 Scott Rogers The Times Morgan House, a Gainesville native and the top junior sprint kayaker in the nation hopes to follow through on his dreams of making the Olympic team in 2008.
Morgan House
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When an 8-year-old states that he's going to compete in the Olympics one day, it's easy to laugh him off.
So when Gainesville youth Morgan House said those exact words to a writer for Boys Life magazine in 1996, probably few readers paid him much attention.
Nine years later, however, it's obvious that House wasn't kidding.
Now 18, House, who calls the Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club home, is the best junior sprint kayaker in the nation over 1,000 or 500 meters, which he proved last week at the 2005 Pan American Games in Lac Beauport, Canada, by winning gold in each event. He also finished second in the 200 meters.
And he's still dead set on making the Olympics.
"I'm definitely setting my sites on being on the Olympic team in 2008," House said.
Starting Aug. 5, House will take a giant step towards that dream, as well as try to prove that the fastest American is also the fastest in the world, as he guns for the junior world championship in the K-1 (1,000 meters) in Hungary.
As an 18-year-old, it will be House's last shot to compete at the junior level before he moves to the senior level, where he will compete with other Olympic hopefuls.
House won't be alone in his trek to Hungary, as several other junior kayakers and canoers from the LCKC, which has won five U.S. national titles since first competing in 1999, will also contend in varying disciplines.
After that, House will join the United States senior national team as a member of the four-man kayak crew, which will compete in the senior world championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
No paddler has ever been on both junior and senior national teams at once. Yet House isn't alone in this feat, joining fellow LCKC member Kalen Lee -- who also won two events at the Pan Am Games -- as a member of both squads.
In practice, House routinely posts times on par with Olympic competitors -- he recently completed a 500-meter practice run in 1:40, which would have been good enough for second place in the senior (top level) race at the Pan Am Games.
"It was incredible," said House of the Pan Am experience. "Just knowing I was the fastest American (over 1,000-meters) was incredible."
With credentials such as these it's easy to understand why House isn't the only one who believes his sporting future lies in Beijing in 2008 or London in 2012.
"He definitely has that potential," LCKC and junior national team coach Guy Wilding said. "Right now he's in a class of his own in the K-1 (in the United States)."
And Wilding, a native of Australia, knows what it takes to make an Olympic athlete. After all, he lives with one. Guy's wife Shelley Oates-Wilding kayaked for Australia in the 1996 Olympics at the Lake Lanier Olympic Center at Clarks Bridge and is also a coach at LCKC.
Oates-Wilding also believes House has the skill and, more importantly, the desire to get to the Olympics.
"It's not necessarily the best athletes who make it to the Games," Oates-Wilding said. "It's who works hard enough."
House's work ethic is among the best at the LCKC.
"People don't realize how much work he puts into it," Oates-Wilding continued. "Apart from training 2-3 times a day he does things like find out where a hyperbaric chamber is and then goes and sits in that every morning. (A hyperbaric chamber forces pure oxygen into the body.)
"He's always watching video of himself on the water, and he's always looking at the big picture. Every minute he's here, he's dedicated to being the very best. A lot of people might not think that's fun, but it is for him, because this is what he wants."
It's a dream House has nurtured for more than half his life.
"I've known ever since I was a little kid what I wanted," said House, who noted that the friendships he's made help keep kayaking from becoming just a job.
"I've made friends from all over the world," House said. "That and getting better and your personal achievements make it fun."
House was introduced to the sport in 1995 but quickly realized he had a talent for it.
"Most other sports I'm not very good at," House joked.
LCKC executive director Connie Hagler, who helped found the club, also saw something special in House from the start.
"His courage, even at eight years old, was outstanding," Hagler said. "He was talented from the very beginning, and he wanted it.
"The only question was could he juggle being a top competitor with being in school. But he's doing it."
"It definitely takes time out of your schedule," House said. "But I'm putting kayaking -- and school-- above everything else."
Starting next year, that load is going to get even heavier, as Morgan enters North Georgia College and State University while continuing his push towards the Olympic dream.
"It's going to be difficult," Wilding said. "But it can be done. It's just a matter of priorities."
There's little doubt as to what tops Morgan's list, though he doesn't plan on ignoring his school work either.
"Hopefully they'll help me work around my schedule and competitions," said House, who's undecided on his major.
In order to aid his training, House has opted to skip the fall semester and enroll in Dahlonega in the spring. Because for all the work House has already put in to becoming one of the top kayakers in the nation, it's going to take even more work to become one of the top kayakers in the world.
"He's going to have to step it up," Wilding said. "If you stand him next to the big athletes in this sport, the top seniors, he's not a big guy. He's in great shape and he's got great technique, but we want to hit a heavy weight program this summer.
"Sprint kayaking is all about explosion. You've got to get those muscles firing as quick as you can."
The Wilding's training philosophy is one of the big reasons that House has become a top competitor in the world of sprint kayaking.
"Guy and Shelley took Morgan from a really good level to a great level," Hagler said.
"Guy and Shelley have really helped a lot," House added. "Their training program is almost completely opposite to what I'd been used to. We do a lot more sprint work now; work on those fast-twitch muscles. We also work on mental preparation."
The results speak for themselves.
"He's improved six seconds over 500 meters since we arrived (in October)," Wilding said. "That's really incredible."
House hopes his most incredible performances are yet to come.
"I'm ready to go to Hungary and finish in the top three," House said. "As long as I can stay healthy and not get injured, I think I've got a good shot (at making the Olympics)."
His teammates certainly believe in him.
"He's going to be in the Olympics," said LCKC member Josh Brandsma, 17, who is also going to the Junior World Championships as part of the four-man U.S. kayak team.
"He's just awesome."
Originally published Saturday, July 16, 2005