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His palms were sweating. He needed a towel to dry his grip. A glass of ice water quenched his thirst but hardly cooled his intensity. The astroturf he sat on was as hot as the competition he faced today at the National Junior Olympics. The pole was set at 17 feet. That was three inches higher than his personal best. Michael Stone confronted the most challenging day of his pole-vaulting career. The stands were still filled with about twenty thousand people, even though the final race had ended an hour earlier.
The pole vault is truly the glamorous event of any track and field competition. The sportsman combines the grace of a gymnast with the strength of a bodybuilder. Pole-vaulting also has the element of flying, and the thought of flying as high as a two-storeyed building is a mere fantasy to anyone watching such an event. Today it is not only Michael Stone’s reality and dream – it is his quest.
As long as Michael could remember, he had always dreamed of flying. Michael’s mother read him numerous stories about flying when he was growing up. Her stories were always the ones that described the land from a bird’s-eye view. Her excitement and passion for details made Michael’s dreams full of colour and beauty. Michael had this one recurring dream. He would be running down a country road. He could feel the rocks and chunks of dirt at his feet. As he raced down the golden-lined wheat fields, he would always outrun the locomotives passing by. He would begin soaring like an eagle.
Where he flew would always coincide with his mother’s stories. His dad, on the other hand, was not a dreamer. Bert Stone was a hard-core realist. He believed in hard work and sweat. His motto: If you want something, work for it!
From the age of fourteen, Michael did just that. He began a very careful and regimented weightlifting programme. He worked out every other day with weights, with some kind of running work on alternate days. The programme was carefully monitored by Michael’s coach, trainer and father. Michael’s dedication, determination and discipline was a coach’s dream.