Boys On The Run Program
“I came across Let Me Run after an Internet search, ” he says. “It was in 12 or 13 states.” But not Illinois or Missouri. Or most of the Midwest, for that matter.
Annapolis, MD (July 10, 2015) The Team Captain Kids Foundation's youth development and engagement program, HERO Boys™ is. HERO Boys™ and Girls on the Run. Gabriel Sison, one of two coaches that work with boys in the Let Me Run program at St. Cecilia School in south St. Louis, talks to students about his plan.
Undaunted, Goodrich packed a bag the following weekend and drove 10 hours to the closest coaches’ training session — in Baton Rouge, La. He learned about how to implement the seven-week extracurricular program for fourth- through eighth-grade boys: the endurance and strength-training components, the goal-setting, the character-building. “It’s so much more than a running program, ” says Goodrich. “It’s a full-blown curriculum.” There are lessons on healthy eating, expressing emotions, being a good friend. “But the challenge was how we would spread it to other schools, ” he says.
Boys On The Run Running Program
“I didn’t think I’d convince people to go to Louisiana for training.” Instead, he persuaded representatives from Let Me Run headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., to come to him. In fall 2013, the first training session in the St. Louis area drew 32 potential coaches. Goodrich earned the informal title of regional liaison. One of the first teams to form outside of Belleville was at St.
Cecilia School in the Carondelet neighborhood of St. The Catholic grade school already had a Girls on the Run group but wanted a program for its boys. Gabriel Sison got word that the school needed a coach. “Running’s one of my big passions, ” says Sison, 36, of St.
“But I wanted something that was more than running.” After the first session at St. Cecilia in spring 2014, he was hooked. “I got a note from a parent that she had noticed a real change in her son, ” he recalls. “That’s really gratifying.” First practice In March, Sison’s third Let Me Run group at St. Cecilia gathered for the first time.
The boisterous bunch, still letting off steam from the rigors of the school day, jostle and jockey over to the front steps of the church building. One of the boys, fifth-grader William Albarran, 10, is dressed in the same lime-green Let Me Run shirt as Sison. He is one of two returners from last spring. When Sison asks why he came back this year, William mentions the end-of-session race. Let Me Run culminates in a 5K (3.1-mile) run. It starts at the Gateway Grizzlies ballpark in Sauget and “you finish by crossing home plate, ” Sison tells the boys. “Then you get to stay for the baseball game.” But there’s a lot of work to get done before that.
The practice starts, as always, with a warmup “unity lap.” The boys jog, more or less in a clump, around the block surrounding the campus. No one is allowed to pass Sison. His assistant coach, Josh Hamburg, 21, a student at St. Louis University, keeps the group hemmed in at the back. That’s followed by dynamic stretches, led by Hamburg, with names like “the flamingo” — pulling one knee up to the chest — and “Frankensteins, ” which resemble the monster’s walk. In between, they talk about what it means to be yourself, to be a leader instead of a follower. Then it’s time for another loop, this one a “focus lap.” Sison gives the parameters: Run hard.
Blazing down the home stretch on Alaska Avenue, Sison is in the lead, but fourth-grader Ryan Wingo nips at his heels. “He’s going to be fast, ” Sison pants as Ryan grabs a drink. In short order, all eight boys finish the loop and are catching their breath on the church steps. “Well, that was a good practice, ” one says.
They are 30 minutes in, with 45 left to go. After a round of pushups, Sison explains the meat of the session: a 25-minute endurance challenge. “Get as many laps in as possible, ” he says.
“Pick a pace between the unity lap and the focus lap.” Ryan takes off with classmates Norman Davis and Diego Solis. By their third lap, the trio of 10-year-olds has overtaken another pair.
They notch 13 laps, roughly three miles. Not everyone has such fleet feet, but, with the exception of a few drink breaks, everyone keeps moving forward.
For 10-year-old Isaac Mondragon, a Let Me Run veteran, it’s not just about the running anyway. “I want to be with my teammates, ” he says, after finishing 10 laps with his partner. “I want to support St. Cecilia.” He is working on improving his 5K time from last spring. He thinks it’s all a matter of proper “pasting.” As the boys stretch, Sison hands out index cards, each with a name on top. “Write a positive statement about the person on the card, ” Sison tells them. “The more specific, the better.” For the first time that afternoon, the boys fall silent.
“He is fun to run with and a cool bro, ” Ryan notes of Norman. Fourth-grader David Rodriguez has curled his arm over the top of the card. He writes, looks up to the sky, writes some more. “He is fast and strong, ” he says of his partner Remy Valenzuela.
He jots three more lines, but wants to keep them private. Sison collects the cards and tells the boys their homework: running twice on their own before the next practice. Then they gather in a circle, their hands stacked together in the middle. They repeat after Sison, a credo they will soon know by heart: Let me be me.
Boys On The Run Program
Let me reach out. About Let Me Run Let Me Run is a running and life-skills program for boys in fourth through eighth grades that started in 2008 in Charlotte, N.C. About 170 schools in 22 states have Let Me Run programs; 15 are in the St. Let Me Run groups meet twice a week for seven weeks and then participate in a 5K run.
This session's race is the Grand Slam 5K, at 5:30 p.m. On May 14 at GCS Ballpark in Sauget.
To learn more about Let Me Run or starting a program at your school, go to.