Games heating up

TRACK AND FIELD

200-meter dash

Destiny Cline, 8, crosses the line, finishing third in her heat in the 200-meter sprint. The girls and boys in the heat walk in circles at the finish line, waiting for the Show-Me State Games’ volunteers to write down each one’s time for the race. Destiny’s white sweat band keeps the wispy strands of stray hair away from her face.

She heads under the water tent, and her cup of water is finished almost as soon as it’s filled. She jokes with her sister, Damal Ramsey, about how hot it is, and she’s excited because after she leaves, her grandmother is taking her swimming.

Then she douses her cup of water on her sister’s pants, who retaliates by dumping her own water over Destiny’s head. She laughs, and the two cross the track and head out the gate before the next heat begins.

Natalie Forck, 5, runs one of the last heats of the day. She finishes fifth in her heat and sixth overall in the 200-meter. Her dad, Matt, is there at the finish line to lift her into his arms.

“You did so good!” he says. “Let’s go get ice cream.”

Natalie already ran in the 400-meter, competed in the long jump and was part of a 4x100 meter relay team that placed first earlier in the day.

She ends the 200-meter in tears, ready to go to Coldstone for mint ice cream after being at the track since 7 a.m. Saturday.

By the end, she’s not really sure if she likes track or running anymore, but her mom and dad think she’ll probably be ready to compete again by the time the games come back next year.

— Liz Manring

High jump

While boys and girls under 6 years old raced two laps around the track, Trevor Guinn from Nixa was clearing and exceeding his personal best for the high jump. The just-turned 15-year-old was the last jumper at the pit, and he had already won his age group after A.J. Miller from Columbia couldn’t quite clear the 5-foot-5-inch height.

But Trevor didn’t stop there. His mother, Ruth Ann Maynard, step-father, Michael, and step-brother, Bryce, sat on the unused pit next to the jumpers. They moved to the bench, closer to the pit, as other jumpers, who finished for the day, cleared away slowly. After clearing 5 feet 4 inches, Trevor’s mom, who is the same height, recalled one day when Trevor asked if she could just stand still so he could jump over her.

“I said ‘No! Are you crazy?’” she laughed, pacing with her camera in hand. She was a little antsy because Trevor was over stretching out his quad, which he injured while weight lifting last week.

By the time Trevor was left by himself to jump, the announcer paused from the action on the track to briefly announce each height before he jumped it.

He cleared his personal best, 5 feet 8 inches, easily. Then he cleared the next inch and the next. The crowd in the stands broke from cheering on the young runners to clap after each.

Finally, he was up against 5 feet 11 inches. He hit the bar and landed on it for his first attempt. The announcer called his name right when Trevor started his second approach, and he shook his head and started over. Frustration dripped from his face in the form of sweat down his red track shirt.

“I was thinking, it’s tall, I’m sore, and it’s hot,” he said.

Trevor didn’t clear the bar on his second or third jump. On his last attempt, he came out of the curve of his approach, and stopped short, grabbing the bar with both hands. His mom knew it was time to get him out of the sun.

“I think he could have cleared it,” his mother said. “He was just so exhausted, emotionally and physically.”

Even in the 96-degree heat, Trevor won first place in his age group and exceeded his personal best. Not bad for a first year at the Show-Me State Games.

— Liz Manring

TAE KWAN DO

Twelve-year-old Bryan Page stood smiling, his neck weighed down with a gold and two silver medals he had just won.

“Bryan’s a natural at it,” father Gary Page said.

Page just finished his first real tae kwon do competition at Rock Bridge High School in the annual Show-Me State Games. After competing in three matches with other children in his age group and experience level, Page claimed a first and two second place finishes.

His father thinks that’s pretty good for having just gotten into the sport a few months ago.

“I’m really proud of him,” his father said.

It all began this past Christmas when Page opened a present, and in it was a white tae kwon do uniform and a gift certificate to the Columbia Academy of Tae Kwon Do. Three months later, this young man proudly wears his well-earned yellow belt.

“It’s a good sport because it’s challenging,” Page said.

— Megan Ham

SOCCER

Brian Wolf has been competing in soccer at the Show-Me State Games so long that he has lost track of how many medals he has won and how many years he has been competing.

Wolf, 34, is a St. Louis native who has participated in at least 21 SMSG competitions and perhaps even in the inaugural games in 1985. He’s just not sure when he started.

