Participants of the Ready, Set, Run! program at Fusion Sports and Recreation took to the trails of the Royston (Ga.) Wellness Park last fall. They challenged their bodies and minds as they trained to complete running a 5k.
“Many walkers, runners and park patrons loved seeing the kids getting out and being active,” said Jared Hightower, director of Fusion Sports and Recreation.
Ready, Set, Run!, a youth running program developed by the National Alliance for Youth Sports, prepares youngsters over 12 weeks to run a 5k. Each week they built endurance and stamina through play-based activities that accompanied a character development curriculum focusing on topics like confidence, self-esteem, respecting authority, dealing with peer pressure and nutrition.
While the benefits of sports – from increased confidence to teamwork skills – are numerous, the impact of sports among those with disabilities is especially prominent. Of the 13 runners that participated, two were individuals with special needs.
“Those with disabilities have the same competitive desires as we do, and they also need to gain satisfaction from accomplishing goals and being challenged,” said Hightower.
Motivated by his passion to encourage all kids to get outside and be active, Hightower modified the Ready, Set, Run! program to work for the special needs runners. He says it was as simple as scaling down the intensity of their activities. They were fully included in the stretches, warm-up runs, cool downs and games with the rest of the team.
For the running portions of the training a volunteer ran alongside them and encouraged them to keep moving, even if they had to do a run-like shuffle to keep building their endurance.
“Other than that,” said Hightower, “it’s all about having a heart and patience for them.”
The culmination of their training took place during the one mile Fun Run. “I know that they have a stronger sense of confidence regarding what they can do when they set their minds to a task,” he said of their accomplishment.
The other Ready, Set, Run! teammates demonstrated their new running skills during the 11th Annual Running Over Violence 5k event.
“It has been our goal from the very beginning of Ready, Set, Run! to get all kids running: those who are good at sports, those who think they aren’t good at sports, and everyone in between,” said Kacey Lake, Director of Ready, Set, Run! “Jared took it to another level that I hope will spread to other communities, as well.”
Not only did the youngsters realize what they were capable of themselves, but they also had the opportunity to appreciate the drive within others. “I think it instilled motivation in the other runners not to give up,” said Hightower. “The special needs runners were always in motion, therefore, they should be too.”
Click HEREfor more information about starting Ready, Set, Run! in your community and to review sample lessons from the Coordinator and Coach manuals, or email readysetrun@nays.org.
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