Last week's Sports Illustrated had a nine page feature on A&M freshman track team member Bonnie Richardson. Talked in depth about her high school athletic accomplishments, including both of her Texas state 1A team track & field titles. Some quotes:
The article describes Bonnie as the water boy on the football team (she wanted to play but they wouldn't let her), president of the National Honor Society, and class valedictorian. She bench presses 180, works as a ranch hand, and hunts deer with a bow and arrow. Her high school coach teaches history, geography, government, and economics; coaches football, basketball, and track. She trains in a weight room in a "dank socket that was left when the stage was torn out at one end of the Basketball gym built by a WPA crew in '38." She runs on rutted grass surrounding the football field. She won the state long jump title as a junior, even thought there is no place to practice it at her school.
This is a great article. A must read for Aggie track fans.
Best of luck to Bonnie at A&M. She's done so much on her own. It will be amazing to see what she can accomplish with state of the art facilities and expert coaching.
[This message has been edited by hass80 (edited 10/1/2009 12:37p).]
quote:
The Power of One - At age 17 Bonnie Richardson won the Texas state track team championship all by herself. Then she did it again.
quote:
Madelynn's blaming herself for the knot in her daughter's gut, wishing she'd never uttered a word to her about Texas A&M assistant coach Jim VanHootegem's being here to watch her. She just knows that Bonnie's down there feeling she has to prove to him that she deserves the partial scholarship that A&M has given her to join its juggernaut, the track program that will win the NCAA women's outdoor title one week later. Just knows that Bonnie's comparing her times and distances to those of the girls in the biggest high schools and worring that Coach V's thinking she'll never stack up in college, when in truth he's rubbing his hands over the prospect of Bonnie in the heptathlon and what he might do with a girl that raw, that strong, that hungry... and that pissed off.
The article describes Bonnie as the water boy on the football team (she wanted to play but they wouldn't let her), president of the National Honor Society, and class valedictorian. She bench presses 180, works as a ranch hand, and hunts deer with a bow and arrow. Her high school coach teaches history, geography, government, and economics; coaches football, basketball, and track. She trains in a weight room in a "dank socket that was left when the stage was torn out at one end of the Basketball gym built by a WPA crew in '38." She runs on rutted grass surrounding the football field. She won the state long jump title as a junior, even thought there is no place to practice it at her school.
This is a great article. A must read for Aggie track fans.
Best of luck to Bonnie at A&M. She's done so much on her own. It will be amazing to see what she can accomplish with state of the art facilities and expert coaching.
[This message has been edited by hass80 (edited 10/1/2009 12:37p).]