Over the course of 20 years, Wolf has played in the boys brackets, the 30+ men’s bracket and the adult-coed bracket.

Wolf started playing soccer at age three with the help of his soccer coach father. Wolf learned the “American style” of soccer playing with neighborhood friends, school teams and select teams. At age 12, Wolf attended Missouri Military Academy where he was exposed to the more aggressive, finesse-driven “European style” of soccer by many of his international teammates.

“I have learned about soccer from an American and European standpoint,” Wolf said. “Now, I use both ends of the spectrum.”

In the final minutes of Saturday’s game against KC PNU from Liberty, Wolf and his Predators initiated repeated runs toward the goal in an effort to minimize KC PNU’s five-goal lead. Wolf, who usually plays the defensive sweeper position, was moved to the front line to add speed and skill to the team’s attack. Wolf broke up a strong cross-field pass just before half field and, after a burst of speed, unleashed a powerful low shot that knuckled just wide of the left post. On the next drive, Wolf set up teammates for runs to the goal with sharp, short passes, hitting a different open player each time. Despite the team’s best effort, the Predators lost 6-1.

Wolf’s initial involvement in the games began when his select team made the decision to take part.

“They (the team) would say ‘We are going to the Show-Me State Games’ and I’d say, ‘OK’” Wolf said with a shrug.

Since his first year, Wolf’s annual trip to Columbia for the games has been highlighted with wins, losses, fun and injury. One trip to the games left Wolf with a broken leg and a memory he would never forget.

“I had a one-on-one with the goalie and I lost,” Wolf said. “He came sliding out at the top of the arc (and tackled me). I knew it was broken right away. I just said ‘Nobody move me. I’m done.’”

Despite enduring an injury that left him debilitated for eight months, Wolf returns to the games every year in search of fun and good competition.

“Every game is different,” Wolf said of the games’ competition. “Some games are good and some bad but it is all for fun. I like to hang out with my friends and have a good time. I have a lot of friends in Columbia.”

The Predators play their last game today at 9:30 a.m. against the Little Horrors from Lawrence, Kan. They will advance to the finals if their record is good enough.

Wolf said he plans to return to Columbia for the games next year and years to come.

“When I’m 60, I’ll still be out here,” Wolf said. “I might be in a wheelchair, but I’ll still be out here.”

Kristin Roques

TENNIS

Columbia’s Aaron Skinner has the sort of story that coaches love to tell their players. Aaron, 13, is competitive in tennis on a national level, but he doesn’t attribute his success to natural talent. He sees the importance of the old adage: practice makes perfect.

“When you spend so many hours on the court, you just get your shots down,” he said.

The practice has paid off. On the local level, Aaron does not compete in the 14-and-under division. He has moved up to the 18-and-under division in search of a challenge. He has even given thought to playing in the men’s open at next year’s Show-Me State Games.

At this year’s games, Aaron won the championship in the 18-and-under division without surrendering a single set. In fact, he swept through each set, 6-0, until the championship match.

In the Missouri Valley tournaments, Aaron sticks to the 14-and-under bracket.

“It’s the right level, and I win some and I lose some,” he said.

Through these and other tournaments, players receive points for a national ranking. The ranking is based on each player’s highest seven point totals in tournaments. Aaron has only been in two tournaments that awarded points since his 13th birthday, so he hasn’t yet gotten a proper ranking. In the 12-and-under division that he just left, however, he was as high as 40th in the nation.

Aaron doesn’t really think about rankings, though. He has a hard time even remembering them and has not allowed his success to go to his head. He does not think we are witnessing the development of the next Roger Federer or Pete Sampras.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to go pro or anything,” he said. “I mean, sure that would be awesome, it would be fun, but I don’t think I have enough natural talent to go pro.”

The fact that he cites fun as one of the reasons he plays tennis is no accident. Tennis has never become a job for Aaron. He plays competitively because he has fun competing.

While he practices for about an hour a day, Aaron is still a 13-year-old boy first and a tennis player second. He has plenty of time for school or just hanging out with his friends. There have been a few attempts to mix friends and tennis, but those proved unsuccessful.

“I’ve tried to give a few of my friends some lessons, but it didn’t really work too well,” he said. “It’s mainly just sitting there laughing for an hour instead of hitting tennis balls.”