Jemilla Campbell is getting ready and set to dash 100m and throw her troubles away when Corio Little Athletics returns tomorrow.
“I’m very, very excited, because I really missed athletics,” the Lara 13-year-old said.
The restart will be the first time in almost eight months that Jemilla has torn up the track since COVID-19 hit in March.
“It was quite upsetting because I missed all my friends,” she said.
She joined a few other little athletes testing out the track at Goldsworthy Reserve on Tuesday night ahead of the official resumption.
“It was very tempting to hug them but I restrained myself,” she said.
“I got to chat to them again so that was very nice.”
Jemilla looked forward to competing in her favourite events – the 100m and discus.
“I like running in spikes because I get to run fast in them,” she said.
Instructors had taught her to channel her emotion into discuss and she would pour all her anger into the object before throwing it away, she explained.
“You just throw it and think ‘ah… I feel better now’.”
She has kept fit during the lockdowns by running with her pet Labrador on nearby walking tracks.
“She’s a very good runner too,” she said.
She has also trained with a discus in her family’s large backyard and, thankfully, has a “friendly neighbour” for the odd occasion she clears the fence.
Council on Tuesday announced Geelong and Corio Little Athletics would resume tomorrow morning at their respective city-run venues of Landy Field and Goldsworthy Reserve.
