San Angelo Ushers in New Generation of Athletes

Brightly-colored T-shirts and the cheers of small voices filled the San Angelo Stadium on Friday, where student athletes lined up behind coaches to compete for first place in six track and field events.

Clusters of kids surrounded two sand pits at the ends of the football field, some lining up to jaunt down the runway in the long jump, others waiting and watching as their friends, siblings and competitors leapt for the win in a spray of sand.

Pop-up tents and neon umbrellas dotted the stands, and a steady stream of 4^th to 6^th graders lined up behind a short and a high bar for arm hangs, clutching the metal and holding their heads up for as long as possible without dropping.

Over the loudspeaker, a female voice announced the next event and the last’s winners, and a four-wheeled cart filled with blue ice coolers rumbled around the track.

“Obviously my job is very important,” former Kiwanis President Scott Stephens said with a laugh as he steered the mule over to a coach who was frantically waiving him down. He unpacked six bottles of water and passed them over to the children.

Ahead of him, a gun fired followed by a wall of 6^th grade boys, who raced down the football field to the finish. With approximately 1,500 competitors from roughly 33 Tom Green County schools, the 74^th annual Little Olympics was off to a strong start.

“It’s for the kids, just an opportunity to basically have a track meet, but it’s not a track meet,” Stephens explained. “We place five places in every event, and if there’s a tie, every kid that ties gets a medal. It’s all about trying to get the kids involved, trying to get them to compete.”

Hosted by the Kiwanis Club, the Little Olympics centers on six events total, including the bar chin, arm hang and long jump, plus three running events that include a 60-yard and 75-yard dash, plus a 300-yard relay.

The event is the first for aspiring athletes in elementary school and is meant to be a fun introduction into the realm of competitive sports. Each of the participating schools selects which students will compete, while the remaining students show up to assist in operations and cheer their classmates on.

By 5:45 p.m. Friday, Glenn Middle School had roughly 60-80 boys and girls on the field, and the girls had just excelled at the arm hang. Training for the event began a month prior, Coach Melissa Morris explained as her students took to the podium to receive their medals, and the participants were selected after several days of in-school competition.

“They get a taste—and it’s a very minute taste—of what it’s going to be like for track,” Morris said of the event. “Once they get to track, they still don’t get it. But after their first meet and they have three gold medallions around their neck, it’s something that you can’t ever take away. You can’t mind-sweep it, you can’t forget it and that’s something that sticks with them.”

Morris said the students’ excitement builds as the event nears each year, and said students are often astounded when they walk out on the field and see how big of a competition it is with all of the other schools present. The event is a starting point to future athleticism, she said, and noted how many who have gone off to play sports in college got their start on that very field.

“Steely Poss, her older sister is Lauren Poss, who ran hurdles for Central,” Morris recalled one their successful athletes. “She started out here. Every one of these athletes that you see that continue through high school to college started right here.”

Lincoln Middle School’s Coordinator Greg Barr agreed with Morris’ sentiment, noting that there isn’t an emphasis on competition at the elementary grade levels and that training will pick up as they mature.

“I’ve been coming to this for about 20 years and the kids are always excited,” Barr said. “It’s just a fun day for them and they enjoy it and they want to make the team to go. I think it’s a great day for the kids. It’s fun, it’s exciting and we get to see our future athletes from all around the Concho Valley.”

In order to pull off the event, the circa 50 Kiwanis Club members and approximately 300 volunteers show up at the stadium at 10 a.m. on Olympics day and began preparing for the event.

Stephens said the entire program generally runs about four hours, and began at 3:45 p.m. on Friday.

“We think it’s a good deal. Obviously, we get great participation,” he said, motioning to a stadium full of cheering children.