Jul
8
Clinic #1: Zanesville, OH
Filed Under AIA Track & Field Ministry
After Training Camp and the SPECIAL, we said good bye to the other two track teams, the two volleyball teams and the tennis team and headed off on our separate projects. We headed east to Zanesville, OH, about an hour and half drive from Columbus, OH. We were teaming up with a group called Team GodSpeed to host our first clinic. The kids ages ranged from 2-18. Yes, there were little two year olds out there! The younin’s did 20 min circuits and were only there in the mornings. It was a way to expose these kiddies to the different events of track & field. The older kids – jr high and high school kids were there in the mornings and afternoons working on event specific drills. We were blessed to have many experienced coaches helping us out, including some from Ohio State and Purdue.
I got to work with the pole vault coach from Ohio State, which was a trip! Coach and I helped some of the vaulters with some basic and advanced stuff. All the other athletes from my team were split up, helping their event areas. Ryan was helping with hurdles, Priscilla was with the sprinters, Nick was with the throwers and Neil and David were helping the jumpers (Louise left us for a few days for a job interview). It was fun for me to see each athlete totally in their element and come alive.
On our first day, Ryan shared his story with all the kids at lunch time. He did a great job, and about 70 people heard the Gospel that day! After the camp, we all went back to the hotel and hopped into the hot tub. Many of us were still super sore from the SPECIAL and it felt nice to relax a wee bit. That evening we had a cookout with the coaches and got to spend some time with them.
Our second day was a day that many were looking forward to. Derrick Adkins, gold medallist in the 400m hurdles at the ’96 Atlanta Olympics came out to our clinic to help out and share his story. He did such an amazing job and it was great to meet him and hear how God worked in his life.
We had so much fun with these kids and coaches and Team GodSpeed. Our final day we had a track meet and our AIA boys ran a 4×100 together. It was great seeing big Nick (thrower from Texas A&M) run the final 100 meters! I ran with three brothers. It was such a great experience for our first clinic and everyone wants us back for next year. Christine, the woman who organized everything, said she already has coaches ready to help out for next year. We had about a total of 170 “campers” and next year could be even bigger for that small town!
