The Sports Guy

Many teams in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) have the luxury of playing games at home. The GCSU cross country teams have no such luxury. The cross country program has not hosted a meet since 2002.
When construction began on West Campus for Bobcat Village, the team’s old track was demolished. Although construction has been done for a new track, it will not be finalized until next year at the earliest. Is this good for the team.
There are both pros and cons to the issue. The upside of this situation is that the lack of a home track builds team chemistry. Coach Samprone proved this argument best.
“Traveling imposes team chemistry,” Samprone said. “The team bonds on the road. My runners may only see each other at practice when we are at home. When we are on the road, the team is constantly seeing each other on the bus and in the hotel. Runners get to talk and become friends when we travel.”
While that is all nice and friendly, I am still convinced that it is a shame that our cross-country team does not get to run at home.
One advantage that other teams have over us is track familiarity. Teams that run at home know all the dips and hills on their track and when to prepare for them.
“I think that racing at home would be nice,” Assistant Athletics Director for Public Relations Brad Muller said. “I think runners would like to defend their home turf. They would know course well and feel comfortable.”
Moreover racing at home would be easier and it would save money.  The university would not have pay for travel expenses. Runners would be able to roll out of bed, go run their race and then go to lunch with their friends.
If you have any comments about this column please send a response to colonnadesports@gcsu.edu.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 15 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry