PEABODY — Just one meet into the season, the Peabody track and field team understands it’s not the finished product just yet.
That’s exactly the formula head coach Fernando Braz came up with.
“We’re very early in the season and still trying to put all the pieces together for all 16 events,” Braz said. “We know what we have, we just don’t know what we don’t have yet.”
Braz said the Tanners use the first half to understand their strengths and weaknesses, all while developing each athlete’s technical ability.
“It usually takes us about halfway. The state relay meet is usually the transition period. At that point, we pretty much have the team set, but until then, it’s moving pieces,” Braz said.
Peabody’s track and field team consists of 160 athletes, and Braz understands there are positives and negatives to a team that big.
A positive is it can “develop depth” alongside less “individual coaching.”
“The technical teaching may not be as good early in the season. I’d like to see a better ratio, but we’ll never turn away someone who wants to participate,” Braz said.
With a big team, Braz looks for his leaders to bridge the gap between athletes and coaches.
“Our leadership has been fantastic,” Braz said. “That’s why we’re hopeful the pieces will come together sooner rather than later.”
Braz doesn’t think this group is necessarily different from years’ past – that’s because a culture within Peabody track has been set for a while.
“We have a culture and philosophy. We have a formula and it relies on our leaders who have been here for three years to lead us,” Braz said. “If they direct us North up a river, that’s where we’re heading – whether we like it or not.”
When asked about his team’s strengths, Braz immediately jumped to the throwing and sprinting teams.
“I think our field events certainly start and end with our throwing team. Our team’s success will go through them. Hopefully, they can stay healthy,” Braz said. “Our sprinting team has some depth this year and some solid leaders.”
Braz said the distance team is a bit thin at the moment, but there is top-level talent that should make the group competitive despite its low numbers.
While the jumping team may not find immediate success, Braz is sure he’ll see results as time goes on.
“The jumping events are the ones we are a bit gray on because they’re really technical. You spend a lot of time working on the technical aspects, so the results don’t necessarily show early in the season,” Braz said.
The Tanners didn’t set any concrete goals, according to Braz, rather, they set “week to week” ones.
“To be competitive in the NEC (Northeastern Conference) through the dual-meet season, we need to work on what we need to get better at so when we cross the line at the state relays, we can start peaking at the right time,” Braz said. “We think it’s more important to get better as a team than it is to sacrifice for dual-meets.”
The Tanners’ next meet is Wednesday at 4 p.m. against Winthrop at Beverly High School.
