Paul Schwartz on track: Talent, not money, helped local Olympians

While those families spent as much as $500 per month or more on each child’s athletic development, 33 percent said they had not regularly set aside money for retirement and 57 percent had no long-term financial plan.

Even more alarmingly, 67 percent thought that their child would earn college scholarships and 34 percent thought their child would become an Olympian. (Only 24 percent and two percent, respectively achieved those goals).

A lot of those expenses are going for non-scholastic training and competition — showcases, private sports clubs, professional trainers, private coaches, summer travel programs — often with the hope of attracting attention, which will lead to lucrative scholarships and professional careers. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of that, even if it sometimes starts astoundingly too soon and the emphasis on immediate success is sometimes much too great.

Then there are the stories from some of the athletes with North Jersey roots who have competed in the Olympic Games these last two weeks.

Stephen Mozia of Hackensack, for instance, who finished 28th in the men’s shot put Thursday competing for Nigeria, was 14th in the North 1, Group 4 shot put as a high school sophomore. But with hard work in the Hackensack weight room, great determination and great coaching, both in high school and at Cornell University, Mozia has become an international star.

Ronnie Ash spent his first three years at Passaic High School before moving with his family to North Carolina, and was only involved in track for one year in New Jersey before a persistent North Carolina high school coach got him to try the hurdles in his senior year. He didn’t win a major race until his freshman year in college, but became a multitime All-American. This week he reached the Olympic final in the 110-meter men’s hurdles.

Tracy Eisser was a pretty good jumper on the Fair Lawn track team. When she got to Cornell, she discovered rowing, or maybe it was rowing that discovered her. A year later she was on the Big Red varsity, and seven years later, she reached the Olympic final in the quadruple sculls this week.

Mozia’s, Ash’s and Eisser’s parents didn’t hire a private coach, didn’t travel all over the country seeking to be seen, but they beat the odds anyway.

There are many ways to reach sports success and not all of them have to take a large chunk out of the family budget. Talent, hard work and determination will get you noticed — even in a routine high school setting.