The Thornwood Open
Have you heard about the Thornwood Open? It’s a new track meet that is taking place on Saturday March 1st, 2014. There are so many exciting things about this new meet that it is worth taking a minute to tell you all about it.
First let’s talk about the location. The meet will be taking place at the Perry Center, on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Some of you may not be familiar with this University, but this is also the location of the Chicago Bears training camp. Last year the Perry Center opened and it is a gem for the Track and Field community. It showcases a 200 Meter Mondo track with EIGHT lanes all the way around! This is unprecedented as far as indoor tracks are concerned – and it also has TEN lanes on the straightaway. It boasts the 3rd largest jumbo-tron next to Soldier Field and Toyota Park. It comes complete with F.A.T. timing and has multiple runways for the horizontal jumps as well as two rings for the throws.
Now that you have an idea of how amazing the facility is, lets share some aspects of the meet that make it special. First, let’s start with the title – the Thornwood Open. What exactly does that mean? Is it open to any team or anyone that wants to run? NO! (That is called an “all-comers” meet). Why is it simply not called the Thornwood Invitational you may ask. That is because it is NOT an Invitational! The invitational season has already started for some teams and will be moving in full-force within the next few weeks. Invitationals are often high profile meets where teams enter their top two in each event. While these meets are exciting and often time produce great marks, a coach is not able to involve the whole team. Often times it’s the top athletes that get to participate. That sometimes can leave kids behind who are on the roster but can’t break into that invitational starting lineup. As coaches you still try to keep your kids hungry enough to work hard, in hopes of getting good enough to compete in an invitational. But what about the kid who comes every single day and STILL can’t get into the meet? What about the kid who runs a meet in February and might have to wait until April to get into a Dual, Triangular, or Quad meet during the week? Sometimes kids might ask themselves why am I working so hard, coming to practice every day, and I don’t even get to be in the meet?? Sometimes the Invitational part of the season can lead to a direct result of kids becoming disinterested and even quitting.
This was an underlying principle in the creation of the Thornwood Open. The emphasis for this meet is that it is NOT an invitational, and coaches are NOT limited to their top two entries. The goal is for EVERY kid on the roster to have a chance to participate. The Thornwood Open wants a coach to be able to involve as many kids as possible. Traditionally there may be kids on the team who would NEVER get to compete in a facility like this, and hopefully EVERY kid feels special, and a part of their team.
Finally, what teams will be participating? Even though this is the meet’s first year of conception, the line-up of teams shows promise. Teams participating this year are: Bradley-Bourbonnais, Cahokia, Danville, Evanston, Homewood Flossmoor, Kenwood, Lake Park, Leo, Lincoln-Way West, Lockport, Minooka, Neuqua Valley, Oak Lawn, Plainfield East, Thornton, and Thornwood. With such a diverse and talented group of teams, the excitement and energy will be nothing short of spectacular.
So if you’re sitting around with nothing to do on March 1, 2014, think about taking a trip down to the campus of Olivet Nazarene. The performances will be well worth the trip, as many are anticipating a great day of track and field. If you are a fan of the sport, it will be a day to see some great teams putting up some amazing marks. But it will also be a day where a freshman, who may never participate in an Invitational the entire season, will feel special. This will be a day where a senior, who has been on the team for four years and can’t break into the Invite line-up, gets the chance to finally feel like a part of the team. A day where EVERYONE is a contributor, and a chance for EVERY athlete to record a personal best – to feel special, and to bask in the glory of doing something better than they have ever done before!
Happy competing!
Brian Evans,
Thornwood Track & Field