Highlights from the 2008 International Children's Games
San Francisco, CA - July 10-16
Thanks to the support of the New York Road Runners Foundation and the New York City Sports Commission, Bronx Flash coaches and athletes (Coach Dan Bellino, Tarik Hawkins, AJ Burnett, Jizannie Foster, and Ki’Anna Tidball) combined with PS/MS 15 (Coach Shawanda Weems, Shamel Victoria, Fulvio Paula, Ana Crystal Jimenez, Tyto Moore ) to form Team NYC.
Thursday, July 10
Safely arrived in San Francisco and checked into University of San Francisco dorms.
Friday, July 11
Practice at Kezar Stadium in the morning. Opening Ceremonies in the evening. The Opening Ceremonies really helped break our kids out of their shells and start interacting with kids from around 50 other countries. Team NYC was definitely one of the photos all the other kids wanted to be a part of. Tarik and Jizannie, wearing their NY Yankees caps, were a real hit with the foreigners, and they were proud to represent The Bronx, as you can tell from the pictures.
Saturday, July 12
Competition
Boys 4x100 – Won their heat. 2nd fastest qualifier for the finals.
Girls 100m dash – Ana and Shamel experience their first start in the blocks! They were nervous, but did a great job adapting. Both, plus Ki’Anna, all ran well (2 PRs), though none qualified for the next round.
Boys 100m dash – Tarik and Fulvio qualified for the quarterfinals. Tarik shattered his PR, running an 11.45 in the second round. Fulvio was right there with him, just missing advancement to the semi-finals with a time of 11.79
Girls 400m dash – All three girls qualified for the semi-finals later in the day. In the semis, Ki’Anna snuck through to the finals.
Boys 400m dash – Jizannie and Tyto both qualified for the semis. Tyto looked great and ran a fantastic time of 1:02. Jizannie was able to post the second fastest time of the day, but he should have listened to his coach’s warnings to shut it down if he was in the lead, because he paid for it in the later rounds of competition. It was a really good lesson for a different style of competition that they weren’t used to (multiple rounds, IAAF/Olympic style). He was able to sneak into the finals however.
That evening, Bronx Flash athletes joined the Bellino Family at the family friend-owned Ristorante Umbria, where they were happy to enjoy a good Italian meal and speak the language of the waiters (or at least try).
Sunday, July 13
Team NYC was the only U.S. team to place finalists in the boys 100 and 400 meter dash and the girls 400 meter dash. While the boys 4 x 100m relay suffered a disappointing dropped baton on the opening exchange in the finals (they were the second seed behind Singapore going into the final), they recovered later in the day and challenged Singapore for superiority in the 4 x 400m relay. After a back and forth battle, Singapore edged out Team NYC at the finish line.
Highlighted Results (all competition in one division, ages 12-15)
2nd Place - Boys 4 x 400m Relay (AJ Burnett, Fulvio Paula, Jizannie Foster, Tarik Hawkins)
5th Place - Boys 400m Dash - Jizannie Foster
6th Place - Boys 100m Dash - Tarik Hawkins
7th Place - Girls 400m Dash - Ki'Anna Tidball
After the races all went and dipped their feet (some their whole bodies) in the cold Pacific Ocean.
Monday, July 14
Tour of San Francisco and Alcatraz Island – Mr. and Mrs. Bellino rented a 12 passenger van and toured parts of city, including Lombard St., “the most crooked street in the world.” Coach Bellino’s father did a great job demonstrating how the hills of San Francisco make for a great roller coaster ride – plenty of screams from the back of the van on a few of the big drops.
That evening was the closing ceremonies and children’s dance, where all athletes and coaches exchanged team and country gear.
Tuesday, July 15
Visited Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Infineon Raceway. The team stayed the night at the Bellino Family household in the Sonoma wine country and the kids had a blast playing bocce, catching frogs, and even running around playing hide-and-go-seek throughout the open land and trees until 10:30pm.
Wednesday, July 16
The boys woke up at 5:00am and went for a 3-4 mile run with Coach Bellino through woods of Anadale State Park – a beautiful experience, winding through the trees in the early morning fog – and exposing them to another side of running they rarely get to experience in The Bronx – the pure and simple adventure that it can be and beautiful places it can take you.
It was a trip that provided everyone with the best of memories and learning experiences that will always remain deep in their hearts and minds.