Cougars Show Off Their Talent - My High School Journalism
Cougars Show Off Their Talent - My High School Journalism
Cougars Show Off Their Talent - My High School Journalism
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The Chronicle<br />
The Winter Olympic<br />
Games are no small affair, so<br />
what does Warrenton have in<br />
common with them? The answer<br />
is the Jamaican bobsled<br />
team, and although you may<br />
not have expected it, Warrenton’s<br />
Mayor George Fitch<br />
plays a big role in both.<br />
Heading into the<br />
1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary,<br />
Alberta, Canada, Mayor<br />
Fitch paid a visit to a friend<br />
in Jamaica, and while there,<br />
made a plan to create Olympic<br />
history. With very little<br />
support and only six months<br />
to go, Fitch brought together<br />
a small group of athletes in<br />
order to create the very first<br />
Jamaican bobsled team.<br />
“I knew a bit about<br />
bobsledding; I’d been in a<br />
bobsled a few times, and I<br />
knew that 50 percent of the<br />
race is how quickly can you<br />
push this 600 pound object<br />
before you’ve got to jump in,”<br />
stated Fitch. “<strong>My</strong> goal was, if<br />
we’re going to do this, we’re<br />
not going to embarrass ourselves.<br />
We’re going to be competitive;<br />
we’re going to beat<br />
some teams, and therefore,<br />
make Olympic history.”<br />
While attempting to<br />
recruit athletes for the team,<br />
Fitch faced another challenge;<br />
no current Olympic<br />
athletes, at the time, would<br />
stop their training to risk his<br />
seemingly crazy idea. When<br />
that failed, he instead turned<br />
to the military to find his<br />
team: the current military<br />
sprint and 800 meter champions,<br />
a helicopter pilot, and<br />
a heavyweight boxer. The<br />
team soon coined the name of<br />
the “Ragamuffins.” However,<br />
Fitch was forced to take approximately<br />
$85,000 out of<br />
his own life savings in order<br />
to fund his new group.<br />
“I went to the Jamaican<br />
government; they said no,<br />
we don’t think you can pull<br />
this off,” Fitch stated. “Went<br />
to the Jamaican companies;<br />
this is too crazy, you’re not<br />
going to pull this off. Went to<br />
international companies like<br />
Coca Cola, other companies<br />
that sponsor teams, they said<br />
no. So I realized nobody’s go-<br />
The number of teens<br />
waiting to get their license<br />
has been steadily increasing.<br />
Federal data that<br />
was recently released shows<br />
only 30.7 percent of 16 year<br />
olds nationwide got their li-<br />
News February<br />
Mayor Fitch Visits Kettle Run<br />
4<br />
By Marion Silas<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
By Zack Baker<br />
Staff Reporter<br />
& March 2010<br />
Photo By Shelly Norden<br />
NEVER, EVER GIVE UP- Mayor Fitch tells Kettle Run his story of founding the underdog Jamaican Bobsled<br />
team.<br />
ing to give me money, so I’ve<br />
got to dip into my own wallet.”<br />
From the money he<br />
withdrew, the team paid for<br />
travel expenses to practice<br />
for the first time on a real<br />
bobsled track, where they<br />
came ahead of a few other<br />
teams. Ten days before the<br />
opening ceremonies of the<br />
Olympics, however, Fitch received<br />
a call from the International<br />
Olympic Committee.<br />
The committee delivered<br />
some bad news. Members<br />
told Fitch they would not be<br />
permitted to race for fear of<br />
embarrassing Jamaica. With<br />
the help of a team supporter,<br />
he was able to get back into<br />
the games with hardly any<br />
time lost.<br />
They competed in the<br />
two-man event and were very<br />
successful. The team longed<br />
to do the 4-man event next,<br />
though they had not trained<br />
for it, and their dedication to<br />
the sport won over the support<br />
of Fitch. When the team<br />
entered for the event, they<br />
had the second largest applause<br />
from the stands, close<br />
behind Canada.<br />
The “moment of<br />
truth” is how Fitch described<br />
it. “Are you going to make<br />
Olympic history, or are you<br />
going to embarrass yourself?”<br />
For the first two<br />
runs, the team did very well.<br />
On the second day, during<br />
their third run, there was a<br />
problem. Coming around the<br />
“50/50” turn, the driver didn’t<br />
have the sled completely under<br />
control, causing them to<br />
flip over. Luckily, no one was<br />
injured in the accident. The<br />
team was able to overcome<br />
