Hakim McMorris couldn't help but smile at the question. When asked how difficult it was learning to run the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles - two of the most intimidating events in track and field - the McCallie junior grinned and shook his head.
The worry of clipping a hurdle at full speed and crashing to the hard surface can't compare to the obstacles Hakim has already cleared in making the 2,200-mile journey from his Southern California home to southeast Tennessee.
It began when Hakim was barely a teenager and his mother, Lucy, lost her battle with breast cancer.
She became ill when Hakim was 13 and passed away in early 2014.
"I used to go into the kitchen and help her cook," Hakim said. "She coached our rec league basketball teams, and she was always pushing us to hustle more and was just very encouraging.
"When I was about 7 years old, she took me to a track meet for kids my age and just told me to go run fast. I get my competitive drive from her. When she was sick, I really didn't want to even think about it. It didn't hit me until she was gone."
Hakim's mother and father, Patrick, wanted all of their children to be exposed to the best educational opportunities, so they had enrolled Hakim in the A Better Chance scholarship program, which is designed to help promising African American students attend private school.
Just months before his mother's death, Hakim was matched with two schools - one was in Arizona; the other was McCallie, which became the choice because it offered the family more financial aid. But the doors of opportunity McCallie could provide also meant the 14-year old Hakim would have to fly across the country alone, leaving his family, friends and the only life he had known back in California.
"Imagine being 14 and getting on a plane by yourself to fly all the way across the country and start at a new school where you don't know anyone. That takes a lot of courage," McCallie track coach Mike Wood said.
"When I got the chance to sit down and talk with him, I could tell how mature he was. Most kids don't think about what's going to happen beyond the next few minutes, but for him to take a long-term view of where he wants to be in four to five years and how this could impact that is pretty strong."
Once he arrived at McCallie, athletics became Hakim's means of building new friendships and a new identity. As he approaches the end of his third year in Chattanooga, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior has become arguably the top overall athlete at McCallie.
"I joke that so long as Hakim is on the bus, we have a good chance to do well," Wood said.
A promising receiver on the Blue Tornado football team, his numbers for track and field are among the best in the state in several events.
The team captain ranks among the area's top five statistically in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and both hurdles events, and he also has anchored the Blue Tornado's 4x400 relay to help that team be among the area's fastest. He has run in the 100-meter dash only once all season, but that was enough to post the second-fastest time (10.95) among area sprinters.
It is that versatility that led Wood last season to begin training Hakim in the decathlon, a grueling two-day, 10-event test for which he now ranks among the favorites to win at the Division II state meet this month.
"He'll be very competitive in both hurdles and in the triple jump and has a pretty good shot at either the high jump or long jump at the state meet," Wood said. "Since you can only compete in four events at state, one of the toughest decisions will be which four to narrow down to for him.
"Hakim has an explosion when he competes that makes him special. And he picks up on things really quickly. You combine that natural ability with his work ethic and attitude, and you have the makings of an elite athlete."
His unflappable attitude and competitive desire also led Hakim to receive this year's Warren S. Gardner Spirit Award, which is voted on by McCallie's administration and given to the student who shows leadership traits and gives 100 percent in all he does.
"I've only fallen one time running the hurdles," said Hakim, whose older brother Malik is a walk-on football player and track athlete at the University of California, Berkley. "That was earlier this year at the Optimist meet, and I was so mad at myself. I clipped a hurdle late in the race and went down, and it was bad enough that I know I never want to do that again.
"It was kind of scary when I first came here, but I knew it was the best thing for my future and I've really grown to like it here. I've adopted it as another home, and I feel like it's helped me grow in a lot of ways."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.