DM’s dancing runner
Life has become a balancing act for Adele Kushner.
The 14-year-old, Grade 9 student at Denis Morris has been juggling track and field with her passion for Irish dance, where she won the 2021 Canadian national championship.
“It’s almost like cross training for me but it’s also hard to fit in schedule wise,” Kushner said Wednesday at the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association Zone 2 track and field meet at Niagara Olympic Club. “I’m usually going from track straight to dance.
“It’s a lot on my plate but I’ve been doing it for a while now. Track just came in a year ago so I’m still juggling stuff but I’ve gotten used to balancing it out.”
Kushner, who placed 39th out of 140 contestants at the 2022 World Irish Dance Championships in Belfast, Ireland, began dancing when she was three at the behest of her mother.
“My mom signed me up and I fell in love with it,” she said. “It’s very competitive. This weekend I’m going to two competitions and then the next week after that. It seems like every weekend I’m doing it. I have worlds and nationals so balancing it with track meets and everything, it’s a lot.”
Kushner is a relative newcomer to track, only joining Thorold Elite Track Club last year when a teacher at her elementary school suggested she give it a shot.
She quickly caught the eye of Thorold Elite head coach Steven Fife.
“We did know very, very quickly she was going to be a talented runner. She has a natural athleticism to her and is also super committed to any activity she takes on,” Fife said.
Kushner specializes in the 1,500 and 800 metre races and Fife feels the sky is the limit for her potential.
“She’s Grade 8 age but a year ahead of everybody so she’s running these crazy times a year ahead of everybody,” he said. “She should be in the OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) final for both events.”
Kushner is running a 2:25 in the 800 which Fife said he would like to see get down to 2:20. He would also like to see her shave off 10 seconds off her personal best of 4:55 in the 1,500.
“With these early meets it’s just like everybody else, they haven’t had super competitive races yet so we know there’s a lot more in the tank and when the right time comes we’re going to start to see some of those performances,” Fife said.
Kushner is content to balance both track and dance for the time being, but down the road is realistic that she will likely have to give one up.
“I’m thinking I’m eventually going to have to stop dancing because there’s not a lot of opportunities unless you want to do shows so I’m going to try and get into track when I’m older.”
The top four finishers advance to Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (SOSSA) next week at Centennial.
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