Holdren puts the “field” in track and field
Lauren Dibble, Contributing Writer
Photo courtesy Pixabay.com
When someone is asked to name the first sport they think of, track and field is probably not the sport that comes to mind. Track and field athlete, Icy Holdren, wants to see her sport better represented at North Greenville University.
�Track and field is towards the bottom of sports that people pay attention to because when you think about it, you just think of people running,� Holdren said. While track refers to running and sprinting events, field is something that Holdren feels that most people don�t know about or understand.
Included in the field aspect of this sport are events like the long jump, high jump, pole vault and throwing. Holdren is known as a �thrower� on the team as she participated in shot put and weight throwing during the indoor season. She now does discus, hammer, shot put and javelin throwing for the team�s outdoor season.
According to Holdren, there are fewer indoor events than outdoor ones due to limited space in the infield, which is the open oval formed by the track. The outdoor track is twice the size of the indoor track, allowing for more variety of field events.
�I enjoy the outdoor season much more than indoor. I�m best at discus because it�s what I have the most experience in, whereas the other events are newer to me,� Holdren said.
She explained that each throwing event is distinctive, so it has been difficult for her to learn the different techniques that are required for each type of throwing, especially since she only threw discus in high school.
Holdren said, �I signed to throw discus here [at NGU] and the coaches told me that since I�m a thrower, I would have to throw other things besides just discus. So, I�m learning three different throwing techniques, like javelin even has different shoes.�
Unlike the slick bottoms of the shoes used for discus, shot put, hammer and weight, javelin shoes have spikes at the bottom that aid in running and stopping abrubtly.
Holdren explained that field athletes are, for the most part, separate from track athletes except for weight training sessions. She said, �It doesn�t feel like I�m as much as part of the track team. We don�t practice with them. We just do weights with them every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 a.m.�
There are only two other female throwers on the team and there is no specific coach for throwers, according to Holdren. There is, however, a coach for javelin throwing who also coaches the pole vaulters. She believes that hiring a coach specifically for throwing at NGU could give the field team the credit it deserves.
