"Everything can be taken from a man but ...the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
Victor Frankl, Concentration Camp Survivor and author of Man's Search for Meaning
"Mind is everything: muscle--pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind."
Paavo Nurmi, Olympic Champion
Just a few days ago, I read about the fire near Canberra that destroyed the home of World Marathon Champion Rob De Castella. Deek, as De Castella is known to his many fans around the world, lost everything including all of his medals from his illustrious career as a world-class marathon runner. Guam residents can empathize with Deek.
It's been almost two months since Super Typhoon Pongsona devastated Guam with her 200 mile per hour winds. It was like a 12-hour marathon session with no letting up. Just about all of Guam's residents suffered personal property loss and the community is still working daily to patch things up. After seeing the photograph in the newspaper of the large coconut tree that was sliced like a Ruffles potato chip by a corrugated tin, I feel we were lucky to escape from a larger number of deaths and injuries.
As you will see in the photographs in this newsletter, Guam's track & field family experienced a setback with the damage at our two main track & field venues&emdash;at GW and JFK high schools. The winds were so strong that they literally picked up large pieces of the heavy tartan track and blew them away. A piece of JFK track was reportedly seen on Happy Landing Road&emdash;approximately 1.5 miles away from JFK.
It would be great if I could tell you not to worry, the GTFA will buy Guam a couple of new tracks. In reality, we had reviewed costs to repaint the surface of one track just before the typhoon and learned even that wouldcost us tens of thousands of dollars. We just don't have that kind of money in our treasury with all of our annual expenditures for equipment and competition costs.
So what are we to do? The GTFA is in the process of reviewing other sites to hold competitions as well as other cost-effective ways to modify and use the damaged facilities. We plan to work together with the public schools as our partners to share resources. The goal is to provide acceptable facilities that our athletes and coaches need to further develop track and field on Guam.
In the meantime, everyone including athletes and coaches, need to maintain a positive attitude, improvise when faced with challenges during training, and continue working toward their goals, whether it is the Area Championships, South Pacific Games, or World Track & Field Championships. We've been through this before. During the time when the two all-weather tracks were being built on Guam, a number of athletes trained on the grass field in front of the Governor's Office in Adelup, which has a perimeter of approximately 400 meters. There may be other areas that have potential to become temporary track and field venues for our athletes. To take advantage of these opportunities, athletes, coaches, and officials need to work together in communicating their needs and volunteering their time to make things happen.
Let's not wait for a Hail Mary, Jackpot, or whatever you want to call it. We cannot sit back and wait for funds to come in from an outside source to build a new track. However, we can move forward to make every day a little bit better by working together and not waiting for things to happen to us. Deek has the right attitude. Instead of complaining, Deek said in a story in the Melbourne Herald Sun, "We're just putting one foot in front of the other. We'll be back, better than ever."
Let's get back on track for another great year of track & field in 2003!
Sincerely,
Fred Schumann, GTFA President
Super typhoon Pongsona hit Guam on Dec. 8 with winds of around 200 mph, and flooding caused by high tides and heavy rainfall. The devastation to the island was significant, with cars overturned, hotels suffering major damage, concrete with rebar power poles snapped, the entire island being without power and water, communications with the outside world being cut off for several days, damage to our infrastructure, including schools, and thousands left homeless. It is nearly two months since the storm and about 10% of the population is still without power and about 10,000 families are without phone service.
The following photos show the damage to the tracks at both GW and JFK high schools. In addition to this, the cage at JFK was destroyed in our July typhoon Chata'an, destroying our only discuss and hammer throw facility. There aren't any working lights at either track. Because of these conditions, it has been announced that there won't be a high school track and field season. Carl Cruz, middle school coach, is planning on doing something for those students in a more developmental style meet situation. GTFA is exploring ways to encourage the interest in Track and Field without a season. We do plan on having our Open meets as scheduled. We just need to be creative as to location. Our other main goal is to provide training options for our athletes who want to compete in the upcoming Micronesia Cup and South Pacific Games. With the cooperation of all of those interested in track and field on Guam, we will survive this and, in Guam tradition, maybe even come out the better for it.
