Lots of questions filled my mind as I ventured to Ellsworth last Thursday to watch my sixth-grade son, Matthew, compete for the Brewer Middle School track and field team in a multi-team meet.

How would he do? How would he like competing? Would he want to do this again?

Track and field is a great sport. OK, I’m biased. I’ve made a living through sports and happen to have a high opinion about the wonderful world of athletics, but track and field really is great because it offers young athletes lots of different opportunities. They can sprint, run distance, long jump, high jump or throw the shot, javelin or discus.

In track and field, young athletes can compete against themselves to better their times, heights or distances while also competing to help their team.

Given all that, I was one happy parent when Matthew decided – with his mother’s urging, who is after all, much “cooler” than old Beatles-loving Dad – to join the Brewer Middle School track team this season. Over the past few years, Matthew had understandably grown pretty apathetic about the traditional ball sports of baseball and basketball, and had pretty much drifted away from my wonderful world of athletics.

Since then, I’ve tried to be patient in hoping he would find his way back to sports.

A young track program at the Brewer Middle School, with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable coach in Glen Holyoke, had given Matthew another chance to experience athletics.

On this chilly, breezy day in Ellsworth, Matthew would be competing in the long jump, 400-meter run and 200-meter dash. I arrived just in time to see the long jump begin and was encouraged when Matthew spotted me in the bleachers and offered up a fairly enthusiastic smile and wave.

His long-jump attempts were solid, though not spectacular, but his attitude remained positive and he offered encouragement and high-fives to his teammates.

It would be awhile before the 400, and I advised him to try to stay loose and to put on his sweatshirt to stay warm and to not eat the Subway sandwich I brought him – possibly the real reason he was happy to see me – until after his running events were over.

He said that he was warm enough, and agreed a little grudgingly not to eat his sandwich until after he was done running.

The 400 proved to be for Matthew what it is for lots of others who have tried it – a grueling sprint that your body rebels at and doesn’t want to finish in the last 50 meters. But, Matthew finished and managed to do so ahead of a couple other young competitors.

Even though he had already received his lunch from me, he still sought me out before his next race and I again offered the same simple advice of keeping loose and warm. It was then that he admitted a little sheepishly that he had forgotten to pack his sweatshirt and really was a bit cold and yes, Dad, I’d like to wear your old BDN coat to stay warm.

So, it was a warmer Matthew who sprinted another hard 200 meters in his next event and ended up enjoying the overall experience of competing with his teammates and against himself. Coach Holyoke had asked him after the tough 400 if he wanted to do the race again and his reply was a fairly strong “yes.”

“That’s what really matters,” the coach said to me later.