Video: 'Track is another sport's punishment'

By Maya Liquigan

Long-distance hurdlers switch their legs right before the jump. Karam Jaber, a student athlete from St. Xavier University, learned this reflex after three years on the Track and Field team. This one movement cost Jaber an entire competitive season. During an early practice just over a year ago, Jaber and everyone around him heard the deafening pop as his knee snapped backward and he tore his left ACL.

Now, Jaber has fully recovered and is preparing for his final season. Jaber has been on the SXU track team for his entire college career but has not competed. Until this year. As he juggles his responsibilities as a full-time student athlete, he finds joy in the discipline of the sport both on and off the track. His schedule as a full-time student athlete is packed with morning practices, classes, afternoon training and his part-time job; but without it, he feels lost. Jaber is infatuated with his discipline.