Jacob Koontz
9/18/2012
Eng 101: writing
project 1(rough draft)
My Track
The Space I chose was the track here at ASU. It’s a big
gated area with a large section of bleachers on one side that stands high over
the track. The track is a bright red with lots of white lines that form lanes
and starting lines all over the track and circles around a large portion of
bright green grass and a small part of white track that fills a portion of the
circle for the jump events. It’s a large wide open space that when empty is a
nice peaceful place that has a great view of the football stadium. While this
provides a great visual picture of the track, there is a lot more there than
you may have originally thought.
The coaches and the
athletes who have spend countless hours working hard and competing on the track
have a sense of “place attachment” (Vanclay), because that particular track is
where they have put in their work and where they also get to show how hard they
have worked when the track season comes around, it’s the place where they makes
memories not of just self accomplishments but team accomplishments. They will
remember the friends they have made and the races they have run. So for the
rest of their lives they will associate that track as their track where all of
those memories forever preserved in the minds of each athlete and coach. But
what is amazing about that simple red track is that it can have a separate
identity for everyone, it has no limiting factors so anyone can make their own
memories there. It can be the dream finally realized it can be the place where
you finally lost that weight you wanted to lose. But it can be
sad too, it can be
where you weren’t good enough to make team or where you got injured and had to
quit competing. It’s like a blank board where you can fill in what you have
done there which is what gives it a different identity to everyone.
At the track there is a
sense of something familiar maybe my high school track because every outdoor
track is shaped and made in pretty much the same way so every track is almost
identical but every athlete would no right away if this was his or her track,
because if you spend enough time on one particular track you will feel a
certain level of comfort running on that track because everything is familiar
to you because it’s the track you have spent so much time running on, it’s like
driving that same car everyday then changing to a different car you would immediately
feel the difference because it not what you are use to driving. That
familiarity with something is what makes you feel comfortable and it can give
you confidence because use you are use to your track, and that feeling is the
opposite when you go to a different track, because while you are familiar with
what a track is and looks like, but you’re not as comfortable because it’s not
your track. And people do a lot better
when they are comfortable and use to where they are because then everything is
familiar and when everything is familiar there is less you have to focus on and
worry about. Once you are familiar with the track you have a sense of place
awareness because you understand and no exactly where everything is and being
comfortable with every inch of the track knowing what lane is the fastest, where
there is an imperfections are. Sense they have complete place awareness then
that means they also have place familiarity of the track.
There is a sense of
place commitment because they run and train on the same track almost every day
and compete on it for their home meets, this time put in builds a commitment to
that track because that’s where they put in their work, that track embodies
everything that they have work for to get to this level and maybe the thing
that will propel them onto the next level. Even people
Who don’t run on the
track team anymore and graduated a long time ago still have a sense of place
commitment because they all had their time when they had to put in their work
and compete on which over time develops into a place commitment with that track
because it still hold all the memories that they created there. That track will
forever hold all the memories anyone is willing to create there and they have a
commitment to that track because every time they step back out onto that track
all of the memories they have made their will come rushing back and they will
get the sensation of returning home and that feeling is truly why they have
place commitment because human being look for things and places to connect to.
Satisfaction comes from happiness or excitement and if you’re a runner the
track on race day will create enough excitement to make you sick, and the
satisfaction can be from lots of things from winning a race to symbolize all
the hard work finally paying off to someone fighting to lose weight and maybe
save their life, that too can create that place satisfaction because when you
look at that track you can visualize all of the hard work you have done and all
off the accomplishments you have achieved there. I can relate to this because I
ran track all 4 years of high school and I have place commitment to my high
school track because it’s the place where I’ve made a name for myself, where I have
met some of my best friends and where I have some of my greatest memories, even
though the track here is not the same place I ran in high school it still
reminds me of my track and will always bring a smile to my face.
A track is simply just a
bunch or rubber laid out in a circle that totals 400 meters around. It’s then
sprayed a bright red then white lines are added on making up the 8 to 9
different lanes on a track and starting lines for each individual race. It may
look simple and boring but there is so much more to it than just a place where
people run. It can be the dream you’ve had sense running in high school it can
be the place where you met your best friend or the love of your life. It’s a
big wide open space that you can fill with whatever memories you want to create,
like running college track and creating an attachment to that place because it was
where you made a difference, or where you worked and achieved some life time
goal you have for yourself, that’s the beauty of it because it can be
everything to you or nothing to you at all, that’s why I chose the track because
back home my track has so many memories for me, and I want to create that
attachment to the track here as well.
