In his own words: William Robertson
William Robertson is a young man in a hurry. Recently the 13-year-old broke the Southland 100m best time for his grade. Considering the number of excellent sprinters that have come out of Southland, this is no mean feat.
Next month William faces his biggest hurdle so far, the NZSS Championships, his first national competition. He does, however, know he is going for the experience and realises the step up is an investment for later years.
A good attitude.
However, there is a hurdle he has to face on top of racing older and faster athletes at a national championship: William has Type 1 diabetes. Energy levels and blood sugars have to be constantly and carefully monitored. When blood sugars are low training and racing is compromised. And a parent must travel with him to competitions, doubling the cost.
While diabetes could be seen as a handicap, William prefers to consider himself a runner who happens to have diabetes rather than a diabetic who runs; it’s simply another challenge to overcome.
How does he meet the challenge and what does running mean to him? We asked him.
How does diabetes affect your athletics?
Well, it depends on what I’m doing at the time. At training sessions, if my blood sugars are too low I have the time to just sort it out and get on with training, but before an event, if my blood sugars are low I need to sort something out very fast and it can possibly make me run slower. I just have to take extra care at events to prevent lows before a race. I’m lucky that Lance Smith, my coach, helps me by adjusting training if I need it and has given me tips to prepare me in case there’s delays at big events.
What do you expect from the coming NZSS champs?
To (hopefully) have fun and make the 100m finals as I think it would be great to show other diabetics that it isn’t a complete blockade from doing sports and athletics.
How long have you been in athletics and what got you started?
I only really started properly training about ¾ of the way through 2017, but before that, I managed to come 4th in the junior Southland 100m. It was strange seeing all the kids using blocks and spikes while I was just there in my scuffed gym shoes. After I did that my grandpa (rest his soul) said to my mum, “You need to get that boy some proper training” and so we did. The main reason I do athletics is to make my grandpa proud as he never got to see me destroy that record.
What support do you get from your parents?
My parents are pretty much my main source of support in the sense they help manage blood sugars, wake me in the night to give me injections or sugar if they need to.
JHC has had a number of well-performed athletes in the past. Do they still, and how supportive is your school?
JHC still has quite a few good athletes, but I still think more students should get into the sport. The school seems to be very supportive of athletes and it’s good to have people like Mrs Swanson who know athletics inside out.
What’s ahead for you the rest of the season?
Lots of things including NZSS, Colgates, hopefully IP’s and of course the secondary school competitions . I mainly just want to improve myself more than do well at events.
You have just started your national career. What are your goals for future school and national championships?
To run fast. Pretty simple
What is your future long-term goal?
I want to break 11s in the next 2 - 3 years. Maybe even break 10 at some stage.
What is your proudest sporting moment so far?
2019 Interprovincial’s. I just went up to the hundred starts and just won the whole thing. On the next day, before the 200m, I just said: “I’ll just run sub 26 and that should be fine”. I was running about 26.7 at the time, and lo and behold I pulled off a 25.59s 200m. That was pretty cool.
What other sports do you do or have done?
I started playing football before doing athletics. Athletics is great because on the football field it’s almost impossible to get past me due to my speed, and I almost am at the opposition’s goal before they even cross halfway. I also make music in my spare time.
