By Roshan Idnani ‘21, Staff Writer

When I joined Newark Academy, one of the things I was looking forward to was trying out different sports during the school year. I chose cross country as my fall sport. I remember the first day of the season. I was really excited to meet with other team members across the entire middle school and to meet with the coaches, Coach Santos and Coach Windsor. In my opinion, being part of the cross country team is awesome! Everybody has the spirit of Newark Academy. The coaches are motivating and very helpful. I always get inspired when they urge me to do my best.

In my first meet, I was terrified by the gunshot that marked the beginning of the race. I waited a few seconds so that the bullet would fall on the ground and then I started. It was a home meet and I knew the course well and I did reasonably well for my first meet. I did 1.8 miles in 18:42 minutes. I have been getting much better. For instance, in a meet, I did 2 miles in 16:55 minutes. I am very proud of myself. We had our last meet at Pingry on Wednesday, November 5th.  As always, I did my best, enjoyed the run, and followed Confucius’ advice:

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.”