The Thorold Elite Track & Field Club has kicked off their new season and they’ve hit the ground running.
“It is a very, very busy fall,” says head coach and club founder Steven Fife. “We have three different programming levels going on, depending on the age group. There's training and competitions and definitely not a dull moment.”
The club attracts kids from all over the region to hone their track and field skills.
“We’re growing quite a bit,” says Fife. “We’ve had over 300 registrations this year. A lot of kids might be playing football or basketball or something else this fall but we still have over 250 kids that are actively training with us right now.”
This past August, the club took 30 athletes to The Legion National Youth Championships in Calgary.
“That was a pretty impressive number of kids that are competing at the national level and we won nine national medals while we were there,” Fife says.
Thorold resident TJ Woods was one of those kids that went to Calgary and came home with a medal.
“It was an amazing trip for me especially because I was on Team Ontario,” Woods tells ThoroldToday. “It was such a fun experience especially to be with all my friends for a week. It was really fun.”
Woods is a national champion and record holder, a special feat for an athlete who has only been a member of the club for a year-and-a-half.
“Through elementary school I only did cross-country,” says Woods. “I really enjoyed it but it was just never something I really saw as a sport. And then in Grade 8, lots of my friends joined the club and I thought it would be good to try something new. So I decided to join and try it out and then it all worked out from there.”
Another one of the athletes that have found success at the club is Virgil teen and cross-country runner Andrew Bayne.
“I started running a little bit on my own and I enjoyed it,” says Bayne. “I was pretty good and then I joined the club that my brother was already in.”
For Bayne, cross-country running is a way to prove himself.
“I like it because you don't have to rely on your teammates but your teammates help you,” Bayne says. “Other sports like hockey, you can only be as good as the weakest person on your team but with track, it's on you.”
This season, Bayne hopes to make it to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Cross Country Championship.
“It's my big goal that's coming up soon and to run some fast times on the track,” he says.
For Coach Fife, it’s all about helping the athletes reach their full potential.
“We work really hard,” he says. “It's not just what we do on the track, but it's what we do in the gym, on the mental side of things, on the nutrition side of things, there's so many other assets that go into creating a successful athlete. We really try to offer them absolutely everything.”
One thing’s for certain, the club has come a long way since its inception in 2016.
“We've really done all the groundwork of building up the program,” says Fife. “We're just trying to sustain and continue that, making sure the kids are happy, successful and are having a great experience within the club.”
