Quitting Track?

D

dancing_falcon

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Jul 4, 2016
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Hi everyone! I've received a lot of help from this forum, and so I'm turning to SAF one more time. I am a candidate for USAFA, just awaiting a nomination decision. I have run track from freshman year to the current time, but I am injured. I have managed to injure myself every year I have run under my coach. Freshman year, I inflamed my SI joint. Sophomore year and junior year, I irritated a healed broken foot that I thought was not supposed to bother me again. This year, a week into the winter track season, I have a partially torn hamstring.

The problem is, I have never been injured doing any other sport. I was a competitive Irish dancer for 11 years before I received my first injury. This summer, I weight trained 6 days a week from June until August without one occurrence of injury. My school's athletic trainer even told us that my coach is most likely going to injure all of us at some point this season. 4 girls on my team already have shin splints and 2 have terrible knee problems.

I know it would look bad for me not to do a sport during my senior year of high school, but if I am not doing a sport to avoid injury, is it OK for me to quit? If I am asked, I am very willing to explain my situation to USAFA, but I don't know if it just looks like I am looking for excuses to not do sports.
 
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Your application is already completed and submitted and per your post you are now awaiting a nomination and an appointment. Your spring '17 sports involvement will not be part of your package whether you run or don't run.

At this point, the only things USAFA might want to see are: CFA results if you do it again; 7th semester grades - they request them in some cases; one more round of SAT/ACT score.

If your application listed you lettering in track as a senior and you in good faith planned to run track as a senior, but no longer plan to do so, it should have no impact on how USAFA reviews your application.
 
Speak with your parents first, then your ALO. As a parent I would advise you to quit the track team. It makes no sense to continue where you have a high risk of injury/re-injury. You have a long life ahead & you don't need nagging injuries from a sport that you are not enjoying (I assume). The spring sports season will start after the winter semester break. There are other sports teams to join.
 
Thank you for the advice! As I stated, I'm concerned that quitting track will look bad because I have already started the season, and my school, if asked, will have to say that I stopped running a week into the season. On the other hand, I am scared of running and causing a serious injury that may hinder my abilities to attend USAFA if I am granted the honor of an appointment. My parents want me to wait it out a little longer to see how I feel and really think everything over.
 
I thought that the ALO should know (consult was the wrong word) of the poster's decision. I like the points you made; they are more informative than mine & I totally agree with you.
 
IMO I would sit out and heal. Then begin a workout program as your doctor and trainer see fit. Continue to do well in school and leadership opportunities, and work on plans B,C, etc..best wishes on speedy recovery !

Have you contacted Dodmerb?
 
Quit if you want, just stay in good shape.
 
shock-n-awe said:
IMO I would sit out and heal. Then begin a workout program as your doctor and trainer see fit. Continue to do well in school and leadership opportunities, and work on plans B,C, etc..best wishes on speedy recovery !

Have you contacted Dodmerb?
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DoDMERB has been informed and I've already been granted a waiver for everything that was disqualifying.
 
dancing_falcon said:
DoDMERB has been informed and I've already been granted a waiver for everything that was disqualifying.
Click to expand...

Great, that's important!
Protecting and healing your body and staying in shape is every bit as important as maintaining your grades, continuing to do well in leadership positions, and staying out of trouble!
As stated, continue to polish everything you can and put yourself in the best position you can for your WCS. Track shouldn't make or break you if you are already a competitive candidate.
"Quitting " is not always a bad thing.
 
Maybe it's just me, but...I would be really wary of running for a coach who "is most likely going to injure all of us at some point this season". :eek: It sounds like your coach may not have an understanding of human physiology commensurate with his/her position. Not bashing your coach or anything, but it's not a risk I'd take if I were you.

If your hamstring heals before the end of the season, you could always run in road races like 5/10K's (or whatever distance corresponds best to the events you run in track). This would help show the admissions panel that you are still athletically involved and focused on maintaining your physical fitness. Of course, you wouldn't want to try this until you are 2019% sure you are healed...:cool:

Good luck to you as you continue on the journey. :thumb:
 
dancing_falcon said:
Hi everyone! I've received a lot of help from this forum, and so I'm turning to SAF one more time. I am a candidate for USAFA, just awaiting a nomination decision. I have run track from freshman year to the current time, but I am injured. I have managed to injure myself every year I have run under my coach. Freshman year, I inflamed my SI joint. Sophomore year and junior year, I irritated a healed broken foot that I thought was not supposed to bother me again. This year, a week into the winter track season, I have a partially torn hamstring.

