Going for more than gold

Arielle Fitzgerald takes a break on the track between jumps during the long jump event at the track and field competition at Mary-Anne Sills Park on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. Fitzgerald won several golds and broke the triple jump record. Photo by Jennifer Bowman

By Jennifer Bowman

Arielle Fitzgerald is the rising track and field star of the Quinte region but she stumbled upon the sport by accident.

No one in Fitzgerald’s family is a track and field athlete, and no one expected her to take an interest in it.  Fitzgerald didn’t either. She tried out on a whim and surprised everyone.

“I was bored at an elementary school meet and I signed up for it at the last minute, and (an organizer) let me do it and I blew everyone away,” said Fitzgerald, now a Grade 11 student at Bayside Secondary.

Fitzgerald was excited. Her family was surprised and her mom was not happy about it. Fitzgerald asked her mom about attending track camp with Quinte Legion.

“I was absolutely, totally against it, because I wanted her to play the piano,” said Norma Fitzgerald, Arielle’s mom.

Arielle persisted, finally getting her way and going on to win the provincials that year. She was in Grade 6.

In Grade 9, Arielle began breaking track and field records. By the time she was in Grade 10, she had broken five records at the Bay of Quinte championships, and started breaking records at COSSA and OFSAA.

This year, Arielle beat the triple jump record at the Bay of Quinte Championships.  She came first in long jump, 400-metre hurdles, and 4×100-metre relay, and fourth in the 4×400-metre relay. While most high school athletes would be elated, Arielle was disappointed because she didn’t perform as well as she did last year.

She is hoping to do better at the COSSA (Central Ontario Secondary School Athletics) track meet being held Thursday, May 19, at Mary-Anne Sills Park in Belleville with a view to peaking at OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) on June 2-4  in Sudbury.

Arielle tries to balance track with everything else. She’s involved in soccer, cross country, volleyball, basketball, swimming, badminton, and she has a part time job – on top of practising one to two hours a day for track and field.

“Arielle is very well-rounded,” said her mom. “I find that she’s very good in school, and I don’t have to get after her to study or to go to bed. She’s very functional and everything… I don’t think that her track is holding her back in anything.”

Trying to exceed last year’s performance is more difficult because she’s competing in the senior division, against athletes up to two years older. The most difficult part though, is the mental hurdle.

“You always can do it, it’s just mentally can you push yourself through it,” said Arielle. “If you physically can push your body through it, then you’re fine.”

Success comes with a lot of pressure.

“Arielle’s very successful, and everyone wants to be a part of her success,” said Anna Bateman, Arielle’s track and field coach. “When she’s jumping, she has tons of expectations on her all the time.”

The pressure comes from her own expectations, the expectations of four coaches, and the general pressure that comes with breaking so many records at such a young age.

“They expect me to do well,” said Arielle, “and if I’m not doing well with that, then I’m not doing well with myself, and it just puts more and more pressure on me that I can’t even focus on what I have to do.”

Most of her coaches push her physically, but her track and field coach also helps her deal with the pressure.

“She gives me not only track support, but she gives me confidence and tells me advice,” said Arielle.

Bateman says Arielle has been hard on herself this year.

“Last year she had a lot more strength in her mind than she does this year,” said Bateman. “Just because the stats that she was getting last year were unreal for a Grade 10. And now it’s like living up to those expectations, and not only living up to them, but surpassing them. So she just has a little barrier to get over.”

But her coach offers hope for Arielle’s frustrating start to the year.

“It’ll happen, it’s just a matter of when and where,” said Bateman.

Though she doesn’t want to give up any of her team sports, next year Arielle will probably drop soccer so she can focus more on her jumping.

Arielle is hoping for a scholarship. Through word of mouth, she’s heard people are interested in her cross country abilities as well. Bateman knows there are bigger things out there for her.

“There’s nothing this girl can’t do, she just happens to be phenomenal at long jump and triple jump,” said Bateman.

Bateman expects the scholarship offers to start coming in soon.

Aside from her athletic aspirations, Arielle also wants to get into nursing or become a dietician.

As for the piano…

“We still have a piano that nobody knows how to play,” said her mom.