Fiyin Amori '19 Recruiting Profile

Running changed my life. Whenever I ran and got a first place medal I felt so great and believed that’s all I should be getting. So my running career started when I was 6 years old in Nigeria. In Nigeria there is an event that happens every year called the inter-house sport. My older brother was a sports prefect and felt like I needed to run. So I trained for a week at the school and then the week after was the race. I was so slow that, even my older brother was ashamed of me.

         But that didn’t stop me, because of the negative comments I got from my peers and others calling me a fat slow poke or “Orobo” meaning fat boy; got my very angry. And that anger gave me the urge to do better. And I got help from my older brother who won the 100m and 200m at the inter-house sport. What he mainly first focused on was my diet and conditioning. So instead of making me eat junk food or eating thrice a day, he cut my habit of eating junk food and made me eat twice a day. And when I had lost almost half the weight I was before I asked for help on how to get faster, he said it was time to teach me how to run faster. First he told me to stand on my toes for hours, because I was used to running flat footed, and that alone helped me gain a lot of speed.

         After training with him for a couple of months I got close to him whenever we ran against each other and he told me I was ready. So the next inter-house sport we had I was more than excited for it. At practice before the event no one in our group could beat me and they all kept asking the same question how did you lose so much weight and how did u get so much faster. So during the event it was (100m under 10 years old) I was 7 going against 10 year olds and 9 year olds, and to everyone’s surprise I came in first place. And I got my first gold medal and trophy on that day.

         After that day my whole life changed I always wanted to be number one no matter what it took. So not only did I always win gold medals every time I ran I also started to work hard on my academics and my class rank moved up from #24 out of #27 to #3, and I worked so hard because I believed there was a reward at the end of it all. So for about the next 7 years of my life I won gold medals everytime I ran, but there came my downfall. I started getting cocky and never practice for about 5 years within that 7 year period because I believed I was the best. And I was at the same speed level when I could’ve gotten faster training.

         My first loss came to me when I was 14 I had gotten into high school, me and my family had just moved from Nigeria to the United States. I joined the schools track team still never showed up to practice. I attended their first meet and got beat by everyone who stepped on that line with. And that happened at least for the first three meets I attended. Then I realized it’s because I wasn’t training as much anymore. Still I didn’t practice but eventually I started winning again coming in top 3 at meets and qualified for the new balance nationals as a freshman when only the top athletes in the country compete at. Although I didn’t get anywhere close to winning at that meet I enjoyed the experience.

         Track is my best hobby, and it has taught me a lot. It has taught me that to be the best you have to beat everyone else. It has taught me that to be the best you have to work harder than everyone else. It has taught me to not be arrogant. Lastly, it taught me that there is a reward for working hard and that you have to train harder than everyone else to achieve that reward, whether it’s on the track or academically at school.