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Moresports Personality Profiles

Patricia: Carrying a Torch for Fitness

Patricia Moreno

If you had to describe Patricia Moreno in a sentence it would be:

Patricia's the kind of person who feels the fear and does it anyway, and that's what makes her special and successful.

Patricia's emotions are easily available to her, even the negative ones such as fear, and she feels them; she just doesn't let intimidating feelings control her decisions and outcomes. Instead she works to overcome them.

Surprisingly, the chatty, effervescent 18-year-old smiles as she talks about how scary things can be. Things like taking responsibility for younger children in her volunteer work for Ray-Cam Community Centre or giving a speech, about how exciting it would be to carry the Olympic Torch for the 2010 Games, in front of Premier Gordon Campbell and hundreds of other people. It's as though she relishes those challenges and is daring the world to bring them on.

Patricia hopes to be chosen as one of 1000 teens from 13 to 19 years old who will become 2010 Olympic torchbearers through the Sogo Active program, which is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

The Sogo program was designed by ParticipAction and is led by youth who use the Internet to create personal fitness programs and track their progress. The program ensures that fitness activities meet the teens' needs and interests, and community organizations can be involved by offering access to their facilities.

It's through her participation in the Sogo program that Patricia found herself making this speech in front of the Premier:

About a month ago being at the Sogo Active opening reminded me what it felt like to have so much attention. I would do silly poses with a torch and I'd get so many excited reactions. On top of that I got to share with everyone there that being fit and healthy is an important part of who I am.

Feeling everyone's energy made me feel very "in the moment." It's an overwhelming feeling because it is so many feelings at once. You feel captivated, inspired, and motivated. It's a feeling I wish I could feel all the time. It feels completely satisfying, just like being right here right now.

I can't even imagine how it would feel to not only be at the Olympics, but holding a torch and being in the middle of everyone's energy. Having that chance to look around and see tons and tons of people and hearing all their excitement, not only that but being around a huge group of people who are all there for the same reasons.

Being in a place where everyone can relate. That's what I mean by feeling "in the moment." I would beyond appreciate that opportunity.

Whew…how did you get so deep at such a young age Patricia?

"I think that I've been like this for awhile," she says. "I read the book ‘The Secret' (by Rhonda Byrne) when I was 16 or 17 and I just felt normal after that. I always feel like there's a challenge, in a good way, something that I need to improve."

And how do you feel now after having given that speech?

"It went perfect," she says. "I did so much better than I thought I was going to do it. I was so nervous, but when I got out there it was not that bad. I remembered things, and it came out so much better than I even planned. I felt sick before I went up there too, nauseous, and sweating, and rubbing my hands on my legs. I was trying to stay calm."

But you got through it?

"Yes, and I felt so much better after I did. It made me feel like I accomplished something. I did something important. It even made me feel better knowing that I did good, even better than people telling me I did good. I still feel it now. I get scared and excited even thinking about it and feel it, all of those feelings all over again."

Patricia says life, like days you have to give important speeches, can be stressful sometimes, for everyone, but she has a process to deal with that.

"When I'm stressed out I just try to be this really good person," she says and gives an example.

"I don't have it in me sometimes to be really cuddly with my mom, and then one day I knew that if I just kissed her I'd feel better. And after I did that I really felt good. The strong feelings I have is that I really want to be close her. I just know I get all this energy now to do really nice things that I've wanted to do forever."

Patricia's cell phones rings constantly during the interview, but the obviously popular teen never answers it; she just glances down for a second to see who is calling. I imagine her returning those calls on the ride home with her mother who is also named Patricia, like a high level business woman with a driver. She's certainly got the heart, ambition, and star quality to end up in a life like that.

Patricia will graduate from Britannia Secondary highschool this year then she's going to upgrade her sciences in adult education and math while she "swims a lot to get her lifeguard certificate."

"Right after that" she wants to take a flight attendant course and "do that job somewhere for a year or two," and then she's "going to go to university, UVic, and study kinesiology and health and fitness."

Whew, again. How many 18-year-olds do you know who have that much mapped out? Perhaps it's because she's been a bit of a growth spurt the past few years.

"Last year I got really into soccer," she says. "We played it half the time in PE. I'm so lucky I had the teacher I had. I joined an academy, which is basically they trained us. And, I go to gymnastics and I'm just starting going out to dance hall."

She volunteers taking seven to 11-year-olds swimming for Ray-Cam, and she's received coaching certification through the YELL program as well.

"Volunteering makes me feel happier, and I feel like it's a stress reliever," she says. "I realize that when you're a lot older than someone you feel protective in a way, and I feel I need to more careful and be more grown up with them. I need to be more careful about the things I say and I do."

"This is the first time I've done volunteering that I feel like I'm getting something out of it," she continues. "I have fun when I go and I feel better after; maybe it's because I've stuck with it and I'm growing up."

That's how it sounds to me when she talks about her mother, who has raised Patricia and her 10-year-old sister, Vivianna, by herself.

"Like slowly now that I've got a job and stuff I want to help my mom out when I can because I realize that she has a hard time and things," she says. "I try to pay my cell phone, but it's obviously not enough but I am still young."

That she is: young, exciting, active, and athletic. Patricia is a generous good heart wrapped up in a ball of enthusiasm for life, for fun, for service, for fitness, for health and for the future.

Sounds like a perfect 2010 Olympic torchbearer to me!