Pillay hopes hard work will pay dividends
By Paul Martin
From Macassar in the Western Cape, a stop over in the US, and on to the athletics scene in Kingston, Jamaica... Every day is a new sports miracle of learning for SA sprint queen Geraldine Pillay as she trains alongside the fastest man on Planet Earth.
South African sprint star Pillay has made Kingston, Jamaica into her "home away from home" and training in the Caribbean heat alongside 100 metres joint-world-record-holder Asafa Powell and the fastest woman over 100 metres in 2006 in Sherone Simpson could be just the formula to set Macassar's favourite daughter up for a super 2007 track season.
Add in the value of training under the watchful eye of Jamaican sprint coaching legend Stephen Francis, and Pillay's career is set to go places - at great speed.
Powell's joint world best of 9,77 seconds over 100 metres and Simpson's 2006 outdoor best of 10,82 is goose pimple stuff, the reason why Pillay has built her life around the adrenalin rush sport of athletics sprinting.
Pillay made the move to Kingston, following her training campaign at the Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California, USA, where she trained under the guidance of Dr Ernest Gregoire, who helped her with elements of sprint technique.
"Both Asafa (Powell) and Sherone (Simpson) are very humble people who carry out our coach's instructions to the letter, so basically they are good listeners and do as they are told and train hard in order to meet with success," said Pillay.
With the "Big 30" approaching in Pillay's life next year, the South African is a firm believer that age doesn't matter and that achieving life goals of becoming the first South African female athlete to run the 100 metres in under 11 seconds, as well as having a golden campaign at the Beijing Olympics in two years time, is distinctly possible.
"Some of the world's best female athletes like Christine Arron, Debbie Ferguson and Torrie Edwards are in their late twenties or more and there are only a handful of youngsters out there running fast times," said Pillay, who has career best times of 11,07 (100 metres) and 22,78 (200 metres) were set in April 2005.
"Jamaican sprint great Merlene Ottey was an example of the 'age-is-nothing-but-a-number' theory since she ran faster in her last couple of years in competition than she did when she was younger. It shows that if you love the sport of athletics and look after your body to stay in good health, nothing should stop an athlete, regardless of age, from performing at one's best."
They train them tough in Jamaica, not that hard work has ever frightened Pillay. Up at 4.30am to prepare for a 5.30am hill training session, Pillay has come a long way since collecting silver over 100 metres and bronze over 200 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia in March this year.
Add in a 2:30pm gym session and it's all in a day's work for Pillay.
"Training and competing abroad has made a big dent in my pocket, but I see it as an investment and I am confident that I will see the dividends soon," she said.
"It's really difficult to give the exact monetary values that it costs me, but with the Rand being quite weak against the US dollar, I need around R15 000 a month to get by. Fortunately, here in Jamaica, a lot of my costs are covered such as coaching fees and massage appointments."
"At the schools in the US and the Caribbean, they have special programmes run by professional coaches, not school teachers. These countries invest in their athletes from an early age," added Pillay.
"Why do you think some high school kids here in the Caribbean run faster than some of our professional athletes at home? It's not because these athletes in the Caribbean are more talented. Here, athletes have a working programme in place so by the time an athlete reaches college or professional level, they are well conditioned."