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Rob Hanna dreams of one day being an Olympian.

The 15-year-old Spruce View student says he used to watch track meets as a child and aspired to join the elite athletes.

"When I was little I said, 'I'm gonna be in one of those one day,'" said Rob. "And my grandparents laughed at me. But that's where I'm headed."

Rob is on his way to making his dreams come true. From July 27 to August 3, he is headed to Red Deer for the Alberta Summer Games. He'll join his teammates of young athletes representing Zone Four. Rob is competing in shot put, discus, the medley relay and the pentathlon, which consists of the 100 and 1,000 meters, long jump, high jump, and shot put. Rob's track career began two years ago when he tried out for his school's track team. He says he went out for the team because, "I knew I was pretty fast, so I figured I'd see how fast I was". After making the team, things started taking off.

He joined the Red Deer Titans, a competitive track club. Rob and his team recently came back from the provincial track meet in Edmonton. There he captured the gold in long jump and shot put, the silver in high jump and placed fourth in the 100 and 200 metres.

One of Rob's coaches with the Titans, Craig Murphy, calls him a "dedicated" and "consistent" athlete.

"With his training, he's managed to bring in a lot of personal bests."

Rob feels it was a good indicator of how the competition will go at this year's Summer Games.

"Considering it was pretty much the same people who are going to be there, it's kind of a warm-up," he said, adding he was really happy with his performance.

To make the Summer Games team, Rob and his teammates travelled to Wetaskiwin for tryouts. Those placing in the top three in each event would have a chance to make the zone team.

"It was a mixture of hard and fun," explained Rob of his experience. "The hard part would be the competition, because you're racing against people you haven't raced against in provincials or other meets that we go to."

Rob said that the meets he goes to in the regular track season helped him prepare for the Summer Games tryouts. For the past two years, Rob's competed in 20-30 meets throughout the province, and two in B.C.

Competition has been plenty, as he's running and throwing against athletes from across Alberta.

After coming home from Wetaskiwin, Rob said it took about three or four weeks for him to find out that he'd made the Zone Four team.

"I was really happy. My dad said it would be a good experience."

He says he's "ecstatic" about competing in the games.

"I am looking forward to setting a personal best or winning gold in the pentathlon," he said, adding that his strong events are the 100 and 200 metres and the long jump.

"The competition is probably going to be the stiffest competition I've had," he continued, saying he'll be against 30 - 40 other athletes. "I'm pretty confident. I think I'm going to finish in the top three in my events."

His coach agrees that Rob should do well at the games.

"He stands a very good chance. He brings in a fast and hard finish in his races," said Murphy, adding that Rob is close to hitting the provincial record in the pentathlon. For Rob, the Alberta Summer Games are just one step along the way to becoming a professional track athlete. His dream is to one day run for his country.

"My goal would be to represent Canada in the summer Olympics in upcoming years as a decathlete."