Seeing as the past two Olympics have brought little joy for us Canadian track fans, how about discussing the future of our program? Obviously Macro and Pierre Brown are still pretty young and will be top players in the coming years, but what about the younger guys?
Tyler Christopher had a good year, and he is very young. Could be one to watch for the 200 and 400.
What about the young sprinters? I know Richard Adu-Bobie recently broke the Canadian Junior record with a 10.28 at the Nationals. Apparently he’s a very talented 19 year old who will be attending U of Texas in the fall. Having Glenroy Gilbert as a caoch, one of the hardest working sprinters ever, certainly will help him.
Having the chance to watch her compete as a Freshman indoors last year-
Watch for Yvonne Mensah to develop well in the sprints and 100m hurdles over the next few years while at the University of Illinois.
Personal Bests:
Indoor:
60m: 7.40
60m H: 8.29
200m: 24.25
High School:
Little Flower Academy
Surrey, British Columbia
Canadian national champion in the 100m, 200m and 100m hurdles in 2002 in her age group …Named provincial Athlete of the Year …Holds the provincial records in the 100m, 200m and 100m hurdles … Provincial high school champion in the three events.
But are those talented enough to one day be elite living in this sedentary way or will this talent manifest itself in early age in an inclination to, and a love of, physical activity?
I can remember growing up in the late 70’s early 80’s how ,during the holidays, I didn’t want to be with my regular friends because all they did was sitting around talking or at most playing a game of table-tennis, so instead I roamed around with the friends of my older brother, usually 4 years older than me and all of whom would have been diagnosed with ADD today.
I believe this active childhood is what allowed me to make a comeback in sport at the age of 29 and after a 10 year layoff , while my childhood friends, always active in sports at lower levels, look like they have lived through 10 very rough years.
The one childhood friend of mine however who eventually became elite ,and who is currently a pro hockey player in Germany, was always training even back then, regardless of what the others around him was doing.
When I was a kid we used to bring our sticks to school and play before school, recess, lunch and after school. If it wasn’t hockey it was baseball soccer or something that required running.
When we got home we played more hockey, soccer, baseball tennis badminton, ride bikes. We’d do anything outside. When it rained we stayed out as long as it was tolerable then went in and played vid games.
These days kids are so useless. Only the odd few are truly athletic. Some are good at 1 or 2 sports but they don’t posess the skills to move from sport to sport and adapt and excel.
It’s all about society and what they want for their kids. Athletic development has fell by the way side in favor of more classes on computers and things of these sorts. I see the odd member at my gym from europe that are in their 40-50’s and look in great shape. They tell me about learning gymnastics in school and they have no problem adapting to any exercise I give them.
I must say, if I was in any sort of position of power, I’d make phsical activity a requirement for graduation. I’d also teach these stupid kids that pop is not calorie free.
I don’t know if you could or even should force that. So far there are two models of “forcing” kids into sports: the Communist system like in the USSR where you were literally forced to do certain sports if experts declared you a talent or the Capitalist system like in the US where certain social groups are “forced” into sport if they want to go to a good school or university.
I know a lot of guys who got their degree only because of their physical achievements. Personally I can’t understand why one shoud get a degree in business administration only because he’s a good football player, but in fact it happens. Inventing a new computer chip does not earn anybody a place in an NFL team either?
