According to senior captain Vince Callahan, the track team organizes captains practice with the hope of bringing athletes together and creating a more cohesive team atmosphere.

“The main reason for organizing captain’s (practice) is to get that team feel and to get people bonded before the season starts,” Callahan said.

Callahan said that along with running, the captain’s practices have included various games and activities.

“We have had them on Mondays and Wednesdays after school,” Callahan said. “We have tried to incorporate a fun activity on Wednesdays in order to keep people wanting to come”.

According to head track coach Richard Keith, holding captain’s practice is a good way to get students in a track season mentality.

“I think that it is a great opportunity for kids to just start thinking about track, to start that process of getting in shape,” Keith said.

However, Keith said there are drawbacks to holding captains practice in the early spring or late winter periods.

“If the weather is fine for captains practice I do not have problem with it,” Keith said. “But if we are indoors, there is not a lot of space available and the hallways are not conditioned to be used for running day in and day out.”

Callahan said because of the absence of a coach, captain’s practice aids in building a cooperative unit.

“I think the fact that there is no coach present helps with the whole team building thing because everybody does things together, with no adult telling us exactly what to do.” Callahan said. “Activities are athlete run with everybody contributing to them.”

According to Keith, there is little athletic advantage to holding captains practices before the season.

“The real training does not really start until the season,” Keith said. “The kids that go through captain’s practices may be a little ahead of the rest of the kids, but everybody is kind of starting at ground zero.”

Despite the lack of athletic advantage, Keith said captains practice is an effective method of developing a cohesive team.       

“(Captain’s practice) is a nice time for kids to get together and establish some connections or re-establish connections,” Keith said.

According to Callahan, the boys track team looks promising going into the beginning of the season.

“We have a good group of kids that have been coming to captain’s practice,” Callahan said. “I think we are looking good as we approach the start of the season.”