KEITH RIVERS On coaching Cheetahs The thought that strikes me most about our now well-known club,the Port Huron Cheetahs, is the way it came into existence. It all started in 1997 when my son was running middle school track and I saw some areas where he needed improvement so I decided to take him to the track and work with him. A few of his buddies came along to the "practices" as well as his younger brothers and sister. His track coach found out what I had been doing and at the end of the season, suggested that I get the kids involved in a track meet. It was a Hershey track meet. The kids were a little nervous because this would be the first time that they would compete away from their friends and peers. With a little persuasion I got all of the kids to agree to go to this meet. Up until this point I had never heard of a Hershey Track meet and I did not know what to expect. Although the kids did pretty well during the regular season I did not know how they would fare at an open meet such as the Hersheys. I was afraid of their disappointment if they did not do well which it turns out they did do pretty well at the local county level which in turn qualified them to compete at the state level where the competition would be much harder for them. Out of the seven or so kids I took to the state finals that very first summer only one did not make it to the final eight in the state. So we celebrated and I sat down with the one and we talked about trying again next year and that we would work together to try to win a final eight spot in the state. That kid never made it to the final 8 in all of the years that he was eligible to participate because the Hershey only goes up to age 14 and he was 10 at the time. But that kid never gave up trying. Every summer he was out there in the hot, baking summer sun doing his best, always trying and always knowing that there might be a possibility that he wouldn't make it again but nonetheless showing the strength of character in his perseverence and his tenancity in finishing what he started. He taught me as a coach that winning is not about who takes home the gold but winning is about being there, doing your best and knowing that at the end of the day you have met whatever challenge that came your way and stood victorious in it. And that is one of the precepts that we base our organization on. Our motto is an Chinese proverb where it says "A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step." Taking that first step is the difference in winning and losing, victory and defeat. I think about these words and I remember back in my childhood who my heroes were and it's funny because at that time they were all adults: people like my parents, my pastor, older kids in school but now as a 41 year old man I see that my heroes are those young boys and girls out there on the Cheetah track team. They are all my children and they never cease to amaze me of the power that they have at so early an age to affect peoples lives in a positive way. I remember going once to a track meet in Oxford at the early stages of the club and a little girl named Christina who was in competitive terms the slowest on the team came up to me with a big grin on her face after she had ran the 50 meter dash and took last place. (But the beauty of this is that Oxford awards all participants a ribbon). She came up to me and said, "Look at my ribbon Coach! I won a ribbon and I'm going to take this ribbon home and hang it up! and oh yeah! I beat my time!" And then she hurried away to show to her mother. I was taken aback by that little girl. She knew that the importance wasn't on bringing home the gold but the importance was all about striving for improvement and that is what she did. She beat her time and she had a ribbon to prove it. There are so many success stories that flood my mind right now about these kids it makes my head swim. I think back about Bobby who came to the Cheetahs when he was around 11 years old. Bobby was a shy,introverted kid who didn't say much. In fact the only words I ever heard Bobby say to me at the beginning is that he liked to run around the neighborhood. Bobby was one of those skinny, gangly kids who looked like he would blow away with a strong wind. Didn't have much at the time in muscular structure. I remember all of those drills and sprints we would do and you would always see Bobby bringing in the rear and I would pray to myself that he would not be one who would give up,that he would hang in there. I would set up my practices in a non-competitive way and I would tell the kids not to worry about who is in front of you just concentrate on your time, or your form or technique. But here was Bobby with that exasperated look on his face and so I went up to him and asked him what was wrong. Bobby replied,"I'm just not fast Coach!"And I told Bobby that he had something going for him other than quick speed and that I had been watching him through all of these practices and one thing that he did have was perseverence,that no matter what place he came in on those drills that he was always there at every practice and that he was always ready to go the distance.I then made him a Captain on the team. These were the qualities in him that I wanted his teammates to see.I saw such a change in Bobby after he became one of my captains. At first he was a little shy about it being the quiet person that he was but as time grew on I saw him grow into a true leader not only out there with the team but at school and in the community as well. When Bobby left middle school to go to high school I was present at his 8th grade graduation where I saw him receive the Leadership Award, The Captains Award and an award for The National Junior Honor Society. But he recieved so many awards I've forgotten most of the other ones. Not too mention that Bobby know holds the 8th grade city record for the 2 mile run and has been holding it for a few years now. Now that he's a junior in high school Bobby runs cross country and track and is still active in school and the community. He has been like another son to me and has promised me that when he finishes college he is going to come back to Port Huron and run this club. I think the one most prevelant thing that comes to my mind is how important atheletics (specifically track & field) is related to life. There are so many lessons that we have learned here at the Cheetahs every year. We have seen countless victories as well as shared in our own tragedies when we lost a couple of young Cheetahs in a house fire two years ago. We play together, celebrate together and even cry together. We have become an institution where everyone is part of a big family where there are no social, economic, racial or ethnic distinctions where every child is made welcome and adopted into our Cheetah family. There are no cliques with our family and the children feel comfortable knowing that. I once gave a talk to some of my kids in our basketball program where I told them that no matter what goes on during the day at school or anywhere else they can feel assured that this is the one place that they can call their "safe haven" and I wish I had a camera to take a picture of all of the smiles that came upon their faces at that moment. They knew when they heard my voice that I truly meant what I was saying to them and I will live up to my word. They are indeed my kids and every other Coach that comes through the Cheetah doors feels the same way that I do. And I think that the key to our success lies not in the numbers but the quality of lives that are coming out of the Cheetahs. These kids are going to go on to bigger and better things in life and just knowing that in some small way I was able to make a positive impact in some of their lives means more to me than any gold. Our whole organization including myself is strictly voluntary. None of us get paid, in fact every year I take money out of my finances to put into the club when we don't make enough doing our car washes and pizza sales. But none of us complain because we truly love what we are doing and we hope that by our example our Cheetahs will grow to do the same and I am confident that they will. Through the sacrifices of our Cheetahs we have been able to purchase many training tools and equipment. These kids truly know how to give back to the community. Every year we as a team participate in the Relay for Life to help find funds for cancer research.We even threw a 5 on 5 basketball tournament last year. Not too mention that many of our kids are involved with their church youth groups, girl scouts, boy scouts; the list goes on. We also give out a Cheetah Academic Award to the Cheetahs who have maintained straight A's throughout the school year. I usually let my wife give them out. I joke with her sometimes about just because she was born on Christmas day she likes to play the Santa! But in a nutshell this whole program has been rewarding for both of us,the kids,the coaches and the parents. All of this from something that just happened to come about from a father taking his son to the track. By the way,that kid who never made it to the top 8 in the state is my son Kevin who now runs cross country for his high school track team along with Bobby. Those two have become inseperable. But you know what? I can tell you stories about pretty much everyone else out there too like Casey, Brooke, Janyece, Kayshea, Charneika, Ashley, Sean, Ryan, Karla, Kayla, Matt, Vaughn, Breanna, Emily, Dewana, Jennifer, James, Lawrence, Chyna, Michaela, Natasha, Jay,Torrey, Isaiah, Emily, Rachel,Shelby, Rebecca, Cheyanna, Nicole, Renee, Tony, Kimberlee, Kristene, Korrey, Kenny, Kyle R's and the list just continues.These our my heroes today and the world's heroes tomorrow. LINKS: Port Huron's Cheetah Track Club rwedit@rodale.com