the track is maintained. I feel that the money that the school is spending, especially on 'renovations' could be better spent and for better purposes, as this problem.
Additional Solutions:
Have home track meets at another school, ie. San Gorgonio, until the track is fixed.
If school does not pay for track, then try to raise money in order to either purchase more dirt, or an all-weather track.
CHS Athletics
02/27/2008 | Rated -20 My name is Willson and I am a senior Varsity Tennis player for Cajon High School. I am going straight to the point: our school needs a lot of help. Over the years, I have personally seen our school gradually falling apart. About a year ago, our school began the renovating/modernization process but so far I have seen nothing done to help out the Athletics. Of course education comes first and therefore classrooms should be renovated and modernized before anything else, but if I knew that "renovating" and "modernizing" meant only a horrible new paint job applied, new carpet, and loud, crappy air conditioners installed, I would have gladly given up some of the money spent on the classrooms to help out more desperate parts of our school such as the track. We have a terrible so-called "dirt" track with giant rocks, dips and holes that is not safe for even a normal jog or walk, let alone have students running competitively on it.
How is it possible to encourage competitiveness and sportsmanship to our student-athletes and especially our track runners when nothing can be accomplished without a a proper track to run on?
RIGHT ON!
We need to fight sometimes, and I'm right beside you Michelle! Earned and well deserved is this track. =)