Andy Close
SHEFFIELD, Pa. – Success leads to success, and for the Sheffield Wolverines track and field program, head coach Jason Snell is building off the participation explosion that has occurred during his two years at the helm, by continuing a summer program lost during COVID-19.
Thursday evening, Sheffield capped up a three-day Youth Track and Field Camp for students from kindergarten through seventh grade, which included a family from Ohio, as well as 67 kids and dozens of coaches and Varsity athletes helping.
“Obviously you expect chaos with time and having that many kids to put on a track meet,” said Snell. “It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of time involved, and as well as they behaved it was pretty good. We had more helpers here this week that’s bigger than track teams in the past.”
One of those helpers was incoming junior and two-time high jump state qualifier Emily Foster who embraced every aspect of being a role model and teacher.
“It’s nice to see all the kids because they know who I am,” said Foster. “They are kind of looking up to me, it’s kind of cool. Just seeing how much fun they’re having. A lot of the kids aren’t runners or throwers or jumpers but they’re all willing to try something new and they love it.”
Snell was impressed at the progress the young athletes made, particularly a relay team that had lost during practices, only to pull out the win at Thursday’s meet on Wolverine Mountain. Snell and the rest of the Sheffield coaches are hopeful their Varsity success and youth participation will lead to an even stronger program in the future.
“We had a great season, great numbers,” said Snell. “We’re hoping to keep growing especially with this turnout we had. We really feel we have something to build on and those kids willingly coming up here and working and showing these kids and telling them how much they enjoy track and sharing their passion with it is awesome.”
