Bailey Balmforth is a senior at Collierville High School on the track and field team. Having recently moved to Collierville, Bailey provides fresh eyes on our, back-to-back state championship winning, girls team. With mentally and physically exhausting practices she describes her motivations and favorite parts of being on her new team.
Bailey, seventeen years old, moved to Collierville from Charleston, South Carolina this summer. After having run track for four years, she decided to join Collierville’s track team. While triple jump is her favorite, her other events are hurdles and throwing. She enthusiastically emphasizes her love for track and field and a glimpse into her motivation to continue her sport.
“I love track and field, and I thought it would be a good way for me to meet new people! I heard amazing things about the team and wanted to continue out my high school years with the same sport I started with!”
After making tryouts in September and showing up to practices, Bailey describes quickly noticing “how connected everyone is.” Compared to her old team that had over 150 people, Bailey describes how Collierville’s track team is smaller than she is used to.
Sharing her thoughts on this change she exclaims, “But I love it so much more because I have gotten to know everyone so well which makes it even more fun to be at practice together.”
Not only does the closeness of the team bring joy to the sport, but being close with teammates also motivates each athlete to push themselves. She further emphasizes that hard practices become so much easier when “people are cheering each other on.”
Along with her teammates encouraging her, Bailey shared some of her personal motivations. She described how during tough times and hard practices “you find ways to push yourself past your limits” and then in return “you find out how much you truly can give.” Whether its weight training, sprints, or drills, she has found giving it your all is what brings true results.
She also said, “One of my favorite quotes says that your mind will give up before your body does, and that is something I am constantly trying to tell myself during hard workouts because I know I have had hard workouts before, and even though it’s not fun in the moment, the work always pays off.”
Overall, Bailey emphasizes the positive effect being a track athlete has had on her. She says it gave her confidence in her abilities, proved she is stronger than she thinks, and connected her with many friends she otherwise wouldn’t have met. She has an extremely strong work ethic and has learned to give her 100% every day. With goals to improve her triple jump by at least two feet and strive for even better hurdle form, Bailey pushes her way towards state!
