Over the summer, most student athletes join clubs or go to a sports camp to keep in shape for the upcoming school season. Communications junior Naomi Kelly has challenged the norm from the comfort of West Palm Beach. Free of charge, Kelly takes time to hone her skills and gain experience in cross-country, track and field and soccer

“I just exercise on my own time with my friends or I’ll go to the beach and just run,” Kelly said. “I just like to stay active.”

Kelly’s main goals are to break her personal records in cross-country and track and field. Her personal records in track and field are 6:37.90 in the mile run and 2:57.77 in the 800 meter run. She currently holds a personal best of 25 minutes in cross-country. She wants to help the girls soccer team make it to regionals again. In hopes of seeing these goals fulfilled, Kelly runs five times a week normally at the beach.

“[The beach is] better for your knees to run on, so it’s physically better for you. It’s a better workout because you are building more muscles since you’re running without shoes,” Kelly said. “It’s harder to run than it would be with cement or grass, which is what you would do for cross-country; by the time I do cross-country it will feel easier than what I’m used to.”

Each day, Kelly runs for 30 to 40 minutes which amounts to about three miles. All of this running helps her build stamina for all three sports making it especially favorable for her soccer season in the winter, where Kelly will be freshly trained out of cross-country.

“For school soccer I think I’ll be in good shape because it’s right after cross-country and after doing practices where I run three or four miles, plus I practice soccer on my own time,” Kelly said.