THUNDER BAY -- Michael Fayrick wishes more students could catch track and field fever.
One of 350 teens taking part this week in the two-day NWOSSAA track and field championships, the Hammarskjold High School student captured the junior boys 200-metre race and also won the long-jump competition, an event he entered just for fun and not with expectations of climbing the podium.
“Last year we had so much more competition. So many people I knew just dropped out or didn’t show up anymore,” the Grade 10 student said.
It’s an alarming trend across the sports spectrum.
Too many coaches are convincing young athletes that the best way to succeed in primary sports like hockey, basketball and football is to focus solely on those sports and forego other athletic activities.
In the past, when hockey season came to an end, kids would grab a baseball bat and play ball for the summer, join the local tennis or golf club or try out for the track and field team.
It’s starting to have an impact on those secondary sports, said David Pineau, activities director at the Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association, hosting this week’s track and field meet.
“As everybody knows, we have fewer and fewer kids participating in sports and being active. This is a real opportunity to celebrate those who are,” Pineau said.
“We’re really concerned about kids who are playing primary sports and not branching out to other sports and it’s a problem we have to tackle within our schools.”
In 2015 hall-of-famer Wayne Gretzky said one of the worst things to happen to his sport was the introduction of year-round hockey. When he was young, his father put away his gear and didn’t drag it out again until fall, according to a Dec. 18, 2015 story in the Toronto Sun.
It’s a lot different today.
“It’s vital for kids to have breaks from their primary sports. Oftentimes they find their true passion in a secondary sport they didn’t know existed when they started,” Pineau said. “But we’re seeing more and more evidence of coaches of primary sports not encouraging secondary sports.
“We’re seeing it in the numbers, in terms of not as many kids participating and playing that chosen sport for 12 months. A lot of people are talking about the importance of secondary and third sports, but not a lot of people are following through on that kind of talk.”
Just 350 students from 15 schools throughout the region took part in this year’s track meet, held at Fort William Stadium and the crown jewel of the sport in Northwestern Ontario. It’s less than half what it once was.
To be fair, there are fewer high schools and demographics suggest an aging population, so the numbers were bound to be down somewhat.
Those who do take part can’t say enough about how track and field enriches their lives.
Hammarkskjold’s Hailey Mose, who finished second to Sir Winston Churchill’s Megan Bryson in the 200-metre dash, says it’s an event she looks forward to every year.
“I train for this the whole year and this is the biggest event to prove to myself and my coaches how much I’ve trained for this and how much I want to be good at this,” said Mose, hopeful of gaining one of 50 or spots at the provincial championships.
