When 15-year-old Devon Allen is online watching Youtube videos, he’s not looking for footage of funny animals or wacky kids.

“I’ll type in 200-meter, 100, see what’ll pop up, and see Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay. I watch them and see how they run the race,” Allen said.

The freshman at Brophy College Preparatory  ran what was then the fastest 200-meters  in the state this season in April, finishing in 21.86 seconds at the Queen Creek Invitational. When he’s watching his heroes online, he’s not just watching for fun.

“Like with Tyson Gay, his start’s not the greatest, but he wins races because of his speed,” Allen said. “I’m watching the phases of the race.”

Devon’s father, Louis Allen, said that a big part of his son’s success has come from the fact that he is constantly wanting to learn.

“I enjoy listening to him and his volunteering feedback. Everyone of those dads in the past says ‘You need to do this, you need to do that’ but now my son volunteers feedback and gives feedback to me,” Louis said.

Louis said that for Devon, the off-the-track training doesn’t stop at the computer.

“He will stand in the middle of the living room floor in the starting position like he is on the track and just mimic his start,” Louis said.

Louis said that one of the biggest lessons he’s learned from Devon’s success on the track has been about the roles parents should play in their children’s athletics.

“I think that’s because it’s important for a parent to understand that a parent needs to know they can only help their kids so far,” Louis said. “In order for him to attain a level that he can and wants to, I knew that I needed to reach out to someone else who could continue to push him.”

Devon’s coach, Bill Kalkman, said that Devon’s natural ability certainly contributes to his success, but that the key to Devon’s fantastic season has been because of his constant communication with coaches and his nature to ask why it is he’s training the way he is.

“One of his strengths is that he listens intently to your instruction and he’s very responsive to teaching and coaching,” Kalkman said. “Not only does he take what you say and try and put it into practice, but as far as the why, I think it’s just a good way to treat people.”

Kalkman said that it’s this sort of communication that’s so important not just to the individual athletes, but to the team as a whole.

“We try to talk to our athletes about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” Kalkman said. “It gives the athlete a little bit of confidence in the coaching, but it gives them confidence to apply what their doing in the race. If its not connected, if we’re not explaining why we’re doing what we do, its hard to apply it to the actual race”

Devon said that while one of the hardest parts of his training this season were the distance workouts employed to build his stamina, its been because the endurance work he did at the beginning of the year that’s pushed him to where he’s at today.

“I had the speed, I knew I had speed, but going over distance would help me improve,” Devon said. “I feel stronger. I think a lot of the training the whole year has helped me get better.”

As a freshman, Devon said one of the primary challenges he faced was proving his skill to some of the more seasoned athletes.

“When we were training the whole year, I would always try to stay at the front of the pack, to let them know that I was working hard and trying to compete,” Devon said.

Louis said that Devon’s success this year is a pleasant surprise, but not unexpected after of Devon’s hard work.