its misfortune. Team members<br />
climbed out of the sled,<br />
stood up smiling, and carried<br />
the bobsled across the finish<br />
line. They had achieved their<br />
goal; they had made an unforgettable<br />
event in Olympic<br />
histoy.<br />
The team’s inspiring<br />
story of success led way<br />
to another; the 1993 Disney<br />
movie Cool Runnings. The<br />
movie is loosely based on the<br />
team’s experiences over the<br />
period of time before, and<br />
during, the Winter Olympics,<br />
yet, there were many inaccuracies<br />
throughout the film.<br />
Fitch requested creative and<br />
editorial control after reading<br />
the script, but received<br />
no real input in it.<br />
“There were a lot of humorous<br />
moments in real<br />
life,” said Fitch. “It’s not like,<br />
okay, you want to bring a comedic<br />
element to this. Hey,<br />
I’ve got all kinds of stories for<br />
you that give people a laugh<br />
as to what actually happened<br />
to us.”<br />
Although the movie grossed<br />
$86 million internationally,<br />
Fitch and the members of the<br />
bobsled team received little<br />
of Disney’s profits. Though<br />
it did not turn out the way<br />
they may have hoped, Fitch<br />
still lists the experiences he<br />
gained from being with the<br />
team as some of his proudest.<br />
“Jamaica bobsled would<br />
be up there in the top five,”<br />
commented Fitch. “It was an<br />
experience, where on the one<br />
hand, you will always sort of<br />
look back and it will bring<br />
a smile to your face, but an<br />
experience where it will also<br />
bring a scowl to your face because<br />
of all the things you<br />
didn’t do because you’re so<br />
consumed in pulling this off.<br />
I did not enjoy the Olympics;<br />
I could have enjoyed<br />
the Olympics, but I was just<br />
too taken with having to do<br />
all these things without any<br />
help, and so obsessed with<br />
making sure they were competitive<br />
that you didn’t really<br />
have time to enjoy it.”<br />
Fitch left the team in<br />
1994, and overall feels that<br />
he has no regrets from his<br />
time spent with them. The<br />
Jamaican bobsled team has<br />
led to six other “unlikely”<br />
teams from the Caribbean in<br />
recent years. However, Jamaica<br />
was unable to qualify<br />
for either the 2006 Winter<br />
Games in Turin, Italy or the<br />
2010 Winter Games in Vancouver,<br />
Canada.<br />
From the many challenges<br />
and rewards that Fitch has<br />
been a part of, he has gathered<br />
some valuable advice for<br />
anyone who has been inspired<br />
by stories like his own.<br />
“So what if you fail? You<br />
just try again,” said Fitch.<br />
“You’ll come up with another<br />
idea; you’ll be inspired by<br />
something else. There will<br />
always be another chance,<br />
so don’t let it slip away. If<br />
you’ve got something, follow<br />
through, persevere; take<br />
it all the way, and you will<br />
succeed. Maybe not the first<br />
time, but you will succeed.<br />
Never, ever give up.”<br />
Teens Waiting Longer to Get Driver’s License<br />
cense in 2008 compared with<br />
44.7 in 1988.<br />
There are multiple<br />
reasons why teens have been<br />
waiting. Experts suggest<br />
teens feel it’s not a necessity<br />
because they’re already<br />
so connected with friends<br />
through social networking<br />
and text messages.<br />
Others suggest that the<br />
expense of driving is holding<br />
teens back. Many are not<br />
able to afford gasoline and<br />
insurance.<br />
Senior Stephanie Hoffman<br />
does not have a driver’s<br />
license and is getting ready<br />
to graduate from high school<br />
in June. “It seems as if teens<br />
don’t feel the need to get a<br />
license,” Hoffman said, although<br />
she is thinking about<br />
getting her license soon.<br />
Senior Matt Bongiovi has<br />
been a travel student the past<br />
two years and decided that<br />
taking the bus would save<br />
him money. “Since I never<br />
needed a car, I never got my<br />
license,” said Bongiovi<br />
Although students<br />
have been waiting, many do<br />
plan to get their license.<br />
Senior Jenny Pacheco and<br />
Hoffman both plan on get-<br />
ting their license this coming<br />
summer.<br />
Bongiovi plans to get it<br />
after his first year of college,<br />
“that way I will not be paying<br />
a year’s worth of insurance<br />
on a car that I wouldn’t<br />
be able to drive, and I can<br />
get my license without taking<br />
behind the wheel once<br />
I turn 19,” Bongiovi explained.