Kriel inspires his athletes to dream big
The hard work of Tuks' sprints coach Hennie Kriel brought success for many of his athletes this year.
Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. This is one of the favourite sayings of Coach Hennie Kriel from TuksAthletics.
Judging by the recent highlights during the past weeks in South African athletics it seems as if his words are being taken to heart by his athletes.
During the Gauteng North Championships at the TuksAthletics Stadium a few weeks ago 17-year-old Sokwakhana Zazini from TuksSport High School set a new world youth record in the 400m-hurdles (48.84s). Other athletes from TuksAthletics also have excelled. Gift Leotlela set a new South African junior record in the 100 metres (10.12s), Thando Roto became the second fastest ever sprinter in South Africa running a time of 9.95s and Fredriech Pretorius became only the second local decathlete to go past the 8000 points in a competition.
Three weeks ago Clarence Munyai improved the South African junior record over 200 metres when he ran a time of 20.10s. On the same day he just missed out on improving the national junior record in the 100 metres as well.
There is one common denominator in these success stories and that is Kriel’s role as a coach. The athletes credit him as the one who made them believe in their abilities and they are full of praise about the way he gets them to constantly push the boundaries.
Roto describes his coach as being on a never ending quest to find new ways to get them to run faster.
“For him every second counts, or to be more truthful every less second is important to him. I have been coached by him since 2012 and I am still amazed at how ‘Oom Hennie’ keeps finding new ways to help us become faster. His coaching strategy and philosophy is constantly changing. It is a case of what worked yesterday is not good enough for tomorrow. That makes it exciting for us as athletes,” said Roto.
Kriel’s is hesitant to claim any of his athlete’s success as his own. He is constantly emphasizing that he is only trying to guide them. According to him in the end everything boils down to how hungry they are make their dreams become a reality.
“I would say I am one of the luckiest men in South Africa because I get to work with young people and help them to fulfil their goals. There is nothing more rewarding than to see an athlete’s reaction when they get to achieve what they set out to do because I know how much they sacrifice to do so,” Kriel concluded.
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