By Lama Tassabehji ----

Running has been Ghady Rayess' sport ever since he was in fourth grade. He started running cross-country with his school, Saint Joseph Bekfayeh. "I used to always come out first among my school and other schools," Rayess told Outlook. At school the sport was not as serious, according to Ghady, because they never competed with clubs. Nevertheless, he feels at school, athletes were given more attention than in AUB because the school administration aided in paying the tuition fee of the athletes. "Running is not like other sports where you have teams. In running, . . . your aim is to beat . . . the team member you are running against," Ghady explained. Usually runners run against each other and try to beat the fastest one, which in this case is Ghady, so what Ghady does is try to beat the time with the help of his motivating coach. Ghady used to be a member of other sports teams, primarily basketball and volleyball. However, he stopped because they used to cause injury. One incident that prevented Ghady from reaching the National Junior competitions was the broken leg he sustained while playing basketball in the summer of 1999. Ghady joined Antounieh Baabda for the professional training they provide so that he could compete in the junior nationals, but then his basketball injury stopped that dream. "My dream is to achieve the national level of competition and then I will be satisfied." Ghady hopes to organize his time for continuous training so that then he cannot put the blame on training if he does not win. According to Rayess, the most important thing about track and field is to have continuous training. If you train intensely for a whole month and then stop for a week you lose fifty percent of what you worked for. Quizzes, exams, summer break and other vacations do not allow for continuous training. Technique is important in track but not as much as it is in basketball. "You need to practice to get physically better," Ghady explained. In Rhodes, Ghady participated as part of the track and field team, but also participated in one of the men's volleyball matches. When Outlook asked him whether studies or track come first in his life, he said that you can't compare, especially in Lebanon; "...studying is something you have to do and running is something I like 10 times more. It is all about time and I hope I will have more organized time management in the future." Training starts out as general training for everyone and the distance either increases or decreases according to the runner's type. Ghady runs short distances, that is, he sprints 100 and 200 meters. The AUB track is not a professional tartan one. The tartan course's purpose is to help the runner, whereas the AUB track has stones and pebbles, which do not maximize performance. The races tell the runners where they stand. "It is during competition and pressure that you see how well you can do."