But four boys from the School of the Good Shepherd in Gladstone Park can’t get enough of running.
Hugo Garcia, Carlos Egan and twins Zyon and Dre Iosefo represented the school in the under-10 4×100 metres relay at the School Sports Victoria state track and field championships and came third in the relay.
The boys reached the state championships after winning the same event at the Woodlands division and then the Northern Metropolitan Regionals.
Teacher David Kehagias said it had been a long time since the school had children competing at the state level.
“We don’t have much success in inter-school sports at all, so this is huge for the boys and the school itself,” he said.
“The boys want to train and they give up their lunchtimes, after school and holidays to do it.”
Kehagias said a change of direction by the school meant students who wanted to compete were representing it.
“The team used to be selected from the athletics carnival and we’d end up with children who didn’t want to be in the team,” he said.
“We decided to have try-outs instead and make training optional and these four boys wanted to come to training.”
He said he thought the team would be able to match it with the best in the state.
“I think they’re quietly confident they’ll be able to be competitive. Previous teams in other years were around the same mark.
“If they ran what they did at the northern event, they could make the final. The boys have a lot of self-belief, which happens to be our school motto.”
Carlos finished third in the under-10 triple jump at the state championships.
“Carlos loves all sport and is keen to do everything,” said Kehagias. “He’s always hassling me to train and I have to tell him sometimes you need to have a rest day.”