GW High School track (the black spots all over the track are mold)
JFK High School track (this is a six lane track so all of the lanes are impacted)
The following meets will be held at a location to be announced later. Look in the PDN Sports Notes for details closer to the event.
March 8
March 22
April 5
May 31
October 25
November 22
Micronesian Cup - April 25-26, 2003 in Palau.
Guam National Championships - June 14, 2003
Oceania Cup Championship - July 2-3 in Apia, Samoa.
South Pacific Games - track and field events held July 7-12 in Suva, Fiji.
World Track and Field Championships - August 2003 in Paris, France.
By Bea Fernsler
The Micronesian Cup will be held on April 25 and 26, 2003, in Palau. The purpose of the Cup is to select the Micronesian Area athletes for the Oceania Cup Championship to be held July 2-3, 2003 in Apia, Samoa. This meet will also be a factor is the selection of teams for the South Pacific Games in Fiji.
The seven island nations representing Micronesia are the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Northern Marianas, Guam, Kiribati, Nauru and Palau. The first Oceania Cup was held in Vanuatu in July 2001 with the athletes from Kiribati representing Micronesia. ALL ATHLETES AND COACHES MUST BE GTFA MEMBERS!
By Bea Fernsler
Athletics will be held from July 7, 2003 to July 12, 2003 at the South Pacific Games (SPG) in Fiji. Guam athletes will be departing from Guam and mainland US around July 4, 2003. Guam Track and Field has initially indicated that we will send 8 male and 6 female athletes and 2 coaches to the Games. No names have been submitted as the athletes are still vying for a spot on the roster.
The qualifying standards are posted on the Guam Track and Field website (www.gtfa.org). All interested athletes please visit the website. Interested athletes should also contact their coaches for the necessary documents needed or email Bea Fernsler, General Secretary, at beat_rice70@hotmail.com or Frank Tangalin at prankster117@hotmail.com; or call (671) 637-1119. Dateline for submission of documents is March 7, 2003. Documents needed are 2 passport pictures and current passport (not to expire before 12/31/2003). ALL ATHLETES AND COACHES MUST BE GTFA MEMBERS.
GTFA will be working the Finish Line at the following 5K road races. We will need volunteers to help with these races. Call Bea at 637-1119 to help out.
March 15 - Kick the Fat
March 29 - GCC
May - GVB
September - Lytigo Bodig
November 29 - Jingle Bell Run
The annual Pay-Less Kick the Fat 5K and Fitness Fair will be held on Saturday, March 15, 2003, at the Agana Paseo. Go time is 6 am with a fun warm up at 5:30 am. There are always lots of great prizes and free food at this race. GTFA will be working this HUGE race so lots of help is needed! Call Bea.
Now is the time of year to renew or join the Guam Track and Field Association. For a mere $10 a year, you will be supporting the only group on Guam whose main goals are the development of track and field athletes and having meets to encourage our athletes to improve their performances and have fun at the same time. To sign up, please visit our website at www.gtfa.org, complete the application form, and mail in your dues to become a member.
Membership card
Quarterly newsletter
Vote at annual meeting
Attendance at seminars
By Neil Weare
Desiree Craggette and Neil Weare left Guam on Dec. 1 to compete in the Oceania Grand Prix Series in Australia leading up to the Oceania Championships in Christ Church, New Zealand. The Australia portion consisted of two meets, one held in Melbourne and the other in Ballarat.
I started the off the series strong, winning the 1500m outright on Dec. 5 at Olympic Park in Melbourne. Running in Ballarat a few days later, I placed 3rd in the 3000m open in a field that included former Australian Olympic great Steve Moneghetti. My time of 8:55:00 was just seconds short of the Guam National Record.
Desiree, who just weeks earlier celebrated her 18th birthday, was still adjusting to the pressures of Open-level competition, false starting in Melbourne but coming back to run her personal best in Ballarat in the 100m with a hand timed 12.7, one of the fastest times ever for a Guam woman athlete.
