Announcement
Amberly Melendez
National Racewalk Champion
“When it comes down to it, whatever happens before the race, it doesn’t matter. I was there to race and that was what I was going to do.”
Amberly Melendez, 16, a Junior at Thomas Jefferson EC High School, is an example of how an elite athlete approaches a high caliber race. She had the race of her life this summer at the AAU Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa where she battled and won the national championship of her age bracket.
Her story is one that shows that it's not how you start that defines you, but how you finish.
Melendez, besides being ill from her stomach that morning was already facing other problems, physically and mentally, way before the sound of the gun.
Before AAU, Melendez suffered a battle that athletes find difficult to beat, discouragement. Early that week she had competed at the USATF Junior Olympics in Houston and gotten fifth place.
“I had never done worse than second at the Junior Olympics. I thought for sure I wasn’t going to win in Iowa,” reflected Melendez with relief as she now holds the gold medal.
When asked how she overcame her discouragement she answered, "You have to believe in yourself and listen to your coach."
"I reminded her that she had worked very hard. The work was done. All she had to do was believe in herself and her dream would come true," said A.C. Jaime, head coach of the South Texas Walking Club.
With the upsetting fifth place under her belt there came another obstacle, Brenda McCollum, the national 17-18 AAU bracket record holder and returning champion.
"I thought she was not beatable," said Melendez. She was wrong.
The race started and within a kilometer she was already twenty seconds behind. While McCollum started at an unexpected blistering pace Melendez decided to play it smart and sit back at the pace she had been practicing all month.
"Amberly intended to walk an average of 2:04 pace meanwhile Brenda opened up at a 1:45 pace," Jaime explained. "Brenda's quick start caught up to her as she slowed down by the third and fourth lap."
Both girls met up by the end of the fourth lap. With three and a half laps left the real race had just started.
Melendez’s plan was to hold the same pace, pass her, and not sit back and kick for the win. As she did, McCollum did not give in for the loss and fought.
"She passed me again but I was not going to chase after her for the lead." Melendez had learned that sprinting back and forth for the lead can exhaust an athlete and prevent them from maximizing their performance.
As planned, McCollum soon slowed down and Melendez took the lead and kept pushing like never before. With a tremendous negative split she passed the finish line with a time of 15:24, breaking her personal record and most importantly, winning the gold.
When Coach Jaime was asked how Amberly Melendez showed such perfect performance he answered, "You have to go for it! When it comes to the point where you can't go more, keep pushing. You HAVE to pass that threshold to succeed." He paused for a moment reminiscing on such thought and with a smile finished his response, " and she did. She did it for the first time."
For Melendez, it is not the gold medal that defines her but how she approached such goal.
The young athlete, with two more years before she graduates, has already set a higher goal.
"I want to train harder. I didn't train as hard as I would like to this year," Melendez modestly asserts.
It is clearly shown that she is an athlete with no comfort zones and hungry for success. Next spring keep an eye on her as she practices for bigger races and bigger goals. She'll prove to you how strong of a finisher she is, inside and outside the track, by just watching her practice.
