The Thorold Elite Track Club did it again last weekend, winning the U14 and U10 West Region championship titles. Says club founder Steven Fife, “Every weekend has had a different championship. Through this whole summer I believe we’ve won more than a 100 provincial medals.”
The Thorold Elite Track Club, which offers training for children as young as four and as old as 21, was founded by Fife about five years ago. Says Fife, “At the time I was coaching at Thorold Secondary School and we happened to have a pretty dedicated group of kids that were really interested in track and they wanted to be able to train and take part in the season all year round and not just in the high school season.”
Fife says that running the club has become more than a full-time job. “People in the community say I’m the busiest person in track and field. People underestimate what it takes running a club. Our club has over 100 athletes, about 15 coaches and then about ten (people on the) board of directors so it’s really like being the CEO of a small company.”
But training kids to become better athletes is a rewarding process. Says Fife, “There’s so many kids that we know, that just because of their story or their circumstances, if not for our club then we know they wouldn’t be involved in track at all. We really do so much to remove barriers for kids so that they can participate. It’s rewarding to get people out and do track that otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.”
Fife says it’s this kind of personal approach that makes the Thorold Elite Track Club such a winning team. Says Fife, “I think that the reason we are very successful is because we operate on a grassroots level. We kind of have to work with people when they’re starting out and build them up and create the athlete out of nothing. We have a lot of people who come in as beginners or they’ve never done a certain event and we work with them and create somebody that becomes a provincial champion.”
