ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (WAVY) – LaShawn Merritt is one of the most decorated athletes in Hampton Roads history – a three-time Olympic gold medalist and multiple-time world champion.
And Wednesday, Merritt, a Portsmouth native, hosted a free track and field clinic at Elizabeth City Middle School.
It’s called the RunJumpThrow clinic and it’s sponsored by US Track and Field and Hershey.
The goal?
Try to educate kids on track and field and keeping them active.
Merritt helped kids at different stations with jump rope, cones, agility drills, shot put and things that relate to track and field.
These kids look up to Merritt and he wanted them to hear his story.
“I respect that they respect me,” Merritt said, “because I respect the work that I put in. I’m all about respecting the brain, the body and the position that I was in, so back then, I was in the position to be the best in the world and use my DNA to put in the time and dedication and through that, I’ll deliver something to them that these are the things that got me to where I was, and now I’m here give a little back to you all and let you know how I did it.”
Hampton Roads has been a hotbed for track and field, with past and current stars including Latasha Colander (Portsmouth), Andre Cason (Virginia Beach), Francena McCorory (Hampton), Grant Holloway (Chesapeake) and others.
Merritt, at 36, is done with active competition – these days playing some golf, running his business operations and getting his foundation going. But he is obviously a part of that long legacy of Hampton Roads track greats, and he said the future is bright for the sport.
“For them to have track and field in middle school, a lot of indoor and the AAU is bigger than I’ve ever seen in this area,” Merritt said. “I’m excited about that. I’m also excited about getting other track athletes together to push the sport. It’s a great sport, it’s an amazing sport, it’s a lot of character building in this sport.”
