Constant Sunshine Despite the Weather

For me this spring has been the worst in recent memory as far as weather goes. Now I realize last season wasn't great either, with the XO being in the 30's with high wind and rain, and state being a constant drizzle, but this season just seems worse. Perhaps it's because of all the hail and sleet. Yeah, that may be it. But there has been a constant bright spot on our track team despite all of this inclement weather. His name is Adam Martin. Adam's smile and friendly demeanour shines through the darkest of weather. Adam started running for us last year as a sophomore. Now this in itself isn't very significant, but Adam is enrolled in the special education program at Sandy. Last season his parent's came to talk to me about their concerns for Adam participating in a sport like track and field, with a team as large as ours. Would he be able to do workouts, let alone complete them? Would the other kids accept him or would they ridicule him? Would he just get lost in the crowd? All of which are legitimate concerns for parents. And to be honest I was definitely apprehensive about Adam participating as well. But I am an optimist, and I saw Adam as another young kid wanting to participate in track and field and that was enough for me to say "Okay, we'll make this thing work. Somehow, we'll make it work." I guess that's what I love most about track. We get the kids that the other spring sports tell, "You're not good enough for this team." And hopefully, if we're blessed enough, turn them into athletes.

Adam's amazing spirit was immediately apparent. Although he did have trouble with workouts in the beginning, he slowly ran himself into shape. He never complained, he was never a behavior issue, but beyond all of that he had the greatest attitude I've ever seen in anyone I've had the opportunity to coach. The smile, yeah, it was the constant smile that did it. The other coaches and I would just look at Adam in amazement some days and say to each other, "Why can't I appreciate every single day like this kid does?" I was suppose to be his coach and teach him a few things about track and field and maybe give some life lessons. But it was apparent from the beginning that Adam was teaching us. The other athletes on the team picked up on this as well and I really think that he inspired them to perform. On top of all of this he was improving in the sport. His times in the 100m and 200m were dropping, and his ability to complete workouts was improving as well. Quite simply Adam was becoming a track athlete.

So, here we were last Wednesday hosting one of the worst meets in recent memory against Hood River and Gresham. The girls' discus competed in a hail storm. The girls could barely see let alone hang on to their discs. We cancelled the girls' pole vault because our runway was flooded and our plant box was floating. Our field event officials can barely right anything on their sheets because the rain is flying in sideways, but then there's Adam running the 200m. One of our volunteer coaches, Todd Dejong, who also acts as our team photographer, finally gets the shot that he's been waiting for in the JV boys 200m. He's excited, and when he shows me the picture I can see why. There is Mr. Adam Martin running in the rain with the patented smile on his face. That definitely put things into perspective. Despite all of the rain there was the bright spot of sunshine we were all looking for.