A Common Bond International teammates bring diversity to team The cross country team welcomed new athletes and embraced a unified, diversified team with the addition of athletes from Poland and Romania. Sophomore Lajos Farkas from Romania and freshman Milosz Golik from Poland competed on the team. Freshman Dawid Konieczek and sophomore Jacek Dybowski, both from Poland, were red shirted. Also, Wojciech Kopec from Poland, who had been on the team the previous five years, served as student assistant coach. "They definitely bring a different cultural dynamic to the team," junior Rachel Roberts said. "It's fun to talk to them about their nutrition and what they eat because it's just so different. Poland is the size of Texas, so they all know a lot about all the runners in their country, so they'll go to team camps and run together." Junior member Taylor Lively said the warm-up drills that the Polish members introduced to the team helped to loosen up their hips and to make them stronger. Junior Andrew Evans said that. due to their backgrounds, the foreign runners were used to approaching their training in Row 1: J. Rapowitz, K. Taylor, L. Allen, S. Shepherd, A. Priest. Row 2: T. Kim, E. Zaborowska, R. Roberts, D. Bailey, M. Elliott. 280 1 Athletics alternative ways, such as their practice routines and prerace routines. The team worked together to combine the best approaches from the American and European styles. The team immediately bonded over running despite the cultural differences, even spending time together on weekends and sharing meals. "I think it's a great experience for me to practice with all these guys from my team," Dybowski said. "We had representatives of four countries on our team last year, so I actually learned a lot. I most enjoyed that we all became one family, no matter where we are from. We practice hard and we support each other all the time." Roberts said the team ~ecame like a family or a support group. Many members became homesick, especially the foreign runners whose homes were far away. "People get homesick, but they don't really talk about it," Roberts said. "We can take it for granted that some people haven't seen their family in over two years. They don't get to go home very often, and they usually have to work for the school, so they have to spend the majority of their time working." In addition, Roberts and Lively both said that some of the foreign students did not understand some aspects of the Christianity practiced at Harding. Roberts said she would explain answers to any questions they had and that doing so strengthened her own faith. Lively said he often talked to them about their questions about Christianity as well. Lively also lived with a few of the international runners over the summer, and he said they were not shy at all and were always goofing around. "Having people from Poland brings more character on to the team," Lively said. "I always enjoy going to practice to run and have a good time." The diversity of the runners made the cross country team stronger physically and spiritually as they learned from each other and overcame cultural differences to form close relationships. Lyndsey Ruble Row 1: M. Sherk, T. Lively, Z. Uhiren, S. East, M. Cumpian, E. Wilson. Row 2: W. Kopec (volunteer asst.), D. Konieczek, M. Galik, J. Dybowski, L. Green, L. Farkas, W. Seagren, A. Evans.
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