Although his 18th birthday is this weekend, athlete Joe Reid is fully focused on his ambitions of competing for Team Isle of Man at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 400 metre runner took gold at last year’s NatWest Island Games in Bermuda and has been working hard to continue his success on the world stage.
Joe, who turns 18 today (Saturday), has discovered planning is key to balancing his studies, work and all-important training, and that will be central to his ambition of competing at the very highest level.
When Joe first became involved in athletics, in 2007, it was just for fun. But the atmosphere and excitement of competing soon saw the Isle of Man Sporting Excellence Programme participant taking a serious approach.
He said: ‘I started athletics in 2007 as an under-13 with my friends at the Manx Harriers track and field league meetings. It wasn’t serious to start with, more of a social thing to make new friends and have a laugh.
‘I competed mainly in track events, but didn’t specialise as I did anything from 100m up to 1,500m.
‘As I grew older I started to become further interested in the sport and started to go on trips with Manx Harriers to the UK to compete against other teams.
‘Again, I didn’t really have a preferred event, I simply liked the atmosphere of the competition and the team relays at the end of the day.
‘I was about 15 before I started going to extra training sessions with the group and began to find out that I was better suited to distances between 200m and 800m.
‘I started to go away more regularly with the group and competition became a bit more serious as I actually wanted to start improving my times and help the team to get promoted.’
Joe added: ‘Towards the end of my first under-17 season, in a 400m in Wrexham, I ran 52.4sec and was really pleased with this.
‘From then on I always favoured running the 400m and throughout the next winter I started training two to three times a week to help prepare for the next season.
‘The year after I got called up for the English schools competition to represent Merseyside and it was my first real competition with meaning.
‘I will always remember it because I surprised myself and found I could compete in front of large crowds. I finished sixth overall in the intermediate boys 400m, which I was buzzing about because I didn’t even expect to get through the heat.
‘That season I managed to clock a few sub-50 second runs, which surprised everyone.’
At that point, competition became serious.
Joe explained: ‘The season after I got a new coach and we put together a structured plan on how to approach the upcoming season involving training six times a week towards my goals.
‘Isle of Man Sport Aid helped out a lot with strength and conditioning sessions, nutrition advice, psychology sessions and plenty of other workshops. With a full winter’s training behind me I had a very good season and managed to achieve everything I wanted, getting medals and breaking records.’
Finding a balance between his training and other parts of his life has been important in helping Joe achieve his goals.
He said: ‘I found that the easiest way to do it was to plan in advance so you know what you are doing and when. Planning a race schedule was important and then I could fit in revision around this for my GCSEs and A levels.
‘Work has always been very good in giving me time off when I need it, and my friends also understand that I don’t have as much free time as I used to.’
Joe acknowledges his dad as his influence in athletics, as well as coaches Di Shimell and Anthony Brand. He also believes the Isle of Man Sporting Excellence Programme has helped.
He said: ‘It has been useful to me in many different ways. They helped me to understand how to deal with injury and how to prevent it. This involves teaching us how to stretch properly, how to use a foam roller, and self-massage techniques.
‘Also they gave specific nutrition advice that has benefited me.
‘They have also assisted my coach to become a better coach and to help me more. I received some media training and they helped me to understand the psychology behind my thought process towards sport.’
Looking ahead to the 2014 season, Joe is set to compete at a series of Northern League meetings, the English School Championships in July and a host of other events.
He added: ‘My short term goals are to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 for the Isle of Man. I also want to win a medal at my final English schools.
‘Long term I want to compete for Team GB at some point and continue to keep knocking chunks off my 400m time.
‘I don’t have any specific long term goals because I like to concentrate on what I can do now and how to keep improving.’
Reid and fellow Manx athlete Jack Lemaire competed at the National Under-20 Indoor Championships in Sheffield at the weekend.
Commonwealth Games hopeful Reid comfortably broke the island 400m indoor record in a time of 48.41 seconds on his way to clinching silver in the final, while Western AC man Lemaire clocked 7.28s in the heats of the 60m.
As a result, Castle Rushen pupil Reid has been invited to run for England in an indoor international with Wales in Cardiff this coming weekend.
Launched in 2012, the Isle of Man Sporting Excellence Programme was created to inspire and prepare a new generation of Sporting Champions. Delivered by Kelly Holmes Education, leaders in Sport Education, the programme is supported by SMP Partners, Creechurch Capital and Microgaming, and brings together Isle of Man Sport, the Isle of Man Coaches Association and the Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Association.