While there are many amazing stories about athletes considered late bloomers, the athletic potential of some of the most revered sport personalities was discovered early. Kobe Bryant, for instance, started playing basketball at age 3, Tiger Woods became a golfer at age 2, and Serena Williams picked up her first tennis racket at age 4.
According to coach Ani de Leon-Brown, race director of Alaska IronKids, which was held early this summer in Subic, training young kids enable sport coaches like her to discover young talents “who can absolutely compete internationally.”
As the first Filipino woman to compete in Ironman World Championship, coach Ani oversees the safety of the facility and ensures that races run smoothly, bearing in mind that it’s still a kids race, which means, it has to be challenging and yet still fun for the participants while making the entire event also a good venue for families and friends to enjoy camaraderie and sportsmanship.
Now on its 6th year, Alaska Ironkids is back to help develop the values of discipline, determination, hard work and sportsmanship and persistence through a series of races. And coach Ani is optimistic that this category of Ironman will see bigger races as it continues to grow each year.
“The Ironkids participation level has increased throughout the year. I remember the very first Ironkids in CamSur, we had around 50 to 60 participants, now we average around 200 per race and we don’t even have to do too much promotion for that,” she told Manila Standard.
She furthered that Alaska Ironkids is the local junior version of the international triathlon series and is open for children 6 to 14 years old. The program simply aims to promote a well-balanced lifestyle for kids of today by allowing them to join at a young age and participate in at least one of the races.
“Most of them start with swimming; some of them have running and cycling backgrounds. Then eventually, they participate in other sports until they become triathlon athletes,” she added.
“Because of the Ironkids program, a lot of our graduates have continued on to be part of the national triathlon team. I’m part of the national triathlon team coaching staff as well but because of the Ironkids program, we’ve seen that the talent pool is much deeper now,” she shared.
According to the triathlon champion, the national team right now aims for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics “sincerely” believing on the talent and determination of the athletes that have been training for the highly competitive and grueling sport.
“I trust the crop of athletes we have right now. They are highly skilled and have technical knowledge of the sport. If we keep training them properly and with the correct support in coaching we can definitely produce athletes who can perform at par with the international standards,” she said.
And she said, the IronKids can be a good start for young athletes to hone their skill and eventually discover their potential on the triathlon arena.
One prime example of the talents coach Ani was referring to is Juan Francisco Baniqued who dominated the Boys 13-14 Years Old category in the Alaska IronKids tournament in Subic held on March 11. Baniqued started joining the same race when he was just 7.
“When I was a kid, I didn’t consider this very seriously. For me it was just for fun. I didn’t really think it would be something that I would take seriously until my third year in the competition when I won third place. The next year I won first,” he told us in an interview after reaching the finish line.
Starting as an aquathlon participant, the student from Colegio San Agustin in Biñan Laguna now joins national competitions and aims to participate outside the Philippines. He trusts that his coaches and training will help him achieve this goal.
“I train in the afternoon after school, and the entire weekends if I don’t have any engagements. In this competition, I think I won because of my game plan. I always reserve my energy. I don’t use all my energy on swimming since swimming is my strength. And it’s really good that you always listen to your coach,” he ended.
Alaska IronKids Triathlon 2017 staged in Subic began at the Wow Pools, then to the roads of SBMA, and ended at Remy Field. The event kicked off year-long calendar of triathlon activities for young athletes. The second and final leg of Alaska IronKids Triathlon will happen on Aug. 5 in Cebu.