Coaching Spotlight: Anselm LeBourne

He currently holds 11 world records, he’s worked on Wall Street, he’s a business teacher at Seton Hall University, and he’s among the coaches of Oratory Prep. Anselm Lebourne is the winter and spring track coach for Oratory and he is as experienced as you could possibly be in the art of running. Born in a small town in Trinidad, Coach Lebourne’s youth consisted mainly of soccer, but at the age of 14 he stopped soccer and started his career in track. In 1977, his family moved to New York where Anselm was able to earn a scholarship for track to Seton Hall University. He was able to maintain a very positive track career there while majoring in accounting. In the years after college he was able to run his best 800 meters time at 1:49.0. However, after the first of his two kids came along, his time spent racing was severely cut. However, his motivation picked up again soon after and he went back on his racing streak at the age of 40. He went on to break 800 and 1500 meter records at ages 40 and 45. His biggest accomplishment is being the world’s oldest runner to run 800 meters in less than two minutes.

Coach Anselm brought all of his wisdom and talent to Oratory making very strong winter and spring track teams. Every day is a learning experience with Anselm, and he constantly shares his words of wisdom in what he calls “life lessons.” One of the major life lessons that he lives by is, “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” and he uses strong messages like these when he coaches his teams. You will never find a coach more dedicated and experienced like Anselm. He understands the true potentials of all runners and pushes them to do their best every practice. He has gone through high school track just like the runners he mentors, and he understands everything that we are going through and makes sure to guide us on the right paths. Sprinting captain of the spring track team, Doug Degolyer, had this to say about Coach Anselm, “Coach Anselm is a great coach because he believes our runners have far more potential than they think and he pushes us to achieve that potential.” Lebourne truly believes in every single one of his runners and he makes them realize they are capable of accomplishing far more than they could ever dream of. He has made an everlasting mark at Oratory and will continue to change the lives of everyone here that he coaches, one life lesson at a time.