Hannah Moss, a Stevens Cooperative School 8th grader, has discovered a love of running. Coming off a successful track and field season last spring, she shares about the joy it was to participate in practices, run alone on the weekends and push herself in new ways.
“It isn’t like the other team sports I’ve tried,” she says. “It becomes less about the competition and more about challenging my inner self.”
And now the fall cross-country season is here! Stevens 5th to 8th grade boys and girls have begun practices to prepare for a local private and parochial school league that holds meets beginning in late October.
“As with athletics in general, this is a great activity for a variety of reasons,” says Dan Weber, Stevens’ physical education teacher. He’s also the coach for Stevens cross-country, basketball and track and field teams.
“It not only provides a competitive outlet and overall physical fitness, but cooperation and teamwork as well.”
He says that though cross-country is an individual sport, he trains the students to focus on team spirit and use their teammates to drive them to excel. The team also focused on skills like stamina, pacing, breathing and finishing strong.
“This is great training for other sports that the students participate in, like basketball, soccer and hockey,” he says.
And all of this physical and mental hard work comes cleverly disguised as fun.
“We loved being on the track team last spring,” says Stevens 8th graders Bethany Simon and Alahna Soloman. “The best was running against teammates that were faster than us. It really motivated us to run harder and we got better!”
The girls thoughtfully pause, and then add, “Even stretching was fun.”
Weber feels very optimistic about the team’s chances this season.
“Off the heels of our track and field success last spring, with wins across every discipline and age group, we expect to achieve the same level of accomplishment this fall,” he says. “We look forward to an exciting season!”
Cross-country season is here
