When he was in second and third grade, Shamali-Kalil Whittle used to race the kids in his Mercerville neighborhood and just blow them away.
So much so, that sometimes he sincerely felt bad for them.
“I used to tell them to stop, but they kept on coming,” he said.
So he kept on beating them, not because he wanted to, but because a challenge is a challenge.
Now at the ripe old age of 10, Whittle doesn’t let feelings get in the way when he races, and he has a trophy case full of track and field medals to show for it. In fact, he is one of the fastest 400 meter runners in his age group in the nation.
Earlier this year, the Mercerville School fifth grader became an All-American by winning the 11U national 400 meter race at the AAU Youth National Track & Field Indoor Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a time of 66.3 seconds. Racing up an age group, he took second-place in the 11-to-12-year-old division of the New York Armory Last Chance Indoor meet with a time of 61.88 seconds—a personal best and the third fastest indoor time in the nation for a 10-year old this year.
In 2014, he won the 400 gold in 1:03.8 seconds at the USATF NJ triple sprint meet, and also had personal bests in the 100 and 200 at that event. He was the UAGTCA Invitational’s Most Outstanding Athlete in the 9-to-10-year-old division by winning the 200 and 400 and taking second in the 100.
Whittle’s 2015 accomplishments came while competing with MySprintClub, a youth track club in Hackensack that competes in both AAU and USATF district, state and regional championships. It is run and coached by Horace Taffe, who began coaching track on a volunteer basis for Hackensack recreation center before advancing his coaching skills and opening his own club.
“I researched this sport as if I’m trying to find the cure for slowness,” said Taffe, who did the 100, 200, shot and discus while attending high school in Jamaica. “This is what I do in my free time, cure slowness.”
When he first met Whittle at age 10, Taffe did not have much to cure, but he did have a heck of a lot to work with.
“He was the kid you needed to pass to get gold,” the coach said. “Shamali showcased a relaxed and easygoing demeanor, but he quickly transformed to an aggressive temperament that will fight to the bitter end when competing. Anyone who watches Shamali perform will immediately see potential and a bright future in track or a related sport.”
Indeed, Whittle is more than just a track man. He is the point guard/shooting guard for the Central Jersey Hawks, who won the 2013 AAU National third grade championship in Las Vegas in 2013. He played for Team RIO National in 2014 when they were the AAU New Jersey state champions.
This past fall playing receiver/running back/defensive back for the Hamilton Revolution in Pop Warner football, Whittle caught or ran for 12 touchdowns in his first season of Tiny-Mites play. During his time playing baseball in the HTRBA, Whittle was a premiere base stealer.
During that time, he picked up a pretty flattering nickname that led to his track career.
“Ever since playing AAU basketball in third grade, coaches and parents would always jokingly call him Usain Bolt, and would encourage me to let him test his speed on the track,” said Whittle’s dad, Curtis Whittle, who also grew up in Jamaica, like Bolt and Taffe. “In July (2013), we decided to give it a go and register him in his first track meet.”
Shamali was signed up in the J&J/New Brunswick Invitational and, at age 8, took second in the sprints in the 9-10 age group.
“That,” Curtis Whittle said, “was an eye opener for us.”
Then again, it was right in character for Whittle.
“He enjoys anything running,” his dad said. “Even his homework he does fast—sometimes too fast.”
The Whittles first met Taffe at a meet this past indoor season. The elder was impressed with the insight he had for his son’s development.
“He invited us to join his club,” Curtis Whittle said. “The club has a great family atmosphere and plenty of kids in Shamali’s age range, which was a key. So we decided to make the sacrifice and join. It’s been good so far.”
Whittle was gung-ho about his new sport.
“I wanted to try track out because I wanted to see what I could do in competitive track,” Whittle said. “I thought I could be among the best.”
And unlike some all-around athletes, Whittle did not find running boring.
“It’s fun because it’s not like you just sit there and do nothing,” he said. “When you run you get to let your feelings out and you get to win a race.”
Whittle enjoyed when the parents called him Usain Bolt, especially since he had an unbelievable personal encounter with the world’s fastest man.
