Maybe they were born to run.

SYC track club was created for the purpose of instilling in children a love for running at an early age. The group of over one-hundred kids, ranging in age from five to fourteen, met for the first time on a rainy Sunday morning in January. SYC chose to put WS cross country and track coach Chris Pellegrini in charge of it.

“I really like the sport in general,” said Pellegrini. “They needed someone to help, and they asked me.”

Pellegrini is aware that younger children need to ease their way into the sport, as track can get intense, due to its repetitive and speedy nature. While Pellegrini knows that getting in shape for track requires repetitive motion for muscle memory, he knows that it is more important to be careful with younger children.

“My mentality is to ere on the side of caution,” said Pellegrini. “We’re not going to keep the youngest ages there for the full two hours.”

The SYC track club will have children competing in many different races, including the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 400 meter run, and 1600 meter run. The field events they can participate include the long jump, the high jump, and (soft-ball) shot put.

In addition, a track club at Irving Middle School exists for the purpose of cultivating an interest in track, which meets every Tuesday.

Since Springfield has such a variety of sports for kids to choose from, Pellegrini is excited to have so many eager young athletes choose to participate.

“I think that there are so many things out there that get a kid’s attention,” said Pellegrini. “Having an avenue to get kids to pay attention to our sport is a huge benefit. I’m excited that there seems to be a legitimate interest in the community.”

Starting a sport early creates the possibility for finding a passion that young kids can stick with for the rest of their high school careers. Staying with a sport for a long time allows athletes to develop skills and, as each year comes around, improve and refine their abilities.

“I’ve seen the development it’s caused for other programs in the area,” said Pellegrini. “It gets them to like track at an early age.”

In addition, this club has brought the WS track team together, since some of them are helping out, including people who have graduated.  Even freshman Katie Frost helped out.

“I like working with little kids,” said Frost. “I was just helping the ones at the end finish. We told them it would be easier after a couple practices.”

While the track club may happen to work well as a recruiting tool for WS’s track team, Pellegrini does not see this as the most important aspect of this new club. He sees it as a way for kids to get active and enjoy what he is so passionate about: running.

“I’d like to see the little kids have fun with it,” said Pellegrini.