As we get closer and closer to start of the Olympics a dream is turning into a reality for Idalou’s own, Bradley Adkins.
You might expect someone in Adkins position to be a little nervous before competing in such a major event like the Olympics but that isn’t the case for the West Texas native,
“I’m just excited for the opportunity, just for the experience and just getting to go down there and enjoy things and get to compete”.
The former Wildcat and Texas Tech Red Raider has relied on the support of others to help him achieve his dreams, and he is especially grateful for the Idalou community,
“texts coming in all the time and people trying to raise money and sell shirts and reaching out to me and its just been, dude its just been so humbling you know there’s been a couple times I teared up a little bit and lost it”.
The Texas Tech Track and Field program has also played a large part in Adkins’ success, Men’s Associate Head Coach James Thomas was out on the track alongside Bradley coaching him through a workout.
Coach Thomas was with Adkins when he qualified for the Olympics and thinks the high jumper has the potential to do even bigger things, “he hasn’t tapped the true potential he has, he’s had huge jumps great success in events but has never really showed on the final stat sheet”.
As Rio 2016 nears, the kid from Idalou has remained incredibly humble and excited for the opportunity, “I’m going to go have fun, I’m going to relax I’m going to you know represent my god and we’re going to jump and see if we can’t do something wild down there”.
Bradley heads to Rio on August 2nd, and the qualifying round for the Men’s High Jump beings on August 14th.
