EIGHT weeks out from this season's regional athletic championships, Taree's Cade Van Ewk-Campbell was diagnosed with Osgood-Schatter disease.
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This is a common cause of knee pain in young athletes.
Until then Cade, 13, was hoping for a strong showing at the regionals in the sprint and jumping events. The regional is also the qualifying meet for the State championships.
In a blow to his preparation the knee complaint put a partial stop to his training regimen. However, as the old saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens.
"I couldn't run, so my coach said I might as well start training for javelin and discus,'' Cade explained.
Cade recovered sufficiently to head to the regional event and returned from Tamworth with a swag of medals.
He's also qualified for four events at State to be held at the Sydney Olympic Park on March 19 and 20 - the javelin, 100m, long jump and discus. He is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
He faces a busy few weeks in March as he will be heading to the State multi championship to be held in Maitland earlier in the month.
Here athletes compete in six disciplines - shot put, discus, 100 metres, 80 metre hurdles, 800 metres and long jump. The competitor who compiles the most points from the six wins the gold.
Cade is still getting regular treatment on his dodgy knee but he's confident it will hold up for the State championships. His pet event is the 100 metres, but he understands he'll have to improve his personal best considerably if he's going to finish on the dais.
"The fastest in the State are going to be there, so it will be tough,'' he said.
Either way Cade's looking forward to the experience at competing in Sydney.
As in all sports, COVID has played havoc with scheduling of major events in athletics, so Cade reasons this will provide the opportunity to test himself against the best in his age division. The regionals at Tamworth were a tempting entrée, now he's looking forward to the real deal.
He trains five days a week as well as competing with the club on Friday afternoons.
The 2021-22 athletics season started later than usual due to COVID and is looking forward to contesting a full program in 2022-23 from next September.
Cade started athletics about three years ago.
"I loved it straight away,'' he said.
For the time being he's content to mix his disciplines, whether it be sprinting, jumping or throwing.
However, the 100 metres remains his favourite.
He'll concentrate on basketball when athletics finishes in April.
