We have now officially finished the first four weeks of the XC season. The men's and women's teams have now progressed through four weeks of workouts. On the heels of our first meet - the September 1 UIW Relay - we continued our training assult with another heavy volume week.
I personally look forward to our big team trip. Yes, it is finally here! We leave for Notre Dame Thursday morning from the SA airport. We look forward to a fun, educational experience and some good racing conditions in South Bend, IN. Unfortunately, Notre Dame is playing the other major dissapointment of the 2007 Division I football season, Michigan, in Ann Arbor, MI.
Withouth further ado, this weeks MVRs...
Women's MVR for the week of September 3rd-8th: Sonya Solorio (Bush HS, Houston, TX). Sonya entered UIW with very little running experience. In fact, she has been running for less than two years. In addition to her lack of experience, she has experienced, as many freshman do, a difficult transition to college life. To make matters more difficult, Sonya is very close to her family and has missed them terribly the first month of the school year. However, Sonya, with the aid of some great individual workouts, is really starting to come around. The girls have really taken her under their wings and the continued encouragement has spear-headed Sonya to witness her best week of workouts yet. It is my hope that she will continue on this path as she continues to gain valuable running knowledge this cross country season! Congats Sonya on earning your first MVR of the week award!
Men's MVR for the week of September 3rd-8th: We have a tie for men's MVR this week: Jeremy Juarez (freshman from Lytle, TX) and Shayn Weidner (Marion, TX). Jeremy and Shayn have known one another for some time now. They were in the same district for two years in HS. Despite the fact that Shayn is one year older than Jeremy, they often found themselves competiting with each other in HS long before they became teammates. Well, the transition to teammates has been about as seemless as it possibly could be. Every morning, as we start our runs, Jeremy is right next to Shayn. Their love of running and determination to get better feeds their running relationship. Despite the fact that Shayn is an individual of few words, he has taken Jeremy under his wing as he teaches him the ropes of collegiate running. As Blake Bartosh (Burnet, TX) stated so succinctly last week on our way back from a workout "I think Shayn should be MVR this week because he sets the tone for the whole men's team. We see him working hard and we can't help but want to follow his lead every day." Well Blake, I am taking your advice - with an added twist; I believe Jeremy is quickly making himself a tone setter as well. Because of these two guys there is not a single guy on the team that doesn't come to practice ready to get after it. Adrian, Mike, Blake, Roman, Estevan and Jose all continue to keep their eyes on the goal, the goal that only the team knows.
This goal can only be obtained by living in the Here and Now. We can't focus too much on the past (other than to see how far we have come) and we can't look to far into the future (other than to maintain our focus on where we want to go). We are a part of something bigger than ourselves. The men and women have united to work together toward a common goal. Often times, there are people who advocate for how we should be different, individuals not tied to a group for fear of losing our unique identities. For instance, some radical thinkers believe that groups lose their sense of diversity and free thinking, which stifles ever-important critical thinking. Here is what I propose: What about a group of unique individuals, all capable of doing things the other person is not capable of doing, joining together in search of a common goal - striving for excellence together all the while learning from each other and in turn becoming more brodely defined unique individuals because of the experience??
I don't know...it is a novel idea. However, it seems to be the basic premis of team dynamics. It also seems to be what can make teams so special and unique.
XC and Track teams: Here is my challenge to you - Lets try to come together in a way that defies logical team dynamics. Lets create a family atmosphere that compells outsiders to wonder how they too can get a piece of "that unique UIW XC/TF experience."
Until next time...
