RECENTLY voted Junior Sportsman-of-the-Year, 17-year-old Chavez Ageday, said his grandmother was very happy for him when the announcement was made public in the press, after the selection panel of the National Sports Commission (NSC) completed their voting. In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, the fifth form Bygeval Secondary School (BSS) student who has his eyes set on becoming a pharmacist one day, said it was an accolade he never dreamt of achieving at such an early age.
“Certainly, this is something I never dreamt about, but I am happy and excited to be awarded the Junior Sportsman and I must say thanks to my grandmother, who, having read about the accolade in the newspapers and heard about it on the television, was happy for me.”
Ageday, who was born on the August 14 in 1993 and idolises former world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica, is the first of three children for his parents and was encouraged to take up athletics by his grandmother Jane Clarke.
“As a young boy my grandmother encouraged me to challenge older boys than myself in sprints, telling me I can beat them and for sure, I was victorious making some of them furious after they lost to me.
“When I attended Nursery school, she was behind me to run the sprint events at race meets and, with my mom Charmaine Clarke being a former national sprint queen dominating the 100 and 200m events, you can say sprinting is in my genes, as I never looked back,” said Ageday.
If one should take a closer look at some of his achievements to date, one would see he has chalked up timings a slow as 10.70s for the 100 metres and 22.00s for the 200 at the national level, while at the international level Ageday has clocked 11.00s for the 100m and 22.50 for the 200m.
Another overwhelming performance was his fourth place finish in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Youth Games in Singapore, where he clocked 10.90s, an improvement on his third-place time of 11.09s in the semifinal.
He continued, “When I entered secondary school, I met my coach Raymond Daw who took me through the finer basics of sprinting to where I am today, even though I am still in the learning stage, for which I must say thanks.”
Asked to comment on the well-wishes he received, the soft-spoken Ageday, who was described as the perfect youth ambassador by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), said the response he received from his peers at school last Monday was overwhelming.
“When I entered school on Monday, the congratulations poured in from all corners, with some of my friends and teachers encouraging me to go on and strive for a spot on the national team for the Olympics in the not-too-distant future.
A few persons even told me I am a role model to them and while such a compliment is good, it also serves to motivate me to work towards achieving my goals, as I seek to improve and take it higher as the years go by,” added Ageday.
He has set his sights on capturing the gold medal in both the 100m and 200m sprints at this year’s Junior Carifta Games that is scheduled for Jamaica and any other meet he competes in whether it is on the local or international stage.
His training schedule consists of weightlifting, 30m dash sprints and 300 and 400m five days per week under the watchful eyes of Daw.
He was elated at his timings of 10.10s in the 100m at the recently held AAG Development Meet at the Police Sports Club (PSC) ground and while controversy surrounds the time, Ageday said his aim is to clock 9.90s for the same distance this year.
“Before I stepped into my blocks for the race, an adrenalin rush took over me, hence I knew I would do something special and the end result says it all. I am elated at the timings, but I know I can do better than that and this year, I have set myself a target of 9.90s for the 100m on grass.”
Asked why he idolises Powell and not Maurice Greene, Tyson Gay, Michael Johnson or even double world record holder Usain Bolt, Ageday said the cool, calm and collective attitude of the Jamaican caught his attention and that’s what he is aiming for.
“When Asafa competes and is not victorious, he takes his loss with pride and when he is victorious, enjoys his victory with glory and that speaks volumes of an athlete. I look at his races and love how he is composed before and after each race, that’s something I would like to be like.
My 10-year-old brother looked at me and said ‘Chavez, I want to be like you one day’ and I smiled to myself, knowing that when I look at Asafa, those same words run through my mind constantly. It is something I have told my coach several times and he said, ‘you can do it’.”
Ageday took time to thank God for blessing him with the talent. He expressed heartfelt gratitude to his mom Charmaine, grandmother Jane Clarke and the numerous well-wishers for their kind words and support.
‘Look out for bigger and better things from Chavez Ageday this year,’ he said in his closing remarks.