Running, A Team Sport?

Opinion By Courtney Rockness

‘RUNNING is an individual sport.” A runner of ten years, this is a phrase I believed for a long time. Starting off my athletic career as the slowest person on my middle school cross country team, it was easy to think of the sport as “every man for himself.” I did absolutely nothing to contribute to our team score. To me, despite being on a team, victories were individual. If our team won, it was because our top runner had a great day. If I got a personal record, despite how our team did, the meet would be a success in my eyes.

The next five years of my cross country experience were no different. I got faster and did score points, yet every race became a competition. Not just against the other teams, but my own teammates as well. Sometimes it was more of a fight to just keep my varsity spot on my own team rather than to beat our rival team.

Everyone was at such different levels that this mindset only made sense. Only individuals would qualify for the State Championships, since we were never fast enough to make it as a team. Individuals would break records. Individuals got the glory of being the “fastest” or the “best.”

So to me, running was an individual sport.

It’s a phrase you hear often, and perhaps for good reason. Sure, you have a team, and in my personal experience that team always felt like family. I loved being with them.

Yet in competition, a runner doesn’t rely on their team as, for instance, a soccer player might. It’s not a traditional “team sport.” A runner doesn’t even need a team necessarily to compete or practice. Historically, running events have always been either individual or team competitions.

It’s these reasons that make running such a convenient sport to do at any age, level, and in any circumstance.

Run with eyes wide open

Three weeks ago I ran my last cross country race ever, as a college senior. And if my college experience taught me anything, it’s actually that running is NOT an individual sport. Or rather, it shouldn’t be. And the experience is so much richer when it isn’t.

It’s not that anything really changes at the college level. There are still stand out athletes. It’s still the top five that score.

Yet for whatever reason the more I ran, the more my eyes were opened to the fact that running is, in fact, a team sport.

Amidst a constant battle with injury, yet still competing on a team, is where I came to realize that it’s community that kept me going. The reason why I continued running was not so much for personal glory as it was a feeling of belonging and community.

Running, and really any form of exercise, is so much better with other people. Having a team always motivated me even when I was having a bad day or couldn’t be running at all. It gave me motivation to get up and get moving.

When I was running, having a teammate by my side always gave me motivation to push the pace and go faster. My team gave me the encouragement I needed to keep going and finish strong. It’s all those people cheering for you or running alongside you that makes the whole thing worth it.

Run and rejoice

Having a team allows for an outlet to rejoice in the successes of others even when you yourself fall short. It allows you a space to be disappointed even, and have somebody else know what that feels like.

So running is a team sport. For me, it hasn’t always been, and I’m sure I can speak for many runners when I say that. Yet when you accept and begin to realize how much impact a team or other community can have, it will change your running or exercising experience.

My college cross country team, after a race

The men’s team, cheering their teammates through the finish

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.