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04/16/2020 12:00 AMWhen Nadia Becker lines up at the starting block, she tries to clear her head and focus on the next few seconds of her life. A junior sprinter for North Branford girls’ track, Nadia makes sure that she gives everything she has in a sport she loves during those subsequent seconds.
This winter, Nadia ran her personal-best time in the 55-meter dash by clocking in with a mark of 7.80 seconds at the Class S State Championship. When the season ended, Nadia was named North Branford’s Most Valuable Player and was heralded for her work ethic and ambition.
“When I got to the starting line, I was not expecting to get a good time. When I finished, I still didn’t think it was very good,” says Nadia about her race at states. “Once they announced my time, I really wasn’t expecting it. It was kind of shocking to me. I didn’t think I did that well. I felt really proud of myself.”
Nadia joined the Thunderbirds as a freshman when she was encouraged by then-sophomore Mackenzie Glenn. At first, track was just something for Nadia to do after school, and she didn’t expect to find much success in the sport.
During her sophomore year, Nadia had a practice where she was mentally and physically exhausted after running multiple 400-meter sprints. Nadia was only making small improvements at the time, but after pushing herself to the max during that practice, Nadia started to realize that she had the potential to succeed in the sport.
“It was a really hard practice. After running multiple 400s, I thought I couldn’t do this anymore, and I thought it wasn’t going to help me,” Nadia says. “Now, after having that practice, I realized pushing myself makes me better and does help me improve.”
Chelsea Harris has been head coach of the North Branford girls’ indoor track team for the past two seasons. During that time, she’s seen a complete attitude shift from Nadia. Harris says that Nadia has become more focused and is starting to understand just how good she can be.
“I told my athletes at the beginning of the year, I wanted them to come talk to me after every race and see where they could improve and what they could have done differently. Talking about it and hearing her say it out loud changed Nadia’s attitude,” says Harris. “It made her want to work harder during practice and see results. She saw what others like Mackenzie Glenn were doing, and she wanted the same. It changed her whole attitude.”
Harris adds that one of Nadia’s best qualities is her ability to zone in when she’s on the starting line. While some athletes may have their heads elsewhere, Nadia is able to tune out the noise and concentrate on the next eight seconds.
“When you first get to the line, you’re getting all nervous and thinking, ‘What if I mess up?’ But then the gun goes off, and you just have to push to the end,” Nadia says. “It’s only a certain amount of seconds in my life. It’s about having the motivation to do something you’re good at and a way to look back and see how much you’ve improved. It’s self-motivating.”
Nadia likes giving as much effort as possible over a short span of time in an effort to see better results. Nadia says that even trimming a few milliseconds off of her time makes her feel accomplished and shows her that she’s growing as a sprinter.
When she isn’t running the 55-meter dash, Nadia competes on North Branford’s 1,600-meter sprint relay team with senior Glenn, junior Riley Kendall, and sophomore Marissa Raffone. While the relay lasts a lot longer than eight seconds, Nadia says that being a member of the quartet is one of her favorite aspects of running track.
“I really love being a part of a relay team. There could be people that are a lot better than you, but you’re always working together and using all of your abilities to win the race,” says Nadia. “Having that team to hype you up at the starting line and carry you off at the finish is really nice.”
Winning North Branford’s MVP Award came as a bit of a surprise to Nadia, but was also humbling and helped her realize how far she’s come. For Coach Harris, the decision to name Nadia MVP came naturally after seeing the junior’s huge improvements throughout the season.
“You have to look at their entire season, as well as who they are as an athlete on and off the track. Nadia is somebody that is very determined and made the type of progression throughout her career that is very valuable for younger athletes to see,” Harris says. “Having younger kids look up to her, she deserved every part of that. I want people to look at her and realize, if they put in the hard work and do what she’s doing, that could be me someday, too.”
After initially signing up for track as a hobby, Nadia has found her niche at North Branford. Nadia continues to get better as she works hard alongside her teammates. As she looks toward her senior year, Nadia wants to cross the finish line strong and help her fellow Thunderbirds reach their own potential.
“Next year, I really want to work on getting faster and being more confident, while being a role model to other people on the team,” says Nadia. “I want to help them improve just like I have from freshman year until now.”