THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 9, 1996 TAG: 9608090474
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 79 lines
With watermelon juice streaming down his chin and chunks of the red fruit flying in the air, 10-year-old Chad Queeny went for the gold Thursday and came up with a mouthful of seeds.
The sounds of an Olympic winner went something like this: ``Chomp, chomp, chomp; spit, spit, spit; chomp, chomp, chomp.''
A winner, that is, in the watermelon-seed-spitting contest, in which Chad took first place in the YMCA of South Hampton Roads Olympic Games on Thursday.
His winning score: 35 seeds in a white paper cup in five minutes.
Never mind that the real Olympics finished Sunday or that most Americans have overdosed on the 171 1/2 hours of game coverage. Or that the trophies here were made of aluminum foil instead of gold.
None of that mattered to the 900 youngsters from eight different Y branches who descended on Mount Trashmore on Thursday to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
There were no javelins here, or balance beams or shot puts. Instead, the events ranged from Lifesaver passing to the Jell-O slurp to the ice cube pass to the milk jug relay to the slippery slide.
Despite the lightweight events, the kids competed with the enthusiasm of Carl Lewis, the determination of Kerri Strug and the passion of Michael Johnson. ``It's not as hard as jumping real far or running real fast,'' said Chad, who attends the Chesapeake Family YMCA. ``But it's still good to win.''
The local Olympics were part of the YMCA's summer camp, which started June 17 and wrap up at the end of the month.
The idea was to give the kids a taste of the Olympics and have them go for the gold on the overall event: Having fun.
If ``faster, higher, stronger'' were the watchwords in Atlanta, ``wetter, stickier and louder'' were the goals on Mount Trashmore as 4- to 13-year-olds competed in about 20 different events.
``Sound off!'' screamed 10-year-old Tiffany Shoemaker to her fellow campers from the Effingham Branch YMCA in Portsmouth.
``Y-M!'' screamed her fellow campers, trying to win the spirit contest.
``Once more!'' Tiffany yelled.
``C-A!'' they answered.
``Break it on down,'' she said.
``YMCA, YMCA, YM-CA!''
Sure, the real Olympic winners put in years, even decades, of arduous training. They competed against thousands to reach the finals. They hired the best coaches and forgo a social life to win a medal.
But what kind of training schedule did 4-year-old Cassian Sotton of Portsmouth put in before winning the gold in the spirit contest with other Effingham Y campers?
``I just practiced it this morning before I came,'' Sotton said proudly.
Chad, the watermelon-seed winner, shared his rigorous training schedule as well.
``I just eat a lot of watermelon,'' he said wiping juice off his chin with the back of his hand.
And the secret to his win?
``Eat fast.''
Although the kids were giving it their all, there were no tears at losing here, and virtually no agony of defeat.
And there were plenty of YMCA counselors and volunteers from sponsoring company NationsBank to keep up the enthusiasm of the kids, who came from Chesapeake, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Suffolk.
``Even if we don't win, it's OK,'' said 12-year-old Tanell Thompson from the Effingham YMCA in Portsmouth. ``Because it's not about winning or losing, it's about trying your best.'' ILLUSTRATION: GARY C. KNAPP color photos
Children from the five Hampton Roads cities screamed for the gold
Thursday in the spirit competition, one of about 20 events.
Eight-year-old Jessica Lavin of Virginia Beach tries to chomp and
spit to victory in the watermelon seed competition.
GARY C. KNAPP photo
Four-year-old Cassian Sotton, right, and brother Cassius, 5, of
Portsmouth were members of the Effingham Y's gold-medal spirit
contest team. by CNB