Today was Nicholas' first track meet ever. I think we were all a little bit like fish out of water out at the track, not really knowing the whole process. Neither Doug nor I had ever been in track in school, and Nicholas wasn't completely clear where he was supposed to be. There are a lot of events going on simultaneously, and lots of movement and activity happening all at once. If you don't know what you're looking for, there's a real sense of visual overload going on.
Nicholas had opted out of throwing the shot put in this first meet, since he didn't feel he had enough practice in. Unfortunately, that meant he wasn't hanging out with most of the 'throwers' while they were competing the shot put event. That meant he didn't really realize that when they were done, the whole group of them had moved to the other side of the field for the discus event. Eventually, I told Nicholas he needed to find his coach and figure out how close we were to his event. By the time he found his coach, he was sent to make a bee-line for the opposite side of the field, because his event was already in progress. We saw where he was heading, and walked ourselves to the other side of the field to watch him. Normally, I guess they get three throws, and the farthest one is counted. Since Nicholas got to event check-in a little late, he was skipped for his first round throw. He got there just in time to toss in the second round. It was a bit shaky. While he was waiting for the other contestants to go through their second and third rounds, he warmed up some, and his second and final throw was pretty impressive. Out of ten or eleven contestants from Alta Sierra and Clark, Nicholas' final throw landed him in fourth place over all. Not bad at all for his first time out of the gate! (On a side note, we've decided not to let him opt out of shot put for future meets. If he stays with the other 'throwers' perhaps he won't miss his first throw when his event is called!)
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