Entering his fourth year as Big Lake High School’s girls track & field coach, Adam Pelot will look to mix together 42 athletes to produce a winning squad when the 2021 spring season commences this month.

Pelot will garner the help of assistants Bob Blanchard, Andrea Ibberson, Todd Trutna and James Stewart. Pelot has been with the program for over 14 years, serving as the throw coach under a different administration.

Some coaches come and go and some lead teams only when they have a vested interest in the squad, like a child on the team. But Pelot is in it for the joy of teaching youngsters and making them better athletes as well as better people.

“I want every student/athlete that I coach to feel that I care about everything they do,” Pelot said. “To me, every improvement, no matter how small is a big deal and they need to know that.”

Seniors Josie Lentz and Taylor Edmonson were named the captains for this season. But Pelot knows it takes more than one or two peer athletes to make a successful team.

“I look to all of my athletes to be leaders on the team and help each other become better athletes,” he said.

Big Lake’s biggest rival in track and field this year is expected to be Princeton. 

“We match up fairly well in terms of overall team size and the level of competition between our two squads is always intense,” Pelot said.

With COVID-19 still lurking, the coaches of some sports have had to stir in the new protocols to make the season’s machine run smoothly. Pelot, his coaches and his student/athletes put the thoughts of corona to the backs of their minds. 

“As a coach this year, I am just happy to be coaching my team again,” he said.

Running for some in track and field is a natural thing and some need the guidance of an experienced coach to make some changes to stride, technique and pace. Others who are new to the sport or entering the “field” parts,  sometimes discover new talents they hadn’t realized they had and when coached right, see their confidence and abilities gain.

Pelot thinks the throwers in the sport (shot put, discus) are both easy and hard to teach the fundamentals to.

“As a throws coach, I would say teaching athletes to use their hips in a throw is the hardest thing to coach,” he says.  “As for the easiest, it would be the release of a shotput.”

With so many sports and activities in the spring season, it’s sometimes hard for coaches to retain a group of athletes for a full four (or more) years of high school. Kids can choose from golf, softball, baseball, lacrosse, tennis, trap shooting and fishing. But Pelot still sees a very bright future for track and field.

“I do see a bright future for the Hornet track  teams down the road,” Pelot said.  “Over the last three years, we have had steadily increasing numbers with numbers over 50 last year for the first time that I can remember.  We always see kids trying new activities, but we as a coaching staff have made it a priority to work with those kids so that they can stay out with us, and improve as an overall athlete.”

The Hornet track team kicked off their season with a meet at home Tuesday.