It came to my attention the other night, as I sat in a group study room, among piles of books and notes, with some of my fellow sprint squad members in my university’s library, how immensely important my track team has become to me. I know that I always talk about running or my team. This is probably because I am around them literally 24/7. I didn’t think teammates could get any closer, but I’ve already been proven wrong (and we haven’t even formally started track season yet this year).

I’ve never actually experienced something quite like this on a team before. We’ve always been there for each other on the track, cheering each other on during tough workouts or races, but this year I can feel that something is different. There is a different kind of energy on the team. We all are taking our new team motto “practice with a purpose” very seriously this year. I can feel how there is so much more positive energy and support from all of my teammates. I can see how confident we’ve grown. I can see how we each are dreaming big and striving to be better athletes and people.

This attitude has permeated into other aspects of our lives too. We are learning to hold each other accountable for all of our actions. When I see someone struggling, on the track, in the classroom, or just in life in general, I see my teammates coming together to help that person out. We push each other during hard practices, making sure everyone crosses that finish line. We set up study sessions in the library to help each other write papers or catch up in math. We spend time with each other outside of practice, just having fun and relaxing. We make sure everyone is doing OK, turning to each other for advice with an array of life problems.

We call ourselves the sprint fam and never have there been truer words to describe this team. Without this group of crazy, yet hilarious people I don’t know what I would do. Whenever I feel down, I know I can always turn to one of them to cheer me up. I am pretty sure we spend about half of our time in practice laughing about the most random things. We all have some pretty ridiculous nicknames (Major Kee, Gains, Bethany Burrito, Savage, the Jumpmasta, Coach Greenerton, Jumpman, C-Nasty, Malik, HeyitsNickJ, and Chicken Boy just to name a few…) Though even though we are a pretty lighthearted group, make no mistake, we take this team seriously. Through the laughs, the tears, the wins, the losses, the injuries, and the blessings, I know that I can always count on my sprint fam to be there for me.