By Nick Creely
Narre Warren youngster Addison Stevens hopes to one day jump as high as her hero, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eleanor Patterson.
Patterson has been an athlete that Addison has admired from afar for a long time, and she is hoping one day that she can reach the 1.96 metre mark – Patterson’s current personal best.
At just 18, Patterson was the third youngest Australian Commonwealth Games champion ever.
And Addison, 10, is already a high jump superstar, and only recently claimed a gold medal in the Girls 10 Year Olds High Jump event at the Pacific School Games in Adelaide, with a stellar jump of 1.39 metres.
She pipped 13 other talented young women to claim glory, a phenomenal effort considering she actually beat the next placed athlete by three centimetres.
The Pacific School Games – a tournament for more than 4000 school-aged students in a dozen different sports – is arguably the most elite school game events in Australia, with many of its participants going on to have successful sporting careers.
The Little Athletics product also hones her skills with acro dance and competition tennis with Berwick, with the multi-talented athlete completely obsessed with sport in general.
She said she is “happy and surprised” to win a gold medal at such a young age, and simply loves the thrill of “jumping over the bar”.
But she wants to keep improving and jumping higher as she eyes even more gold in the future.
“I want to jump higher and have a better technique, and jump as high as Eleanor Patterson,” she said.
But the Pacific School Games are likely to be an event she doesn’t quickly forget, with Addison enjoying the sunshine of Adelaide and enjoying experiences that will last a lifetime.
“I did enjoy it (the Games) – the most enjoyable part was the high jumping and going to the track, and also going to the beach with my family and friends that I met,” she said.
Addison first gave high jump a go at her Little Athletics in Leongatha – coincidentally the same town Patterson was born and did her training.
So the similarities are endless, and the sky is the limit for what she can achieve.
