11th Indian Ocean Islands Games   |13 June 2023

Mondon (left) and coach Volcy (Photo: Neil Sirame)

Maintaining a good physique for a spot in the final selection

Most sports disciplines are yet to unveil their final selections for the 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games which are scheduled in Madagascar from August 23 to September 3.

In the meantime, the High Flyers, an athletic club which boasts around 15 athletes aged 16 to 26 years old, hopes its athletes can claim a spot in the final selection for the track and field competition at the Games.

Sports NATION spoke to High Flyers’ head coach Joseph Volcy regarding his expectations in relation to his athletes getting selected.

Coach Volcy said due to the conditions of the track at Stad Popiler, proper meets could not be hosted and they could only organise trials to measure the performance of the athletes.

He added that this coming Saturday, June 17, there will be another trial that will count towards the pre-selection for the national squad.

Coach Volcy added that he is very positive that the sprinters under his wings will make the final cut for the national squad which will be disclosed on June 30.

“Normally we host these trials for the athletes to do their best times and performance and from there the federation chooses the best performance across all these trials, and I am very confident in my athletes,” said coach Volcy who further added that High Flyers has a very good reputation as many of its athletes have met the national Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) criteria.

Recognising that his athletes have improved, coach Volcy has high hopes in Shaheem Mondon, a third year student of the National Institute of Health and Social Studies (NIHSS) who specialises in sprint ‒ 100m and 200m.

Mondon was inspired to join athletics at the age of 12 and was motivated to push further in the discipline when he won the gold medals in the 200m and 400m team relay in during the annual National Inter-school Athletics Championships in 2018.

Mondon is currently aiming for a spot in the national squad for the 110m hurdles, and is training hard to qualify.

“I am keeping a good physique and form to be among the best to be selected for the IOIG in Madagascar,” Mondon told Sports NATION.

The young sprinter said he is very committed in his pursuit to be the best there is and hopefully bring back good results from the IOIG.

He said he balances his time between his studies and his passion for athletics and receives great support from his family.

Even though he only started training last year with the High Flyers athletics club, he managed a personal best of 11.01 seconds for the 100m and 23.0 seconds in the 200m.

Mondon added that injuries prevented him from competing overseas to gain more experience on the track but his goal is to reach the Olympics Games, and the journey begins with a good performance at the IOIG.

“I am strong and if I don’t make the team this time, I am sure I will in the future,” added the young sprinter.

Neil Sirame