Gordon’s Bay Primary School boasts an avid athlete whose excellent achievements foretell a promising and bright sporting future.
Eathon Williams (13) was awarded his Western Province (WP) colours and earned the honour of under-12 150 m hurdles Western Cape champion, following sterling performances in the Western Cape Primary Schools Athletics Championships last year.
The Grade 7 learner was further selected to compete in nationals, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic the scheduled event was not held.
For many, the young sporting talent’s face may look familiar, and this may be because a photo of Eathon was recently seen circulating on Facebook with details of another accolade achieved.
According to the SA Skole Sport Sterre website, he was ranked 10th for the 150 m sprint and first for the 150 m hurdles in the country.
SW Verster, department head for sport at the local school, explained that the website used 2019 championship times and ranked the athletes according to those results.
He said Eathon’s first sporting achievements include having earned third place at the school’s inter-house athletics meeting back in Grade 1.
“But he is just as big in rugby as he has proven to be in athletics,” Verster said, boasting another item among Eathon’s repertoire of achievements.
He said the avid young sportsman, in 2019 at age 11, was selected for the under-12 WP rugby team, which proved victorious over their opponents by winning all their matches in a coastal tournament held in Riversdal.
The rugby talent went on to form part of the school’s first rugby team for the second consecutive year this year.
Eathon, on the other hand, decided to start practising athletics, with the addition of hurdles as a summer sport in 2019, simply to keep busy in the afternoons.
His mother kept him motivated and his coaches at school contributed to his success by putting in hours of hard work and training.
Eathon thrives on their pride, which enables him to strive towards reaching new heights. He says: “My achievements make me feel special and serve as proof that hard work certainly pays off.”
Eathon’s sporting dream includes either representing his country as an athlete at the Olympic Games or playing Varsity Cup rugby, with hopes of later donning green and gold or signing with an overseas team.
He looks up to two iconic sport stars, Usain Bolt and Beauden Barrett, and through sports he has learnt self-motivation and discipline, among other qualities.
Now during the winter season, he trains with a fitness team in the evenings, takes long runs on the beach and focuses on cross country at school. He is currently practising rugby and working hard on his academics as well.
Gordon’s Bay Primary is proud of Eathon and all his significant achievements.
