Another season begins,
The last one just ended.
Another medical clearance card,
Requiring a rare visit to the nurse.
Another preseason meeting to attend.
The track, still bright red, will be our home.
But the similarities end there.
This season is different;
The rules have changed.
Two coaches are gone,
So athletes must go too.
The team who once took every eager participant has to learn to say no to some.
How do you determine who makes the cut?
What makes someone good enough?
Those who make up the majority of the team disappear,
Rejected by what they once belonged to.
They are not fast enough, or they cannot jump far enough;
They are not strong enough to throw the heavy shot put.
They cannot hurl themselves over the pole vault bar.
Yet they are the ones who work the hardest and try the most;
The type of person that makes our team a team.
They will no longer come to meets,
To cheer for their teammates or be cheered for in return.
They cannot run the warmup mile with us,
Or train to improve.
They cannot even come on the bus with us,
Because we can only have two buses now.
We cannot afford more than one per team,
One for the girls and one for the boys.
We want them there;
Competing and improving,
Enhancing the team just by being themselves;
Hardworking people who never give up.
How can they say no to them?