Keith

It's rare that a selected World Games athlete is replaced on a team, but unfortunately we had that happen earlier this year.  What I felt would be our star runner on the team turned out to not have the commitment to achieve his potential, or be a good example of what a SO athlete is.  Our coaching staff was terribly disappointed.  Missteps along the way and a lack of training effort finally made the decision to cut him loose my only choice.

SO USA does have in place alternates who can come in and replace someone on the team.  At the time, we quickly found another athlete from the same state, who could step in-an unknown commodity perhaps, but from all accounts, he could be a good fit. Keith is a sprinter. Short fast bursts of speed his specialty.  That would be a good fit, but our quota spot also called for a 400 runner in a relay, not exactly something he excelled at.  We'd make it work.

Fast forward to pre-camp last week.  My first impression was he really didn't seem to have the drive to be successful in the upcoming games.  A bit lack lackadaisical at first and a lot of reminders from all of the coaches during practices.  There was, however, a glimmer of something special in there.  Days 2 and 3 of precamp gradually saw Keith improve in both his performance and attitude.  Just maybe he would surprise us.

Jumping ahead to this day.  Day one of finals. During his prelim races earlier in the week, he showed speed...just enough to win every heat he entered. Kind of a catch-me-if-you-can sort of thing. Okay, so this guy does have the goods.  Even in his 400 leg of the relay, he put up a time that we guessed we could run.

Keith stood proud as a peacock on the podium. All other runners in his division surrounding the Arkansaw runner on both sides.  He'd earned gold.  That natural speed and desire to win, played out well in his race.

 For a painfully shy young man, he said all he needed on the track in front of screaming spectators and his teammates.  Wow, just wow.