James Porto '25 Recruiting Profile

Thanks to my parents, I've always had sports close to me in my life. Notably, since I was very young, I tried my hand at Soccer, Gymnastics, Curling, Baseball, Softball, Trampoline, Swimming, Basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, Skiing, and more; over 15 sports throughout my childhood. With so much to choose from, I always had fun with these new experiences, but, at age 12, I found the sport that passioned me the most: Running. 

My first experience with running was <<La Grande Course>>, a local yearly French Elementary school meet offering an introduction to the running world, which was a great success! Although I placed very low in my first and second years, I experienced one of the most social sports firsthand, having met and had fun with my future classmates, and, in my third year competing, aged 9, I found much pride in having placed 6th, having finally beaten the Crowder twins, the most sports-driven kids at my school. My second experience was a middle school 1500m, which I considered to be a very long distance at the time. At 10 years old, I found myself lined up against giants of the 6th grade! The meet proved to be more successful than my last, as I placed 4th and gained newfound confidence in my running ability, though I had no real training. That being said, I moved on and mostly forgot about running, going back to sports like basketball and volleyball to play competitively. 

My introduction to running wasn't as dramatic as my younger self thought it to be, but it served well in igniting my love for the sport. At age 12, with my dad as a newly appointed High School track coach, and me having little experience in running, he took it upon himself to train me. Unfortunately, he was still an inexperienced coach and followed the "no pain, no gain" mentality of many old athletes, leading me to almost shift away from running altogether. Luckily, he met my future club coach, Thomas Fitzgerald, through a high school meet. Meeting this coach for the first time, he noticed him pacing his club athlete, Foster Malleck and realized that this runner was running a 3000m as an easy workout a week before a qualification round to team Canada, lapping the rest of the field and his best athletes. This threw his previous "no pain, no gain" mentality out the window, jump-starting his and my journey with the Laurel Creek Track and Field Club. 

As soon as I joined my club, I fell in love with the community of runners who come together to work out and better each other. An environment where the sport was no longer about pushing yourself past your limits or rewarding failure with punishment piqued my interest, leading me to push past the hardest part of the sport; the couple of months of training before your body finally gets used to the sport. Early on it was still hard to stay consistent, as I expressed different little injuries and pains through my first couple of months, making rest weeks common for me. It wasn't until my first real shows of success during my first club cross country season, when I placed second in my provincial heat (with around an hour and a half of laying down on a bench in the fetal position), that I felt satisfaction through the pain that I went through, which ignited my initial desire to succeed at the sport. It wasn't long until I became a regular runner with the club, missing no practices and having a newfound pride in spending my nights training, and the success became evident. In 8th grade, I placed 1st in the 1500m and 3rd 800m at indoor provincials, showing me that my work was paying off and offering me new confidence in myself. By grade 9, I was able to get to OFSAA finals in the 1500m, placing 10th as well as 4th in the steeplechase and 8th in the 1200m at the national championships the following summer. My mind was made up, this was the sport for me. Nearly 3 years later, I'm sure that this taste of success was enough to motivate me to where I am now.

I've always found myself striving in athletic environments, whether it be adapting to training or socializing with my teammates, but I haven't been as passionate about a sport as I am about running. My competitive nature and focus on bettering myself becomes evident through my sport, the work ethic of running has changed my worldview immensely and changed my life, offering me a new meaning to a hard work ethic. I've learned to become one of the most consistent athletes on the team, I've met my best friends through running and even introduced many people to this journey with me, having portrayed as positive an environment as I was met with during my first time running club. Surrounded by my like-minded friends in the sport, I find happiness through working towards bettering myself, whether it be academically, physically, or mentally.

In the future, I look to inspire more athletes, deepen my relationships in the running world, and give back to the running community that changed my life. My collegiate dreams are ideally of the highest level, being able to compete for D1 on scholarship, as I find that I would offer to a team what was offered to me, an idea of hard work, discipline, and dedication being a great way of having an enjoyable time. I see myself to be an athlete who doesn't give up on his goals, and my standards are of as high a level as I can reach. I see myself getting way better moving on, getting enough success to put me in contention for a comfortable spot on a competitive collegiate team, as I find that in these coming years, I will be able to contribute greatly to any team welcome to have me.