In 2008, Curtis Whittle went to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, and got a mask of Bolt’s face. Four years later, the Whittle family then went to the London Olympics. After winning the 100 meters, Bolt took a victory lap, and the guards had allowed Whittle and some other youngsters down near the track.
As Bolt passed the group, he saw Whittle and said to him, “You’re wearing my mask!” and gave him a high five. From there, Bolt’s manager asked for the mask and said he would get the track star to autograph it. He brought it back the next day and presented it to him, saying jokingly, “Save this, it’s your college fund.”
The Whittles are going to next year’s Olympics in Brazil, and hope to get it signed once again, perhaps to pay for Whittle’s master’s degree.
“He was awesome,” Whittle said of Bolt. “It was a lot of fun, it was really cool he signed my mask. I want to be like him because he just blowing away everybody.”
And while it’s too early to anoint Whittle a future Olympian, his future certainly looks promising. He has recently begun practicing one and a half hours a day, two days a week and also does two days of Pop Warner off-season practice that incorporates track work and keeps things interesting for Shamali.
Not that his mind wanders, of course.
“The one thing that sets Shamali apart from other kids is that he is attentive and coachable, and with his raw developing talent, he’s on track for stardom in his later years,” Taffe said. “He is the type of kid that wants to improve and get better and you can see this in his training. Shamali is the type of athlete you can always count on to perform and give 100 percent when he’s competing. He may not win every race, but he will put on a show when he competes.”
And he does not shy away from setting lofty goals, as he wants to become the first in 10-year-old in the nation to get below 1:00 in the 400 this summer. He is also running relays for the first time and wants to run a sub-27.0 in the 200.
Before he turns 11 in August, Whittle will compete in the AAU state and regional championships in June.
“Those meets are critical to Shamali and his team’s prospects at the AAU Nationals in Virginia (Aug. 1-15), so coach Horace is streamlining things accordingly for our club,” Curtis said. “The funny thing is, Shamali hates that his birthday (Aug. 3) is the day before the 11U 400 meter finals, so no fun and games for his special day. But a podium finish would be the best of all birthday gifts for him, so we’ll see.”
Although Whittle’s best race is the 400, the 200 is his favorite. Trenton High’s Al Jennings, one of the state’s top coaches, saw Whittle in a 2014 indoor meet and strongly recommended he do the 400.
“He thinks Shamali can do special things,” Curtis said.
“It’s very difficult at this stage to tell which other event he shows great potential for,” said Taffe, who credits much of Whittle’s performance to this point to his football training. “However, it seems he will be a 400 and 200 sprinter in the future. In any event, he will do well.”
After his indoor success, Whittle can’t wait to see how fast he goes without a roof over his head this summer.
“When I ran the 1:01.88 it was indoor, and that means in outdoor I can run much faster,” he said. “That means I have a chance to get the national record. I think it’s 57 for an 11-year-old. I’d like to break that.”
It’s not just about competition and records for Whittle, however. He embraces the whole experience.
“I get to meet new friends and more people,” he said. “I feel like a better person when I do sports.”
He also watches sports and picked Duke to win the NCAA Tournament.
“I picked Arizona as my runner-up, so I missed there,” he said.
He is a fan of the New York Yankees, Golden State Warriors and Green Bay Packers.
“I don’t really follow hockey but I hear a lot that the Blackhawks are good, so they’re my team,” he said, not ashamed to be a frontrunner.
Whittle also follows the local happenings. He is well aware that Mercerville has another nationally ranked runner in Nottingham High junior Grace Dwyer, who is known for her distance exploits.
“She went to (AAU Junior Olympic Nationals) in 2010 in Virginia,” noted Whittle, who handled his first interview like a seasoned veteran. “And I’m going back to the same place, so that will be special for Hamilton.”
With the mature, polite way Whittle carries himself on and off the track, the word “special” can certainly be applied to this promising young man.
Hamilton resident Shamali Whittle shows off his hardware from the National Youth Track and Field Championships.,
