22.5 Book

In the spring of 1942, a small group of boys from the Mexico Track and Field team took a train to Columbia, Missouri. Their purpose was to participate in the State Track and Field meet. At Rollens Field on the University of Missouri campus Those boys won that meet and thereby started the deeply rooted tradition of excellence in Mexico Track and Field. The town fell in love with the sport, which is now deeply rooted, in the town's inner identity.

As the head coach of this tradition filled program, each year my staff and I make plans to compete with other track and field teams. In the real world of high school athletics, the success or failure of any team is limited to the athletes within the school system. Our staff knows this and we make it our goal to run a program that will assist our kids in being as successful as possible. Over the years the program and its tradition, have had success at posting wins, but we rarely judge success by won-loss records. The first goal of the program is to develop the attitudes of our young people by using one of the world's toughest sports to develop character. This sport places our young people in a controlled adversarial situation and the attitudes they develop while training to handle the situation is the key to their success. These lessons are tools given to each of our youngsters. The purpose is to inspire our youngsters in methods used to handle adversity as they move through life. The sport creates work ethic, which creates good people; the winning is a residual effect of good people working hard. It has been my job now for over twenty years to preserve and maybe add to this tradition.

This story is of one of the groups who were made aware of the window of opportunity. Their intelligence, inspiration provided by one another, and desire to succeed, forced the window open. I made them a promise to let others know the depth of their convictions.