Pahrump Valley High School offers all kinds of sports in their school. The one sport that not many people talk about is Track and Field, more especially the field events team. The field events in Track are sometimes overlooked. The events are throwing and jumping. Throwing includes discus and shot put. The jumping events are the long jump and the high jump. These two events are really hard to master especially with the rules you must follow and the risk you could be taking.

The throwers of Track are a very close-knit group. They have team dinners and do everything together when conditioning. They motivate each other and constantly are boosting each other up. Even though the throwers have fun and seem like they have easy practice, they don’t. After interviewing Tanner Hanks, a senior who is on the throwing team says, “throwing is a lot more difficult than running.” The team runs more than the actual runners. The coach wants the throwers to feel prepared. The more strength you get the farther your throw goes. The coach wants the throwing team to throw in a circle rotation. Hanks says “trying to stay balanced while you rotate throughout the ring” which is the hardest thing they have to do. Trying to throw with a shot put and discus is difficult, especially with their weight. While throwing, if you don’t throw the right way or rotate the right way the more dangerous the sport becomes. The main rule of throwing is always to pay attention because once a thrower throws it’s out of their hands and there’s nothing you can do about it except keep the path clear.

Now when it comes to the jumping part of the field events that’s another thing that could be possibly dangerous and takes lots of practice to master. When it comes to jumping long jumps you have to run down a path and jump into a pit of dirt, but high jump is a lot different. These athletes have to run rather than jump over a certain way over a metal bar. The scary part is if you jump over the wrong way you could seriously hurt yourself landing on the bar. When jumping you can’t hesitate. It will lead to a mental block and you’re going to end up wasting a turn or jumping the wrong way. The one thing about the high jumpers at Pahrump Valley High School is the coaches. Aspen McCormack, a jumper from the team says “We haven’t had a real coach for two years and this is the first time we got a real coach.” The ones who have been at the school for a while just do their own thing and help out the new people. The upside of jumping is the fun that they have. McCormack says “Making new friends at the Track meets and talking to everyone.” Most of the jumpers end up getting along and talking and just messing around and hanging out.

Although field events are hard, dangerous and take lots of focus and strength, you have fun meeting new people and seeing that Track and Field is not just about running. Most people don’t want to join Track because they dislike running, but there are other sides to that. Field events can show you your strength, build up your strength, and help you become social. In other words, go try out for the field events before you miss out.