Those were the good old days (Other clubs)

Member Name: leeanne

Product:	Other clubs
Date:	12/01/02 (65 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good training, good coach

Disadvantages: none

I used to be into Athletics for years. However that ended about 6 years ago, but the club I was a member of was a great place that I felt glad to be part of.

The story begins in 1990. Others hopefully will know what I am on about, as I doubt it was only relevant around fife. When the kids of Kinghorn Primary School got to primary 7, there was a chance to represent the school at the local high school - Balwearie, as a Baton Team. This happened every sports day, which was held in June. There were 5 girls picked and 5 boys to make the team - 4 runners and 1 reserve. The slowest out of the 5 was the reserve. You had to be in primary 7 though, for some reason.

Anyway our teacher taught us primary 6 kids and some primary 7's. So we were all made to go up the playing field to watch the primary 7's run. That was alright, as we missed out on lessons.

There was an athletics coach up the field from Fife Athletic, who timed the runners, selected the 5, and came back every week to sort-of train them.

For the sake of it the coach suggested that we ran with the P7'S. This was probably to keep us amused.

We all lined up and raced against each other. I came first out of all the girls. Now I used to run often, but never thought of myself as fast or talented - it was just a hobby to me.

The coach was very impressed. He would have had me on that team, but because of my age I wasn't allowed to. He said he would see me next time, when I was in P7.

I pretty much forgot all about what he said until a few weeks later he came back to the school. He offered me a place at Fife Athletics Club, which was held in Kirkcaldy at Balwearie High School. I accepted. I thought I could better my running and it sounded like fun.

The club was held every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 18:00 - 19:00. My dad used to run me there and sit and watch.

This club was a weird place. Suddenly I went from being th
e only person with this skill, to being surrounded by people who took it in their stride. I made some good friends here though.

Every session was started by a 1 mile jog. This was really to get us warmed up and to stretch ourselves.

My main event was the 100 meters. As far as I remember I done this in nearly 15 seconds. This time doesn't sound fast anymore, but it was good in the eyes of my coach.

After the mile jog, we could choose what we wanted. I would say there were slightly more long distance runners in the club compared to sprinters. I quite liked running the 800 meters as well, but I wasn't talented at things like that.

So I could spend the whole session running up and down the track if I wanted, which I mostly did.

Every session was an exercise that I dreaded - The Windbreaker. No idea why it was called that, but I hated it. What happened was the coach would measure out the 100m exactly. From the start he would put a cone 20m down the line, then 80m down the line. So there was a gap with 60m and a gap marked off at the beginning and end which was 20m each. What you had to do here was stand at one end, briskly jog from the start to the 20m cone, sprint as fast as you could from the 20m cone until the 80m cone, briskly jog from the 80m cone until the end of the 100m, turn around and start again. We were made to do this 20 times in a row. It was demanding and certainly exhausting, but it certainly helped out staying power. It also taught me not to give up when things get a bit strenuous.

Another favourite was the beep test. This used to be on some exercise quiz show, but I can't remember what it was called. The idea ia to jog/run 200m and to get to the other side before you hear the sound of the beep. The beep noise came from a tape recorder. At first you got quite a long time to reach the other side, but the more you done, the faster it got. Also if you were lucky enough to get to the other sid
e, before the beep sounded you got the luxury of a break until the beep had sounded and you had to race away again. This kept going until everyone was running to slow - and the last standing was the winner.

Primary 7 came and I was chosen to be in the Baton Team. This is also known as the Relay race. This in ran with 4 runners and is centred around the 400m oval track. One person stands at the start line, another 100m away, another 200m away and the other 300m away. The first person starts with a pole or Baton. They must run the 100m to hand the baton to the next person and each runner does the same sequence. However the last runner, who is at the 300m mark must receive the baton and race to the finish line. It is a fact that the fastest runner always is the one at the end. This is because if the rest of the team has lagged behind slightly, this member might be able to catch up a bit better - I was the last runner. Also the slowest goes first, so speed can maybe be made up by the different runners. Unfortunatly we didn't come first. When I received the Baton we were in 6th place, but I got us up to 3rd.

Since I was training at Fife Athletics I improved my speed to 14.03 seconds. This isn't a great deal faster, but it took some amount of training to get that little bit faster.

Because of Fife Athletics I went on to win 16 medals. This was all for coming first in 100m. I entered a 4 mile run which is held every year where I stay and I came first. I was proud of this, because I am not a long distance runner.

When I was 15 I left the club. This was because I got my first job. I was working on Wednesdays and Fridays. One day a week for training wasn't enough and I couldn't fit time in anywhere else. When you are training it is important to do it often so you can improve and also not fall behind. However running was always more of a hobby and I knew it wouldn't really get me anywhere. I was slow compared to the profe
ssionals out there.

I would say that Fife Athletics was a great club to be part of. I got trained well, made the best of my potential and got to know others who enjoyed what I did.

It is a club that is still going today, and I would give it 5 stars for everything.

Summary: