Athletics

This year I was fortunate enough to be a member of the Little Athletics Queensland 2020 New Zealand Development Squad.  For the ten days I was in New Zealand I competed at two competitions, travelled through the South Island, and made lifelong friends with my teammates and athletes from New Zealand.

 The first competition we competed at was the Colgate Games, which were held in Christchurch.  I competed in four events (100m, high jump, shotput, and discus).  I ended up winning discus and achieved a PB in shot put whilst also taking the win.  From Christchurch we travelled to Queenstown. There we took part in morning training sessions before then participating in team bonding activities that included low ropes courses, archery, jet boating, etc.  At night we went for dinner as a team at some of Queenstown’s iconic restaurants such as Winnie’s and Ferg Burger, which was definitely worth the wait!  After dinners we were allowed to walk around Queenstown with our newly formed friendship groups and participate in street performances and also enter the haunted house – which I’ll never be doing again.  After four nights in Queenstown we sadly packed our bags and headed to Timaru for the final competition.

At this competition we were not awarded medals, but received points which contributed to our team's overall score.  Team Queensland won the competition and my teammate, Jacob, and I were recognised as the highest male and female point scorers of the day.  From Timaru we drove back to Christchurch and went to the International Antarctic Centre before boarding the flight back home to Brisbane.  This trip has reminded me of why I love my sport, and I cannot wait to participate in similar experiences in the future.

Jemma Keefe