Editorial: Bay perfect spot to raise champions

In the process of piecing together a couple of stories leading up to the Olympic Games in Rio, about Hawke's Bay sports folk through the years who have achieved Olympian status, I encountered a familiar theme from those I spoke with. And when I later mused over what they had said, I just nodded.

Hawke's Bay, it was concluded, had the ingredients to produce stars of track, field, range, pool and watercourse.

We are blessed with a location which takes the edge off severe weather - which we have seen of late as other regions have been hammered by winds and rainstorms. If there was an Olympic event for meteorologically dodging a bullet, then we'd win gold.

Kids can pretty well go out and play at any time of the year, and with our rivers, walking and cycling pathways and array of sporting codes - many often driven by the passion of volunteers - there is sport aplenty to engage the young.

Sport is a sound and often satisfying part of life, and I am always buoyed when I'm talking to someone and they tell me they were "pretty average" at whatever it was that caught their competitive fancy.

Because I sat comfortably in that category, despite having tried my best at school to be the fastest over the 220 yards or quicker on the left wing than the fleet-footed fourth-former on the other wing.

Those who clearly exhibit a true spark of uniqueness - that often inexplicable ingredient that makes an individual stand out - are taken under the wing of the specialist trainers and encouraged to excel.

And bless 'em, they put in the time, the effort and the devotion to the task. During every season of the year, on the way to work in the mornings and often late in the afternoon, I see the kids out practising on the school fields.

Either with hockey sticks in hand, or round and oval balls on courts and fields. Or at the cricket crease or on the running tracks. Practising for the competition ahead on the weekend.

It warms the heart to see that determination and it doesn't matter if they never make the top of the grades.

They are having a go.

They are enjoying themselves and hey ... there is that chance they may just one day unearth that rare spark, get really good, and eventually get to see the Olympic torch for themselves.