Entry #1 Getting to Know Me

    My name is John Ojeda but most people refer to me as "Jay". I am an athlete at Glendale Community College and I run for the track team. I am continuing to learn more about this sport as I am new to it and am improving at it every day.

Why Track?

    I never took track seriously or thought I had a future in it as I always saw it as "conditioning" for football. With that being said I made varsity my freshman year and was able to compete at state as a freshman. Due to the pandemic, I was not able to run my sophomore year and barely did anything my junior year. I was running out of time and options for this sport.

One Last Shot 

    My senior year was coming to a close and with the offers I had for football I began to train for my freshman year in college. One day I was working out on the field at school I was approached by a man who claimed to be the new track coach and wanted me to run for him. I was hard-headed and saw no reason to run as I already had my future set on football. This man kept on pushing this idea to me till one day I finally decided to listen. This man's name was Coach Angry and he told me that I may have been running track wrong through my years of high school and convinced me that under his coaching I could get more offers and go to state once again.

Better Late Then Never

    I began training with Coach Angry and it was only shortly after I began to realize my true potential I I began training with Coach Angry and it was only shortly after I began to realize the true potential I had for this sport. I was getting faster and was dropping times like crazy and one day Coach Angry approached me and purposed I run the event 400 meters. I hated this idea at first as I felt my talents were in the 200 & 100 but would soon realize I was wrong. Coach Angry saw the potential in me that I could not even see and I will always be thankful that he did as I was winning every single race in the 400 meters.

"Came to Win"

    The high school outdoor season was about to begin and I was riding high with Coach Angry and felt I had big things coming for me. Unfortunately, coach was hiding something from everyone, he was very sick. He was getting treatment for it and was not telling anyone about it until one day he told me and the team that he was going to step away from coaching to seek help. Not too long later he passed away from cancer. The one person who truly could have helped me with my future was gone and I felt lost. His coaching assistant Coach MJ stepped up and helped me put myself back together. She told me his last words to the team were that our goal for the race should always be the same "came to win". I kept this mindset all year and was able to accomplish some great things.

New Passion

    With Coach MJ by my side, the training continued and we began to see results. I was able to drop from a 53 to a 51 within a span of a few weeks. I started winning more races and was climbing the state rank quickly. Then out of nowhere I popped off with a 48.82 breaking my school record by a whole second and was Top 10 in the entire state of Arizona. Coach MJ would help lead me to state finals something that no one in my school history has done and was doing great things. As I ran my last meet and was getting ready for graduation I would learn shortly after that coaches were trying to contact me but did not know how as Coach Angry was no longer with us so I had missed my chance to go D1 right out of high school.

 JUCO 

    Which leads me to where I am now. I took the JUCO route and felt it was the best thing for me to do at the time and I am glad to say it was the right choice I made. As it looks as if I am going to transfer to a university in the fall on a track scholarship. My time here has been short but very impactful and it tested my passion for track and as an athlete. I look forward to what my future holds for me as I take my first official visit in a few weeks.