Hassan Dixon: Northwest Indoor Track
In the recent county championship, Hassan Dixon earned the 55m county champion title with a time of 6.55.
Photo By: Paolo Galli / GamedayMD.com | VIEW GALLERY
Last summer during the AAU Junior Olympics, Dixon was part of the 4 x 400 meter relay team that won the gold medal with a time of 3:19.5.
Photo By: Paolo Galli / GamedayMD.com | VIEW GALLERY
Army, Bucknell and Princeton have already made offers to Dixon in either football or track.
Photo By: Paolo Galli / GamedayMD.com | VIEW GALLERY
GERMANTOWN, MD - It has been said that sports is a lot like life in, where no matter what challenges or obstacles that we all face it is imperative to be able to overcome them. Those who are able to put aside the different issues and focus on the task at hand are the ones who become the pinnacle of success of their sport.
In the case of Hassan Dixon he has overcome numerous obstacles off the field to continue with his levels of performance on the track. What happened was, Hassan, tragically lost his sister last summer in automobile accident.
For many athletes such a sudden and unexpected loss could have normally derailed their overall performance on and off the field. In the case of Dixon, the opposite occurred where he was able to take the tragedy and use it to increase his overall levels of performance even more.
A good example of this occurred last summer during the AAU Junior Olympics, where he was a part of the 4 x 400 meter relay team that was able to win the gold medal with a time of 3:19.5 (just two months of the tragedy).
What all of this shows, is that there is so much more to Hassan than just his overall success on the track.
Multi Dimensional
For some of the better athletes track is sport that can compliment other sports such as football or baseball. Over the years many talented athletes have had tremendous speed on the track and were able to use it in one of these other sports.
A good example of this is Willie Gualt who is considered to be the one of the best 4X100 meter athletes of all time and the great wide receiver from the Chicago Bears. In the case of Dixon it appears as if he could be quickly emerging with similar kinds of skills as Gault, with him being able to effectively rush for over 1,000 yards the past two seasons in football.
Like with Gault, Dixon's greatest attribute is his break away speed that he has in the open field, this forces defenders to always be watchful of him.
As result of the overall talent that Dixon has, he sparked the interest of some the top scouts in the country to include: Stanford, Florida, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Temple and West Virginia.
The schools that have already made offers to Dixon would include: Army, Bucknell and Princeton for either track or football.
One Big Family
One of the biggest reasons for the success of Dixon has been the overall support that he receives from the club team that he trains with during the offseason, the Maryland Titans. This is important because his father Zack Dixon is the strengthening and conditioning coach of the team.
Combine this with the fact that Hassan has close personal relationship with the club founders / coaches David and Alexia Knight helps explain how they were critical in helping him overcome many different obstacles to become an even better runner.
A good example of this can be seen by the ability of Dixon to consistently break away from the most challenging of opponents down the stretch as evidence by his outstanding performances in the summer 2009.
Had it not been for the support and encouragement that he received from his father along the Knights', meant that he would have faced considerably more challenges maintaining his peak levels of athletic performance.
This is important in helping Hassan build his confidence to become even better over time and is a major reason why Hassan is so successful on the track.
Well Rounded
Hassan is a truly well rounded athlete that is able to take his experiences and challenges that he faces in sports, then use it to help make him a better student.
This can be seen by looking no further than the honor roll, where Dixon maintains a 3.7 grade point average and he is in different academic organizations to include: the National Society of High School Scholars, the Northwest Concert Band along with winning first place at the Orlando Band Festival in 2008 for the Trumpet.
What all of this shows, is that we could be seeing a major talent in sports developing in Montgomery County. While no one knows what the future will bring, if Dixon continues to improve he could become one of the best athletes in the country.