The problem is, I have never been injured doing any other sport. I was a competitive Irish dancer for 11 years before I received my first injury. This summer, I weight trained 6 days a week from June until August without one occurrence of injury. My school's athletic trainer even told us that my coach is most likely going to injure all of us at some point this season. 4 girls on my team already have shin splints and 2 have terrible knee problems.

I know it would look bad for me not to do a sport during my senior year of high school, but if I am not doing a sport to avoid injury, is it OK for me to quit? If I am asked, I am very willing to explain my situation to USAFA, but I don't know if it just looks like I am looking for excuses to not do sports.
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As you can tell by my username, I ran track. I started in 5th grade and by the time I was a senior, I was starting to burn out from the sport plus I had started an internship with Air Force through my school's required job shadowing program for seniors. The program required me to leave school at 10 am and stay at the internship until about 3. I had a few injuries like you and my coach was a big fan of running us until at least a few people threw up. (Classy coaching, I know) Long story short, I received my appointment to CGA in December and made the decision to not compete that spring. I never told CGA, it never came up and it was never a problem. Do what is going to be best for you which, in my opinion, is healing and then taking the time to get in shape for USAFA or whatever other path you choose. Good luck!
 
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You say you have notified DoDMERB, and that you have received a waiver... for this hamstring tear?

A hamstring tear is not a minor injury, and if not repaired and treated correctly, can sometimes result in long term, chronic, pain.

As a parent, my child would not be on the track team following this injury, especially as a senior. If completely healed and medically cleared, do as was suggested - 5K, etc. And of course, if you have a nom and appointment, you'll not be participating in something akin to the Tough Mudder. But do stay in top physical condition - swim, upper body, etc.
 
Thank you everyone for all of your advice! I just quit track yesterday, and am planning on keeping in shape. I weight train and am planning on running a lot of road races of different lengths when they start up again in March/April. While doing track, I was not allowed to run road races for some unknown reason, but I already have quite a few in mind.

Luckily, I only had a partial tear of my hamstring so a week or two of rest and icing will allow me to come back and (hopefully) better than ever. I've spoken with both DoDMERB and USAFA and they have assured me that my waiver is enough. I recently received a nomination, so all I am waiting for is an appointment decision.
 
dancing_falcon said:
Luckily, I only had a partial tear of my hamstring so a week or two of rest and icing will allow me to come back and (hopefully) better than ever.
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Sounds like you have the situation under control. Whatever you do, though, be REALLY careful to let it fully heal. I am no medical expert in any sense of the word, but I would still suggest giving it more than just a week or two. People get medically turned back from BCT every year for similar injuries, so you want to make sure there is absolutely nothing wrong with it come I-Day.
 
Recommend you work on core & pull-ups.
 
It's smart to quit. Be Careful of taking medical recommendations from people on a forum. That said, over 2/3rds of runners that strain their hamstrings will re-injure within one year. Stay healthy.

Oh.... You can trust my decision. That's because I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express last night. In fact, this was me just last night.:D
 
dancing_falcon said:
Thank you everyone for all of your advice! I just quit track yesterday, and am planning on keeping in shape. I weight train and am planning on running a lot of road races of different lengths when they start up again in March/April. While doing track, I was not allowed to run road races for some unknown reason, but I already have quite a few in mind.

Luckily, I only had a partial tear of my hamstring so a week or two of rest and icing will allow me to come back and (hopefully) better than ever. I've spoken with both DoDMERB and USAFA and they have assured me that my waiver is enough. I recently received a nomination, so all I am waiting for is an appointment decision.
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In CA, when a HS student is competing for track/cross country, they are not allowed to compete outside of this.
Other sports are the same, for example volleyball and softball/baseball, cannot compete on HS team and with outside competition team also.
Most likely same in your state.
 
CaliNavyMom said:
In CA, when a HS student is competing for track/cross country, they are not allowed to compete outside of this.
Other sports are the same, for example volleyball and softball/baseball, cannot compete on HS team and with outside competition team also.
Most likely same in your state.
Click to expand...

I will not be competing with a competitive team, just signing up and running for myself. I don't believe that is a rule in my state, but my coach had always told us that we were not allowed to run 5Ks or other road races because they were a competition and he believed we competed enough during the season. The logic did not make sense to me, but our team accepted it.
 
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