Christopher Tafelski, a science teacher at WHS, was previously a collegiate athlete for Rutgers University. At Westfield High School, he ran track and field and cross country through his four years. He made the varsity team his junior year and went on to win a state championship for cross country that year and in his senior year.
In high school, Tafelski competed in all seasons for running and made history his two years on the varsity team. He recalls not being the star of the team but still being a runner with a key role.
Tafelski graduated in 1997 and went into Rutgers as a regular student. However, the summer before his freshman year, he was determined to walk on and be able to run for the college. He made hundreds of calls to coaches to ask for a tryout and finally, he got a call back from Rutgers.
He spent all summer training for this tryout but had to take a step back when he injured his foot. This injury forced Tafelski to stop the vigorous training and instead rest. Therefore, he wasn’t in shape when tryout day came. He didn’t make the team, but Westfield’s reputation as a strong running program saved him.
Tafelski says that Rutgers gave him another shot. He said, “They were like, ‘Well you come from a good program that’s well coached and you’re obviously serious about this. Why don’t you come back in a month and we will try you out for the indoor track team.’” Tafelski worked for the next month and made the indoor track team as a walk-on.
What brought Tafelski to Rutgers was how affordable it was. He recalled the economic state of the world in the 90s and how it affected his family and his choice of where to go to college.
Something that Tafelski thought was important about his college experience is that he understood the things he was giving up by becoming a collegiate athlete. He described in great detail the importance of the balance between his social life, running life and academic life. Tafelski said that throughout his college career, he was told, “You’ve got your social life, academic life and athletic life. Pick two.”
Tafelski believes that it’s important for athletes going to college to play a sport and understand that one of those three aspects of life will have to be significantly decreased in order for the other two to prosper. He says it is hard to maintain that balance, but once you have it, you are set.
Tafelski also acknowledges the hard work that goes into becoming a collegiate athlete compared to a high school athlete.
At the high school level, the older kids tend to be better and be on varsity. At the Division I level, everyone is good at their sport. Whether they are a freshman walk-on or a fifth-year senior, they will be good, and in fact the freshmen could be better. There isn‘t as much of a gap because freshmen work their tails off to get on the same team the seniors do. “People who say that they want to be good but they don’t live the lifestyle are lying to themselves,” Tafelski said.
After Rutgers, Tafelski maintained his serious running lifestyle for a couple of years, up until he started teaching at WHS. Over the years he has not kept it up but still does run on occasion. For him, he said, “I think it is kind of easy because you can always run.” Despite the fact that he is not still running, Tafelski knows that he will always have the opportunity to.
Tafelski’s biggest piece of advice that he took away from college athletics is that you have to be all in. “If you’re not serious about living the lifestyle, they’re going to get rid of you because you’re not performing and they will replace you with kids that are coming in.” He encourages students looking to play at the college level to understand the sacrifices they must take to have the best chance at success.
