Teenage national gold-medal shot putter creates art to manage stress of competition

Isaac Annoh is a natural.

In fall 2022, the then Grade 9 student at Sisler High School took up shot put.

Less than a year later, he won gold at the junior varsity level at the Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Sherbrooke, Que. His 16.13 metre throw made him the best in Canada for his age.

Annoh also had a great yearplaying forSisler's football team and subsequently won top male athlete for his grade in 2023.

"Getting to this level, people expect a certain performance from me every single time and when I can't reach that, it's a much bigger thing for me," said Annoh, now 16 and in Grade 10.

That bigger thing is pressureand managing the stress of achieving success on and off the field.

Annoh turns to drawing and art when he feels the squeeze of stress.

His life on and off the field is the subject of a new micro-documentary byTristan Legaspi, 18, and classmatesEthan Langit, 18, and Van Cung Nung, 19, in theCreate programat Sisler High School in Winnipeg. The post-high program trains students in the creative digital arts, including filmmaking.

The short documentary was produced as part of CBC Manitoba's Project POV: Sisler Create, an ongoing video storytelling collaboration.

Meet the filmmakers

Tristan Legaspi got into filmmaking in Grade 9 and has stuck with it ever since. Filmmaking is a core part of hislife. He finds every facet of production meaningful and engaging. In particular, Tristan loves editing for hours and shooting all sorts of angles. Outside of film, Tristan enjoys going to the gym, watching all kinds of media and taking a nice nap.

Ethan Langit is a filmmaker and a self-taught musician, specializing in storytelling, editing and sound design. He uses his technical knowledge of music production to make his films sound theatre ready. He loves working collaboratively with other people and thrives in the company of other creatives.

Van Cung Nung loves filmmaking and multimedia arts. He is into camera operation, video editing, motion graphics and graphic design. Proficient in software like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effectsand DaVinci Resolve, his goal is to create captivating visual content in the film and media industry.

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

CBC Manitoba's Project POV: SislerCreate is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBCManitoba journalists to produce short docs. The collaboration is in its second year. Past projects can be foundhere.

During fall 2023, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking studentsand led producing workshops over several weeks at theCreate program at Sisler High School.

The post-high school programfocuseson education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.