Sprinters Revenge Day
It’s 8:30pm and I have managed to grab a moment to the PUBLIC Computer again for a quick update. Today was the 200m bantam girl show down. Victoria Powell took home her 2nd Gold medal of the meet and I must say,she made it look effort less.Quiet Fire’s Janette Paul came in a not to close 2nd and Morgan Davis rounded out the top 3.
Today was the exact opposite of yesterday,a great track and field day all races were on time or just about and….the weather was near perfect with a light breeze and in the shade it could almost be slightly chilly at times.(probably just me,I run a little cold sometimes.) I got to talk to lots of track parents and coaches today,watched most to the meet from the stands and it wasn’t uncomfortable….The track gods were merciful : ) well with the weather anyway…… The bantam girls relay favorite 3M track team from Northern California was the favorite.Until the baton was dropped..yep the same place Quite Fire dropped theirs the day before…My heart sank….these girls have lead all year long. A tough lost for the girls in blue.
My favorite races of the day….. 200m Youth GIrls Aaliyah Brown Illinois Elite brought the crowd to there feet as she passed by Robin Reynolds for Gold .This race match up was a long time in the making and for Illinois ,the timing was perfect. Both girls ran amazingly well.Look for them both tomorrow in the 100m . 800m Intemediate Boys Quite Fire’s Elias Geydon once again shows the crowd a perfect race ,so perfect in fact the time would have place him first in the California state meet this year!! You always get the idea that he was just jogging, he runs so smooth and comfortable. Way to go Elias.
There were many more great races,and it was so easy to watch the finals of these races today. Everyone continued to say all after noon and it is the truth “Once you get to National Championships for many you have to start over ,not knowing where you will end up,throw you times out, only the time you can qualify with matters….. Well I am throwing Lauren’s times and rankings and everthing out tomorrow. Seeded 8th out of 8 barely making to the finals I am so proud of her. Many say she’s a lower bantam she has time, I say, Lauren your time is now because tomorrow isn’t promised so you go for it…. And go for it she will..
I can’t even begin to guess what place she will be in ,but what every place she will take home her first medal from the USATF Olympic Championships and I am totally proud and overjoyed. My nine year old is happy to be in the group.
Last thoughts
Yesterday,I was sitting under a tree resting a while from the intense heat and humidity when some young girls walked by me slowy and were talking about the meet when one said as she stopped to get her friends attention,”I just want to take home a medal, I don’t want to go home with out one”. Her passion was so sincere, It helped me to remember how easily parents and athletes can under value the effort it takes to earn a medal.How special it to stand in the top 8 and recieve one out of the hundreds only a few will actually take a medal home .
Enjoy and Apprecite your Victory !!
Until Next Time
I was thinking about the expectations of the Junior Olympics and how some people aren’t happy with just getting a medal they want the gold or nothing. When my daughter first started running track ; just advancing from one level to the next was a celebration. So we were happy when she qualified to go to Regionals and if she advanced it was icing on the cake. When she qualified for JO’s we were really excited and we didn’t research what her ranking was or her chances of getting a medal. We took her to JO’s because she worked hard and achieved that privilege and we felt she should have it. Once at JO’s we encouraged her to just do her best and enjoy the fact that she made it that far to represent her region in a National qualifying competition. Achieving any one of the top 8 medals would have been icing on the cake. In fact she didn’t achieve medals in the JO’s until last year which was three years after her first JO competition. When she did we were very happy that all the hard work paid off. This year injury’s plagued and she didn’t make it in any of her individual events. When her relay achieved a bronze medal there was so much disappointment. I began to think where did we move from celebrating the accomplishment of making it to the JO’s with any medal being held in high esteem to being disappointed with a national bronze achievement. As a parent I had to re-group and re-focus my child on the esteem of her achievement. IT IS A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT TO MAKE IT TO THE JUNIOR OLYMPICS AS A TOP 3 QUALIFIER……ANYTHING AFTER THAT IS ICING ON THE CAKE….this doesn’t discourage her competative nature but it keeps things in perspective.