By Sahar Foladi
In a first for Emerson School, a student has sprinted up the ranks in inter-school athletics.
Year 8 student, Omal Theodoro, 14, represented his specialist school on Monday 11 September at the Greater Dandenong Secondary Division Track and Field Finals at Knox Athletics Track.
Although very nervous, he put his mind to the competition and earned first-place in the 100 metre, 400 metre, long jump and high jump as well as third in the 200 metre event.
“I felt amazing and tired after the competition. My teachers and everyone were extremely happy for me,” he said.
As a specialist school catering for students with mild intellectual processing disabilities, it was the first time Omal had competed and recorded multiple wins against students from ’mainstream’ schools.
Emerson coach Christopher Winter says the school is very proud of his achievement.
“Omal relished the challenge of running and jumping against the best athletes from schools such as Dandenong High School and Keysborough Secondary College.
“Fellow competitors and officials were in awe of Omal’s speed and vertical leap.”
Omal was awarded the ‘Overall Champion’ for his age group and has qualified for the Southern Metropolitan Region Finals on Thursday 5 October at Ballam Park in Frankston.
“A lot of our students compete in the multi class category so in the region finals, Omal will be joined by his school mates but many will compete in the T20 classification which is for those with an intellectual disability.
“Omal doesn’t qualify for that category, being with autism. There is currently no category in Victoria for autistic athletes to compete in athletics which means he’ll have to compete with students in a mainstream setting,” Mr Winter said.
Passionate about athletics, Omal dreams of becoming a basketball player while his competitors also believe that he’ll be “going places”.
“One of Omal’s competitors who came second in ‘Overall Champion’ mentioned this year the standards were raised as there wasn’t a lot of competition previously.
“(He said) even though Omal snatched up many of the first positions, he’d learned a lot from him.
“What Omal showed is that he is more than capable to compete against others and is paving the way for other students to reach their potential and challenge themselves against the best.”
