ONTARIO – An Olympic Trials finalist from Ontario put on a clinic Friday, Aug. 11, at Ontario High School for area athletes who want to become faster.
Joe Delgado, an Ontario High School graduate and former Division 1 athlete, met with over 30 athletes from various sports to teach them how to run faster.
Delgado, 28, who graduated from Ontario High School in 2013, said one of the clinic’s goals is for the athletes to structure their training to be the fastest athlete in their sport, be it baseball, football, basketball, soccer, or track and field.
Delgado was a standout track and field athlete at Ontario and was an All-American competing for the University of Oregon. He also attended the University of Louisville and became an Atlantic Coast Conference champion in track and field. A former coach at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Delgado said Friday’s camp was for athletes of all sports.
“This is a speed and power camp,” Delgado said. “That’s my specialty. I get people fast.”
The event was hosted by the Ontario Recreation District.
, Andrew Maeda, executive director, said having Delgado, who lives in Florida, come back to Ontario to train athletes is a “home run of an idea,” that taught local athletes the fundamentals and mechanics around sprints that, in turn, translate into agility.
Maeda also said the camp allows Delgado, who finished fifth overall in the decathlon at the Olympic Trials in 2021, to give back to the community and for Ontario to support him as Delgado prepares for another run at the Olympic Trials next year.
“We want to support Joe when he’s at the trials when he’s competing to try and make the Olympics,” Maeda said. “This town loves him.”
Delgado, of West Palm Beach, Florida, said he begins training for the Olympic Trials next month while continuing to work full-time as a loan officer. The job, Delgado said, allows him to fund his Olympic dreams.
Athletes in the U.S get very little financial support to compete from the United States Track and Field Association, Delgado said.
Maeda said that putting on the speed camps through the Ontario Recreation District is one way to help a local athlete like Delgado. The last speed camp the recreation district hosted in 2020 helped him raise funds to compete, according to Delgado.
“I’m super appreciative of what my community has been able to do,” Delgado said. “I’m just a small-town kid trying to shoot for gold.”
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