LIKE most 11-year-olds, Maddison Cowen spends her weekends running and jumping around – except Maddison earns medals doing it.
The Mill Park Heights Primary School student won a Victorian School Sports Award for athletics last month – just the first hop, step and jump for the rising sports star’s path to success.
Maddison’s proud mother, Maree, attributes her daughter’s success to the focus and self-motivation she brings to competitions. “She’s got a few injuries along the way, but if I try to pull back on her training, she gets upset,” Maree says. “If I don’t take her to training, she goes for a run anyway. Her injuries can only really be healed by resting, but she always wants to just run around – you can’t stop her.”
Maree admits that Maddison is highly focused when it comes to her sport. “She doesn’t show a lot of emotion when she competes, so when she gets a big win she keeps it to herself. She doesn’t want to be the centre of attention.”
Maddison collected a gold medal at the Australian Primary Schools Athletics Championships in Darwin last year. It was for high jump, her favourite event.
Maddison was introduced to the track at the age of six but claims she was hesitant to compete, opting for dancing and gymnastics classes instead. Two years later, she gave athletics another shot, joining Whittlesea City Little Athletics Centre.
She immediately excelled in high jump and won silver at the 2011 Little Athletics Victoria champs. She also won the attention of a coach, who began properly training her, and now trains five hours a week.
Maddison tells her friends that taking part in sport is not about winning, ‘‘but about doing your personal best and having fun”, says Maree. Always putting her hand up for school sports events, Maddison encourages her friends to join in.
“I think people who don’t exercise much should do it more,” she says.
