Please help support my road to Rio!
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Hello family and friends!
As many of you know over the past year I have begun training to become a professional triple jumper with aspirations to compete in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has always been my dream to become a professional athlete, and that dream has started to become more of a reality. This indoor season was my first step at the professional level, as I competed in my first professional and televised event at the New Balance indoor Grand Prix. The second event I was able to compete in was the indoor U.S. National championship in Eugene, Oregon. Although I was extremely happy to have made it to the competition, it was short lived after a slight hamstring strain going into the finals at the National Championship meet. The season was still a success, as my coach wanted to use the indoor season as preparation for the outdoor season, where the real journey will begin.
Currently I am training with a Croatian national triple jump champion, Davor Čakarić. He believed in my ability in becoming a professional triple jumper, before I even did. We met right after I had graduated college and it is kind of a funny story. Davor was having a test week with one of his track athletes, and I walked over without warming up and did a standing broad jump and standing triple jump. Later that night, he compared the numbers to current professional athletes and found that my numbers were the same or even higher than most of the pros. At that point I had no interest in going back to track, as I was pursuing playing professional football. During a semi-pro football game early in the season, I received a concussion that took me over a year to recover from. At this point, I finally decided my football career was over and it was time to get back to the track. After a two year hiatus, Davor finally was granted his wish and my journey began.
What I failed to realize going into this intense training, was that it is nearly impossible to do this on my own. As an athlete you sacrifice everything, including a full time job to chase something that isn't concrete or guaranteed. With that, there are still many other obstacles that arise. One of the biggest issues I had to overcome this indoor season was not being able to train at a facility with a sandpit, crucial to a triple jumper's training plan. Despite our set backs, I was still able to achieve a distance of 16.38m (53'9") good for top 10 in the U.S. and top 50 in the world.
There are many expenses and resources that are required to making it to the professional level. These resources are covered once an athlete makes it to the highest level, but are not while you are trying to make it through your journey. These expenses and resources include:
Use of a facility
Coaching expenses
Big meet entry fees
Travel fees
Equipment
Training gear
Supplements (the clean ones)
Rehabilitation services such as:
Massage therapist
Physical therapist (to prevent the injuries like the one I had indoor/ for recovery)
Any help would truly be appreciated. I know many athletes are in my current position and cannot financially support my cause, but if you could share my message that can also help me along the way. I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped support me up to this point, and thank you in advance to those who will help and those who support my vision.
Love you all,
Ron Woodley
CERTIFIED DREAM CHASER #jumpingonadream #roadtorio
As many of you know over the past year I have begun training to become a professional triple jumper with aspirations to compete in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It has always been my dream to become a professional athlete, and that dream has started to become more of a reality. This indoor season was my first step at the professional level, as I competed in my first professional and televised event at the New Balance indoor Grand Prix. The second event I was able to compete in was the indoor U.S. National championship in Eugene, Oregon. Although I was extremely happy to have made it to the competition, it was short lived after a slight hamstring strain going into the finals at the National Championship meet. The season was still a success, as my coach wanted to use the indoor season as preparation for the outdoor season, where the real journey will begin.
Currently I am training with a Croatian national triple jump champion, Davor Čakarić. He believed in my ability in becoming a professional triple jumper, before I even did. We met right after I had graduated college and it is kind of a funny story. Davor was having a test week with one of his track athletes, and I walked over without warming up and did a standing broad jump and standing triple jump. Later that night, he compared the numbers to current professional athletes and found that my numbers were the same or even higher than most of the pros. At that point I had no interest in going back to track, as I was pursuing playing professional football. During a semi-pro football game early in the season, I received a concussion that took me over a year to recover from. At this point, I finally decided my football career was over and it was time to get back to the track. After a two year hiatus, Davor finally was granted his wish and my journey began.
What I failed to realize going into this intense training, was that it is nearly impossible to do this on my own. As an athlete you sacrifice everything, including a full time job to chase something that isn't concrete or guaranteed. With that, there are still many other obstacles that arise. One of the biggest issues I had to overcome this indoor season was not being able to train at a facility with a sandpit, crucial to a triple jumper's training plan. Despite our set backs, I was still able to achieve a distance of 16.38m (53'9") good for top 10 in the U.S. and top 50 in the world.
There are many expenses and resources that are required to making it to the professional level. These resources are covered once an athlete makes it to the highest level, but are not while you are trying to make it through your journey. These expenses and resources include:
Use of a facility
Coaching expenses
Big meet entry fees
Travel fees
Equipment
Training gear
Supplements (the clean ones)
Rehabilitation services such as:
Massage therapist
Physical therapist (to prevent the injuries like the one I had indoor/ for recovery)
Any help would truly be appreciated. I know many athletes are in my current position and cannot financially support my cause, but if you could share my message that can also help me along the way. I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped support me up to this point, and thank you in advance to those who will help and those who support my vision.
Love you all,
Ron Woodley
CERTIFIED DREAM CHASER #jumpingonadream #roadtorio
Organizer
Ron Woodley
Organizer
East Providence, RI
