By ADEM SARICAOGLU
A PAIR of local 10-year-olds led the way for the Altona-based Youth Fit program south of the Bass Strait last month.
A group of young Youth Fit athletes, who train under coach Michael Masseni, descended onto Launceston for the national cross-country championships and two of them came away with very impressive results.
Zoe Woods, 10, finished second in her individual race and won two other medals in two team events, while fellow 10-year-old Brodie Hicks came 10th in his individual event and won two team medals of his own.
“It’s great for them because this was the first year they could compete because of their age,” Masseni said.
“They’ve got a lot of natural talent and they’re obviously dedicated to their training but at the same time I really try hard to make sure they don’t over-do it.
“They’ll rock up to training once or twice a week and I can see they have fun doing it – so I guess it’s motivating for the group because we have these little 10-year-olds beating the 12 and 13-year-olds who want to prove themselves as well.”
Two other Youth Fit competitors Matthew Schaumberg, 15, and Ryhan Thomas, 14, also performed well in Launceston.
Masseni said his program’s recent success has been promising and he hopes it will only expand in years to come.
“Basically we’re an independent group, so a lot of our kids are athletics-based and we have kids that are into distance running or sprinting,” Masseni explained.
“We don’t hold competitions like a senior or little athletics club will, so it’s basically just training and we train these kids to get ready for competitions.
“We’ve been going for four years and in the first two years, and the first year particularly, I think we only had two athletes who raced at state championships.
“Since then we’ve picked up (and) as the kids have got older and a touch more professional, we’ve had 10 athletes that have represented Victoria.”
