KIDS RUNNING PROGRAM END OF THE YEAR PARTY
When: Friday, May 10th at 6PM
Where: Ocean Bay Elementary School
950 International Dr Myrtle Beach, SC 29579
What:
The Kid's Running Program will have its final event of this spring. It will be a run (distance TBD). All of the kids from both the Elementary and the Middle School (60-80 kids) and their parents will be there. The run will go around the Elementary school and then through the halls of the school. Then we will have pizza for all. Members of the GSRC are invited to come. It will be a great way for the members to see how this program is advancing and to cheer on these kids as they run. This event is a celebration of what these children have accomplished.
There are supposed to be staff members from at least 6 other schools at this event who are interested in becoming involved and setting up a similar program at their schools. In order for this to happen, we are going to need more volunteers from the GSRC who can coach and mentor these kids. It will be good for these young runners to see that the GSRC supports them and a healthy lifestyle. You can read more about the program below.
If you're interested in becoming a mentor for the kid's running program, you can post your interest on our Facebook group or contact our GSRC president, Roscoe.
Kids Running Program
This year, 2012 - 2013, the Club has partnered with Ocean Bay Middle School's Rockn' Racers
in a Kids Running program. Rockn' Racers consists of 60 - 70 OBES Fourth & Fifth graders who meet each Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 to run and workout for an hour. Although the program's focus is on non-competitive running several of the kids have entered local races, some finishing a 5K in under 23 minutes. The class is shown below shortly after receiving Rockn' Racers shirts.
The first GSRC Kids Running class was
in 2009 led by Zola Pieterse and friends. The class had about 30
young participants. The second class was in 2011, again led by Zola
and Dick Ashley, Roscoe Griffin and others. This class had about 15
participants. Pictures of both these classes can be found here
(V2/RunningClub/KidsRunning/Pictures/2011GSRCKidsRunning004_Cropped_800.jpg,
V2/RunningClub/KidsRunning/2012Spring/120312Kids.jpg).
.jpg)
In the fall of 2012 GSRC began the
support of Melissa Oleniczak's running class at Ocean Bay Elementary
School. Melissa had started a group of Forth and Fifth graders,
totaling about 60+ kids, running after school and she needed help.
GSRC members Dick Ashley, Jim Sibley, Frank Pepp and Terry Layton
volunteed; they meet Melissa and her running class each Tuesday at
2:30PM. The half mile track at the county softball fields adjacent to
the Elementary school is used to teach the kids the joy of
non-competitive running.
With the success of Melissa Oleniczak's
running program, and with the help of Zola Pieterse and Barbara
McGinnis, a similar running program was started on Friday afternoons
at Ocean Bay Middle School. GSRC club members Zola Pieterse, Dick
Ashley, Jim Sibley, Frank Pepp and Terry Layton provide coaching for
the kids in this class.
Some of these running classes are
documented in the following Youtube videos:
OBES Shirt Day, 10/9/12 OBES, 10/23/12 OBES, 2/12/13 OBES, 3/7/13 OBES, 3/12/13 OBMS, 3/22/13 OBMS.
Rockn' Racers who took part in the 2013 NMB Winter Run are shown below with there coach.
