Sprinters, long distance runners, jumpers, and throwers will be participating in the same event this season: community service.

David Antczak, social studies teacher and first year varsity girls’ track coach, is requiring the girls’ track team to participate in a community project of their choice. The team chose to volunteer for the Special Needs Athletic Program (SNAP) following the lead of teams like girls’ soccer, girls’ softball, boys’ track, and boys’ baseball.

“The idea is that we are a team, and we really want to push that with the girls because track and field is really individual. It’s really hard to have that team mentality,” Antczak said. “One way we are trying to build the idea of the team is through a community service project where the girls will work together to benefit the community.”

The team is excited to volunteer for the Special Olympics because the events are similiar to theirs.

“I’ve always wanted to [volunteer for] SNAP, but I’ve never been able to since it is in the spring and I’m doing track during that time,” Shelby Peshek, senior track captain, said. “I know my teammates and I have always wished we could do SNAP, so I really hope I can get a lot out of this from helping others. It means a lot for [the athletes], so it also makes you feel good and you don’t even have to do much to make them happy.”

As well as creating more of a team atmosphere and making the children of the charity happier, Antczak believes this project will make the girls feel good about what they have done for the community.

“I would love for them to become closer, but it’s also something that is going to make them feel really good,” Antczak said. “They’ll be able to feel so much better about themselves when they leave just knowing that they could make a difference. I want [each] girl to grow as a person, and I feel that one of the best ways to grow as a person is to do something through the community.”

Community service also motivated other teams to work with SNAP in the past.

“It was a service project that [the boys’ track team] took on four years ago,” JB Hanson, math teacher, track  coach and cross country coach, said. “We wanted to find a way that we could give back to the community and do something as a team that would benefit others and this was a perfect thing because it was something that was close to us and we knew kids that were involved in it; it’s been a really good experience.”

Like other coaches, Antczak wants the girls to learn life lessons from this community service project, like how to look at a situation from a difference perspective.

“Track, as any sport or as life in general, has its ups and downs. You’re going to face challenges and you’re going to have great experiences. Through this project, these girls are supposed to see what it’s like to face adversity,” Antczak said. “There’s a huge difference between coming to school and forgetting your wallet, or your phone’s dead and you’re just really mad that day, and actually being face-to-face with someone who struggles everyday to even roll out of bed, or who comes to school and gets made fun of. To come here and acknowledge the fact that this is real life and people face real struggles. Then they can realize if you have a bad race, its not the end of the world because there are bigger problems [in the world].”

Just like most of the girls on the track team, Antczak has lived in Lake Zurich all his life and knows what it is like to be raised here. Giving back to his community has always been a value instilled in him, so he is excited to complete this project.

“Growing up in Lake Zurich, you live a very privileged life. Things aren’t that bad here for most people. To go outside of Lake Zurich and to experience different things, you realize there’s a lot of problems, but there’s also a lot of things you can do to help. Just to live life for you and not help anyone else seems hollow,” Antczak said. “Hopefully these girls will learn that they can make a difference. They won’t change the world from this, but if they can make one kid smile that day then that’s the goal.”