Amazing new High School track ... but you can't use it!

Charlie Sollers wrote:

Public HS tracks should be open. They just should be. Where else will Larry Rawson tell us to go?

^This. EOD and thread.

5k PR=15:03

Similar situation here but luckily, there is a middle school just down the road from the HS that leaves their track open.

The Middle School does have rules posted about not using bikes, scooters, skate boards etc... on the track. Of all the times I have run on the track I have never seen anyone abuse it. On Saturday or Sunday mornings there are often several people walking or jogging on it. I think it is great to open these facilities to the public for use. Big difference between your local government and the federal government.

I can use the HS track anytime I want as I got permission from the Track and XC coaches (both my boys ran for them). At least I hope that would keep me from getting arrested. Maybe the OP can try that.

elephino wrote:

Is the fence that hard to climb?

Isn't this the way it's always been? You throw your spikes over the fence and climb over. Every once in awhile someone yells at you and kicks you out, so you leave.

Forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission.

true dat

i remember growing up in our suburban area that grew exponentially over the years, our t-ball field started as tshirts for bases and the original hardware store plunger and spring t, the field was just the back of the school. then they finally made a field with a dirt infield and bases, years later a cage backstop , and so on until now it is a lighted fenced with dugouts ballpark with all kinds of signs posted no dogs etc.

When the old school guys get together we like to go up there and play home run derby with an aluminum bat .

Last summer we were there, with one guy's 14 year old yellow lab that was sleeping on the dugout steps. No beer or anything just us pitching, hitting and shagging mostly flyballs (very few home runs sadly). 3 people walk by and tell point out to us the "no dogs" sign. We say thank you and ignore them. 15 minutes later they come back by and threaten to call the police. We tell them do what you think you have to do. about 20 minutes later the police show up and the people come back as well to watch us presumably get rousted or whatever. Police say what are you doing and do you know that dog is not supposed to be there? We tell them very politely:

yes we know, and that we have been coming there since we were 4 years old, that our fathers built the field, paid the taxes for 30 years, that we still live there and pay taxes, that the dog is old, asleep, and kept off the actual field, that we felt it better to have the dog inside the fence that have to watch from outside the fence, the dog has come here for 14 years, that the wooden bats we have have been on the field for over 30 years, that 1 fellas dad started the entire youth organization that runs the fields 30 years ago, etc., that part of his ashes were spread over the field, etc.

we say this all together piping in and very politely and tell the officers you decide and do what you gotta do, but we are gonna keep playing as we are not bothering anyone on the field our dads built and we grew up on, if they need to write us a trespass violation or arrest us we will cooperate but we are not just leaving

the cops listen to us politely and then walk over to the other people and tell them to leave us alone

once in awhile the world is just right

if it is that important to you, jump the fence, get arrested and make a stand maybe you can cause some change

I coach at an open track. It really does wear the track down faster. Our district has half of the tracks closed and half of them open.

The other thing is that people come out and use the pole vault and high jump pits and then leave the covers off overnight seemingly only on days with 1-2" of rainfall. Then they're waterlogged for our practices.

Bottom line - people don't take care of stuff that isn't theirs. This is why they're locking it up.

For the same reason you are arguing that taxpayers should use the facility, you can argue that the school district has a financial responsibility to taxpayers to minimize maintenance and replacement costs by taking care of the facility. There will be critics either way.

I realize it is frustrating to not be able to get to a track. I'm just trying to help you realize one reason why they are usually locked up.

Maybe your district can rotate one track as an open use facility (the one that is always next in line for resurfacing) and that way the community will always have something to work out on.

i almost cried reading this even if it refers to baseball instead of a track

Someone wrote:

I believe that when they use tax payers money to build a facility that costs over $2 million then they should make it available to town residents and not just a handful of High School athletes.

Any thoughts on this? Anyone face a similar issue or have any ideas on how to get them to open it up?

The same thing has happened here, in California, the newest high school with an 8 foot fence all around it and looks like a prison.

50 years ago we could walk onto any dirt track in town, and run any time day or night. Now there are no more good places to run. Meanwhile they are stealing more and more money from the citizens, while taking away our personal rights and opportunities.

This is an increasing trend. The hs in my town re-did their track several years ago, locked the gates to it, and put up "NO TRESPASSING - VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED" signs. It is strictly for school use only.

I never called anyone; I found somewhere else to run. Their track, their rules.

This from an article about Vince Matthews' induction into the track and field hall from 2011. Seems fitting for this thread. I love the last line. (Matthews was the '72 400m gold medalist, '68 4x4 gold)

Coach Charles Turner of the Brooklyn Over The Hill Athletic Association played a major role in re-stoking his Olympic fires, but the process was never easy. Matthews still worked full-time and BOHAA night-time practice sessions often required scaling the fence of a locked-up high school track.

"Climbing in was never hard," Matthews said, smiling. "But climbing back out after a hard workout, that was the really difficult part. You were pretty tired by then."

Why don't you just jump the fence? I always just hop on over or find somewhere to crawl under and no one seems to mind. My school's track is pretty secluded though, not a lot of traffic on the road in front of it and not many businesses around. Would someone really call the police if they saw some guy hop the fence and start running on the school's track? Is it really a big deal?

I've spent 20 years breaking into tracks and climbing over fences. It's ridiculous. Where I live now, if you can prove that you live in the school district (just proof of address) then you get permission to run on the track as long as no school kids are using it. It only makes sense since we (the taxpayers) fund the stuff. Fought the same battle with the middle school pool, which is harder to break into. You write a lot of letters and make a lot of phone calls, and in the mean time you just find a way in!

i'm with the OP. if the school district is going to go out and spend 2 mil on a track facility, then they ought to let the taxpayers use it. i also think it's ridiculous the money spent on tracks at public schools. high school athletes do not need state of the art track facilities. build an inexpensive track. the track at my old high school wasn't great, but it lasted 30 years!

elephino wrote:

Is the fence that hard to climb?

Isn't this the way it's always been? You throw your spikes over the fence and climb over. Every once in awhile someone yells at you and kicks you out, so you leave.

Forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission.

+1

That's what I've always done when a track is locked. Thankfully my hometown leaves the track open 24/7.

Honestly if you could go in A's talk to the ad and just tell him why you wanna use it he's probably not gonna tell you know... via email you could be anybody

track in the united states is like soccer, a children's sport. Grownups are expected to play softball or basketball.