Most athletes love to train, live for the pain of muscles straining and time clocks ticking as one rep turns into hundreds and the determination of days, weeks and years at work turns into results. Muhammad Ali said he wasn't one of those athletes. He hated every minute of training but knew what waited if he pushed a little more, sparred a little longer. "Suffer now and live the rest of your life a champion," he said.
Athletes don't just play, they work. They go to work on basketball courts at the Round House community centre, at gravel soccer pitches at Carnarvon Park and on wrestling mats laid down in high school gyms at Tupper secondary. They run the bases for Little Mountain Little League, play the links at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club and chase birdies at the Vancouver Lawn, Tennis and Badminton Club.
For our inaugural feature series on the most distinguished graduating athletes in Vancouver, the Courier is celebrating individual achievements and recognizing the future potential of the elite athletic class of 2013. We bring you Our Prospects and also pay tribute to the places these athletes went to work as they came of age in Vancouver.
In our first installment June 7, we profiled Rachel Shi. The golfer practises nearly every day at the Point Grey Golf and Country Club where she plays two to three rounds a week. Today we profile two Vancouver College football players, Liam Mahara and Hunter Robinson, who appreciate the privileges available to them and cherish the legacy of O'Hagan Field.
Each week for the next six weeks, the Courier will present Our Prospects and show you the places these accomplished young men and women went to train and play, working at becoming the athletes they are today. We can all be very proud of their achievements.
