![]() This is just not mine.”Ītkinson was also presented the Gleaner Honour Award and People’s Choice Award for Performance of the Year. “It helps keep swimming on the map and hopefully, will provide the impetus necessary for others to enter swimming and succeed. “Being recognized in such a manner bodes well for swimming in Jamaica,” Atkinson said. “It shows that I am still performing at high standards. “It is a single honor, one which I am very proud of,” Atkinson said. Belinda Phillips (1974) and Frances Noble (1968) were the others to win the award since its inception 54 years ago.Ītkinson has been runner-up to track star Shelly-Ann Fraser for the past two years. It took a world record and first-ever gold medal at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in December to earn the award.Ītkinson was the first non-track and field athlete honored in forty-one years, another milestone for the sport and swimmer, who became the first black woman to win a world title and tie the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke in December.Ītkinson also took silver and bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and finished third overall in the FINA World Cup Short Course Series.Ītkinson is only the third swimmer to be honored as Sportswoman of the Year. January 17, 2015-South Florida Aquatic Club’s Alia Atkinson, after two runner-up finishes, was named the 2014 Jamaica Sportswoman of the Year Friday night at a gala event at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.Ītkinson, 25, a three-time Olympian for Jamaica, broke out of the shadows of track and field athletes that usually dominate the coveted annual RKR Sports Foundation’s award. Sharon Robb can be reached at Sharon Robb The Nike Swimmer of the Month award, chosen by the SOFLO coaching staff, is awarded each month to the swimmer who excels at both swim meets and practice sessions.-Sharon Robb Kopecki joins February Swimmer of the Month Zackary Harris and January Swimmer of the Month Madison Johnson. Kopecki is in his first year of the school’s law program. He even plans on training while he is in Raleigh, N.C., site of the weeklong national competition where he will compete on a nine-member mock trial team for American Heritage Plantation. “I am just going to eat, sleep and swim and try to get my junior national cut,” Kopecki said. Kopecki, coming off a bout of the flu, is working his way back into shape. “Coach Chris has been telling me if I keep working and progressing I can get there,” Kopecki said. Kopecki hopes to get even stronger and faster over the next three years and earn a college scholarship. I didn’t have the endurance before and that mile showed me I was back and could do it.” My time drops were pretty good after I was injured (back). I was happy with my mile at senior championships. “It was the first time I made “A” finals at sectionals. “I was happiest with my 200 fly at sectionals,” Kopecki said. His club highlight swims were at sectionals and senior championships. Kopecki, a freshman at American Heritage School, competed in his first state high school meet this past fall and is a member of the Patriots’ boys state champion team. “I liked going out in the ocean with my grandma.” “I always liked being in the water,” Kopecki said. I wasn’t athletic or fit at all when I started.”īetween pool and dryland work, Kopecki ended up dropping 15 pounds and getting fitter. “I decided to do a sport I didn’t have to run in and started swimming. “I have flat feet and can’t run fast without hurting my knees and shins,” he explained. He played soccer, but soon realized he was more suited to swimming. Kopecki was 3 when his grandmother taught him how to swim. I wouldn’t be where I am without her.”Īnd, of course, there are his teammates he trains with day in and day out. She believed I could get there if I worked my butt off in swim practice. After one practice Coach Rose came to me and talked about it. “I didn’t think I could get fast enough to move up to Silver and went into Senior Developmental. ![]() “After Coach Rose helped me I started progressing a lot and doing really good after I turned 13,” Kopecki said. “She put me in butterfly which is my best stroke.”Īnd there was former SOFLO coach Megan Garland the past three years. “She was one of the big coaches who helped me the first year,” Kopecki said. I started working towards that.”įirst there was SOFLO veteran age group coach Coach Rose Lockie encouraging him. “I would see the older groups swim at meets and everyone would congratulate them after they would win. “When I first started, I was a slower kind of swimmer, I wasn’t fast at all,” Kopecki said. The South Florida Aquatic Club age group swimmer has risen through the ranks since he started swimming competitively at age 10. April 12, 2015-CJ Kopecki is the perfect example what hard work and sheer determination can do for a swimmer. ![]()
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