Two-time Canadian champ aims for Pan Am and Olympic Games.
Jacob Zorella takes to the air July 30 on his way to winning his second consecutive national triple jump title during this year's national track and field championships at the Varsity Centre. (July 30, 2010)
Photo/GEOFF ROBINS-MUNDO SPORT I
'I'm technically really good. It's just building that extra power and that speed coming into the jumps.' Jacob Zorzella
Jacob Zorzella, a Lawrence Heights area resident, didn't even know what the triple jump was two years ago when a teacher at Vaughan Road Academy suggested he give it a try.
He was a star hoops player, making his school's highly regarded senior team while only in Grade 10.
Now, unbelievably, having just turned 20 this year, he's already the two-time Canadian senior champion with his next two goals being to qualify for the 2011 Pan Am games in Mexico and the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Success, however, does come with its own unique problems.
"I just started doing track and field - this is only my second year in track and field. And that for me is hard because I'm so young, and especially where I live too - I live in Toronto Community Housing in Lawrence Heights.
"So it's just to be able to get over that hump, being able to go to all the meets and knowing that nationals is next year in Calgary."
It's been quite a two years. His haul in the triple jump includes:
* two national senior gold medals in three appearances (he finished seventh in his first appearance as an 18 year old);
* one national junior gold medal in his one and only appearance at junior nationals;
* a silver and then a gold medal in his only two appearances at the Ontario senior men's championships;
* two silver medals in his only two appearances at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) provincial high school championships.
And don't count him out of the other jump sports - long jump and the high jump - both of which he was a top-five finisher in both years in high school at the metro Toronto OFSAA qualifier.
"I still practice doing long jump and I think if I wanted to long jump this year I would have done really well," he said in an interview, explaining that, "this season I just took it off because the season before my heel was really bad. Doing both of them was hard on the body. This year, me turning into a senior, my coach said let's just focus on the triple jump for this year."
Both of his national senior championships were achieved close to home at the University of Toronto's Varsity Centre.
His provincial championship triple jump win in Sudbury in mid-August, which closed out his outdoor season, was actually a minor disappointment as his primary reason for competing there in the first place was to surpass Athletic Canada's standard of 15.71m, with which he would have become a "carded" athlete and eligible for much needed funding.
He said he surpassed the mark on two jumps but said neither counted - the first jump because he had too much of a wind behind his back, making the jump unofficial, and the second jump because of a toe fault.
Still with nothing but upside ahead on his burgeoning track carer, he didn't seem too fazed. In fact, he seemed pleased to have made the mark unofficially twice - "just knowing that I had that performance in me and knowing that it's not a big deal ..."
And with another full winter of training ahead which he has already started after only a week's rest at the conclusion of his outdoor season, he doesn't think he'll have any problem, barring injury, surpassing the Canadian standard in the spring.
And then he'll aim for the much higher Olympic standard which was 17.10 for the Beijing Olympics but which has yet to be set for the 2012 London Olympics.
"I'm not too far off and I just started working with my new coach," he said.
That coach would be Greg Portnoy, a former coach of retired Brampton high jumper Mark Boswell, who earned silver and bronze at the 1999 and 2003 world championships, respectively, and sixth and seventh at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, respectively.
Zorzella's training is now full time. He belongs to Brampton-based Take Flight Athletics but works out with Portnoy at York University.
He said he works out "usually six days a week" at least four hours a day.
Over the coming fall and winter he expects to "be doing a lot of running indoors just trying to get my speed... I'm technically really good. It's just building that extra power and that speed coming into the jumps."
By his own admission, he said maturity is something he also quickly picked up along with his jumping skills.
"I didn't really have a great reputation in the school (Vaughan Road Academy) ... they didn't really want to let me on the (track and field) team. But we talked about it and got me on the team by just me making that commitment to come to every practice and make sure I was suited up and showing up. So I went out and did that."
Now the only downside is that he's had to put his hoops career on hold.
"I miss it a lot. Because I work here at the community centre here at Lawrence Heights so I do the afterschool program and right now I'm working in the summer camp there, and in the evenings I'll watch and open the free gym.
"So just watching all my friends that I grew up with playing basketball, and just that same intensity. Watching them play you miss it so much.
"I could join them (but) then I'd be risking what I have because I do practice (track) every day."