SHE’S a powerhouse on the track, from her athletic build to her speed. She commands attention when she charges, if for no other reason but because she’s just nine years old.
When you find out that she’s from the mining town of Linden, you begin to understand the skills of this Pee Wee – Adessa Albert.

Albert just this week gave a few eye-catching performances in the Girls’ Under- 10 category at the National Schools Championships. Those performances included new records in the 100m and long jump event, as well as taking the age group Champion title.
It was in the sprints that spectators truly sat up and paid attention to the little Amelia Ward’s Primary School student, particularly in the 100m races.

In her heat Albert ran the record-breaking time of 13.70 seconds, erasing a three-year-old 14-second record by Odessa France.
When Albert returned in the final on Wednesday she won the event in 14.16 seconds, still a sight to behold as the petite girl in yellow and black outclassed her competitors.
Over at the jumping pit she set the long jump record at 4.03m, erasing a previous 3.89m record, etching her name in the record books in her second year at Nationals.

She also took gold in the 200m, which she won in a time of 29.49 seconds; while she finished second in the 400m with a time of 1:12.31s.
Grooming to perhaps one day becoming the next big sprinting female in Guyana, Albert is another protégé, of renowned Linden coach Johnny Gravesande.
The man behind the likes of World Youth Championships silver medallist Daniel Williams, and CARIFTA Games multiple gold medallist Chantoba Bright.

Albert has been under Johnny’s tutelage since the age of six.
Her accomplishments are coming as no surprise to her beaming mom, Kaisha Cummings, who began to observe Albert’s capabilities from a very young age and, encouraged by her daughter’s natural love for running, wanted to see how far she could go.

“We didn’t decide for her to be an athlete she just loves the sport itself. She just likes running. If you send her out she would just always run instead of walk,” Cummings shared
“We saw that she had potential, so we decided to join her in a club and see how she would perform. Since then she would be performing at different events.”
Born at the Mackenzie Hospital, Albert began testing out her skill against others her age when she was three years old and attended nursery school.

“She used to attend Royal Arts of Learning in Amelia’s Ward, and they would have sports and the children would take part so she took part from the first year of nursery. And from there she just continued running,” Cummings recalled.

However, because the school was a private one it did not take part at the inter-school level of sports, limiting Albert’s chances of going to Nationals. So her mother transferred her to the Amelia’s Ward Primary, in 2015, to open up a door for her daughter to showcase her skill.

That very year Albert qualified for Nationals and performed in the Girls Under-8 category. Even then, seeing this little girl charging to win after win had many commenting of the promising prospects for this young lady.
Her mother boldly declared that she has high hopes to see Adessa go far. “I have future plans for her in athletics. Maybe even the Olympics.”