Representing Guam in the Oceania Championships brought mixed feelings; elation on the one hand from bringing a bronze medal in the 5000m home to Guam, and disappointment on the other as my friends and teammates from Guam were denied their opportunity to represent our island internationally. Super Typhoon Pongsona's devastation to Guam's sports infrastructure also extended to the disruption it caused to Guam and other neighboring islands' participation in the recent Oceania Championships. The storm hit on Sunday, December 8th, stranding athletes from Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau who were set to begin their journey to Christchurch, New Zealand that same day.
As it stood, only three Guam athletes were able to compete in the Oceania Championships in New Zealand: myself, sprinter Desiree Craggette, and thrower Justin Andre. Desiree and I had just finished competing in the Oceania Grand Prix series so were already in the area. Justin Andre came to Christchurch directly from Missouri Valley College, where he has a partial athletic scholarship. I was flag bearer for Guam during the Opening Ceremonies, which was a big honor for me. There was a strong outpouring of sympathy at the Opening Ceremonies for the athletes who were not able to attend the meet because of the typhoon. Best wishes for a speedy recovery were expressed by all of the nations in attendance.
Day one got off to a busy start, with all three Guam athletes competing. Desiree finished fifth out of six runners in her heat and failed to move on to the final. Justin threw well in a small field of hammer throwers, missing the bronze medal by a mere six centimeters. I ran a smart and steady race to take the bronze in the 5000m, getting beat out by a pair of strong Kiwis to win Guam's only medal of the Championship. This performance also secured my overall win in the distance grouping for the Grand Prix series.
Guam athletes rested until the final day of competition, where the highlight was Justin Andre's fifth place finish in a field of eighteen throwers in the discuss competition, his premier event. Look for him to be a potential medal contender in this summer's South Pacific Games. Desiree ended the competition by finishing last in her heat in the 200m. Running my fifth major race in two weeks, I ran on spent legs to finish ninth in the 1500m. During the Closing Ceremonies, Debbie Cardenas and I were recognized as 2002 Pacific Island All-Stars for athletics.
The Guam athletes who were unable to attend, several of whom were medal contenders, were Brent Butler, Pablo Cercenia, Daniel Dela Cruz, Derek Mandell, Remich Pamintuan, Jocelyn Pardilla, Erik Taitano and Christine Vicente. Joe Taitano and Frank Tangalin were the Guam coaches who were unable to make the trip.
By Frank Tangalin
I attended the Youth & Schools/Development and Oceania Basic Athletics Coaching (OBACS) Seminars from January 13-23 at the Regional Development Center in Adelaide, Australia. Fletcher McEwen, Norman Osborne, and George McCanughy taught the seminar.
The courses taught were vey informative overall. The Youth & Schools section was about planning and developing programs that had a reasonable chance of being implemented in each country. A lot of the issues assigned were actually issues that had a lot to do with what is going on in our island. (i.e.: development of a primary schools program, logistics of holding a limited event tract meet, etc.) The main emphasis of this section was the development of programs for elementary, middle, and high schools that teach correct and high level "form" in athletics at the appropriate age and skill levels.
The second part of the class consisted of the Oceania Basic Athletics Coaching Seminar, which is a new project by the RDC to combine the Level 1 and Level 2 courses to a lecturer level. That is, that individuals successfully completing the classroom AND practical side of the course are then able to lecture and certify coaches on basic track and field principles.
The only problem encountered was that we, the participants, should have been informed of the practical side of the class so we would have come prepared with the appropriate items (i.e.; ben gay, knee brace, workout clothes and shoes). I think Fletcher and crew forgot that we are RETIRED athletes mostly because our physical skills have diminished and are not up to par with athletes, hence we are coaches.
Needless to say, after the second day all of us, even the two Aussies who joined or class, were limping around like the walking dead. Mind you, our bodies were retired, but that competitive drive was as strong at 33 as it was at 18! Also, we were having our little version of SPG, with me defending my island's honor. At least my 20-30 meter sprint skills, which at one time made me a top prospect, served me well. Warren Sapp had nothing on me! The hardest part was the cursed "warm up lap." Hey, never will a football player have to run full speed for 40 yards, at least not linemen.
My assessment is that quite a few "projects" are in need of re-introducing and, hopefully, implementing. As soon as I prepare each project in proposal form, I will introduce it to the GTFA Board.