Western province athletics team is bringing a fresh new breed of runners to the Solomon games this year and plans to use this opportunity to expand the province’s experience in the sport.
Team manager Dexter Lekafia said they have put together a team of young athletes who are potential provincial and national runners.
Lekafia said that through the training they have already been through and the progress they have seen, he believes that given the chance they can make a difference for Western province athletics and is certain that they will see one of his runners represent the country one day.
“Western province has much to improve when it comes to athletics, for both the athletes and the sport itself.”
He said the difficulty in bringing up potential runners from the bottom up can be avoided if the sport was given more attention.
The Western province though having brought a number of winning athletes to the national level has yet to make available proper facilities for the sport, but Mr. Lekafia said he is proud of his team’s officials for the hard work in molding these young runners into athletes with what little they have available.
Head coach Jay Rex explained that because of the inactivity of athletics in the province, deciding how to come about a selection for the final team placed them in a difficult situation having no competition to view potential runners to represent the province.
Coach Rex said that in an attempt to create a team for the Solomon games, they have had to individually find individual runners to take part in the trials, and it was from these trials that they were finally able to select runners who showed interest and potential.
Rex added that with the training now in progress he is confident that his athletes will give it their very best during the games, as he continues to work with them every day he sees them take their interest and potential and mold them into true determination.
The coach said that most of his runners have never taken part in the sport before, but believes that this will be the best step forward for the province in regaining the sport through placing its young ones in the firing line.
He said this has been proven very successful many times before on a national level for many of their current athletic stars and is confident it will be no different for the team he is bringing to Honiara.
Though they will use this to gain experience, coach Rex assures that they will be there to compete and will bring their best in the games.
By Terence Ziru
In Gizo
