Promising talent Dominic Woodard was recruited by a lot of schools to play for college but choosing where to go next was not that hard for the Cebuano trackster.
He opted to go to Jose Rizal University mainly because of the presence of Elma Muros-Posadas — who is billed as the ‘Long Jump Queen’ after having been to the Olympics stage twice and winning two Asian Games bronze medals.
“Frankly speaking, the main reason why I went to play for JRU is because we’re both ‘Bisaya’,” Woodard shared on 'Rise Up Stronger: The Road to NCAA Season 96’.
“And another thing is the name that she carries. At first, I thought that she’s very strict but it turned out she's very soft to the athletes. It’s like she’s handling us with care.”
According to Muros-Posadas, who has taken home 15 gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games, she recruited Woodard because the 19-year-old athlete has shown a lot of potential which she hopes to improve moving forward.
“Before, our players were mostly basketball players so just imagine making them do high jumps, sprints or becoming a member of relay. So we’ve decided to start recruiting talents from different provinces,” Muros-Posadas recalled.
“There are a lot of schools recruiting this kid so it’s really a blessing that he gave us a chance and also, his parents trusted his decision to go here.”
The 54-year-old Muros-Posadas also shared that with the talent and skills that Woodard has, all he needs to do is improve it further.
“My first impression of him is he has a future since it’s in his bloodline and he has the size,” she said.
“And he’s really skilled so it’s now up to him how he will use his talents.”
Watch his story on GMA Synergy's 'Rise Up Stronger: The Road to NCAA Season 96' every weekday (2:45 p.m.), Saturdays (4:30 p.m.), and Sundays (5:05 p.m.) on GTV.
—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News
