Is Track and Field a Team Sport?
by Melinda Burris

As someone who has never run hurdles or participated in track and field, I’ve often wondered how hurdling should be properly categorized. Some, like writer Ashleigh Snoozy, have come down unequivocally on the side that track is absolutely a team sport. But is it really? Most professional track events you see show individual athletes lined up at the starting line ready to begin running their own race, with hurdlers obviously tasked with clearing each one on their own.

I’ve been aware from a very young age that inspiration and support are often vital for any athlete to find the inner fortitude to make that seemingly impossible comeback or run what looks to be a ‘perfect’ race. These seemed to me to be essential elements that form the core of team cohesiveness. But I still had questions about how this philosophy applies to track and specifically to hurdling. So, who better to turn to for answers than Coach McGill, who was kind enough to explain how track and hurdles are defined and also share his inside knowledge of the close bonds that can form between hurdlers, even those who are the most competitive rivals on the track.

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First, Coach McGill clarified, “Hurdling isn’t a sport, but is an event within the larger sport of Track and Field.”¹ Got it! He then goes further, explaining that Track and Field is based on a point system that determines how many points are awarded based on placement. He then compares that to a team sport like basketball, where when a member of a team scores a clutch three-pointer, for instance, those points are given to the team, not just the individual athlete who made the basket. The winner of the game is the team who collectively scores the most points.¹

Steve notes that in team sports, even if you score in the double digits and have a fantastic game personally, if your teammates fail to support you, making it impossible for your team to win, “that’s a hard loss to take.”¹ In comparison, he remarks, “In track, if I win my event, but the team loses, I’m still feeling good about myself.”¹ He observes that the scoring system used in track and field “at the high school level and the collegiate level” have become what Coach McGill describes as a “chess match” where strategies are formed based on what choices will give the team a victory—even if that approach knowingly sacrifices opportunities for individual athletes to reach their peak.¹ When coaching for a school team, Steve has stated this mindset often left him frustrated, which is one of the reasons he now chooses to concentrate on private, individual training for hurdlers. Even with his school team, he places a premium on giving individual athletes a chance to shine.

The Opposing Point of View: Track and Field Is a Team Sport Like No Other

Ashleigh Snoozy, Managing Editor of The Sheridan Press recently interviewed several high school hurdlers about the trend in recent years in Sheridan County (located in Dayton, Wyoming) of the sport becoming increasingly popular among Track and Field athletes, with both boys and girls becoming increasingly immersed in hurdling and making impressive showings at area competitions, earning Sheridan County’s Track and Field teams a reputation for dominating the 2023 season.²

After speaking candidly with several local student hurdlers including Maggie Turpin who shared, that although she chooses to “run [in] a lot of different events”, she especially enjoys hurdling “because everyone’s so positive, and it’s easier to complete a job with a team.”² Although there are few Track and Field events that are technically team endeavors, with most of the competitive categories consisting of individual events, Snoozy makes a convincing argument that among hurdlers there is a different definition of team based on the relationships that frequently form among athletes within the hurdling community.

Ultimately, Snoozy concludes hurdling is an “event [that] naturally connects athletes, who share lingo and experiences of the difficulty, both mentally and physically, of sailing over an object instead of simply running on a flat track surface.”² Snoozy asserts that few athletes participating in other sporting events can truly relate to the hard work and sense of fulfillment hurdlers experience when all that preparation and training pay off with a win.

Coach McGill’s Take

Despite arguments to the contrary by Snoozy and others, Coach McGill maintains that Track and Field is a team sport “only in a fabricated sense.”¹ Make no mistake though, Coach McGill acknowledges the camaraderie that exists among hurdlers and supports it “to an emphatic degree.”¹ He notes:

Throughout my career, whether or not I’ve been coaching for a school team, I have always worked with hurdlers from other schools, and hurdlers from my school have often trained beside their rivals from other schools whenever possible. Just last week, a kid that I coach privately invited his toughest competitor in the region to come to train with us so they could do some block starts together.”¹ The two on track rivals did practice together, illustrating there is a mutual respect among hurdlers.

Coach McGill also points to the example of 1972 Olympic champion Rodney Milburn. When Steve was doing research for a book he published chronicling Milburn’s life and career, he learned that Milburn, who attended and competed for Southern University in Louisiana, and Larry Shipp, a hurdler at rival LSU, would train together at times. So, although Coach McGill disagrees with the characterization of Track and Field as a team sport, he is quick to emphasize, “There is an unspoken bond amongst hurdlers because only another hurdler can understand and appreciate another hurdler’s struggles. Plus, athletes in other events tend to either ignore the hurdles or make ignorant remarks about hurdling, so hurdlers tend to bond as members of their own society.”¹

The takeaway here I believe is that hurdling is a unique sport and those who rise to the challenge to take on clearing those high bars deserve more respect from the athletic community at large.

References:

1. McGill, S. (8 May 2023). Email interview.
2. Snoozy, A. (5 May 2023). Up and Over: Hurdlers Find Camaraderie, Competition, Increased Interest in Event.

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