More Than Just an After-School Running Club

By Jennifer, Village and Young Triton Parent

Young Triton’s Running Club (YTRC) is a before and after-school running club and self-development program for boys in grades 1–5. In its third year at Village School, YTRC instills strength, self-compassion, empathy, cooperation, balance, character, perseverance and teamwork through a structured bi-weekly, eight-week program.

Without a doubt YTRC is about far more than physical performance. This year’s curriculum was Mindcraft-themed. That’s not a typo but an intentional play on words as the boys collected bricks in their inventory and strengthened their minds while training for the Run. Sweat. Love. 5K.

Teaching young boys to become well-rounded, feeling, and caring young men requires role models that demonstrate the behaviors we hope to see them develop. We are extremely blessed at Village to have 6 dedicated parent coaches.

Coach Caesar shares his experience with YTRC: “The impact of the program is very personal to me. Not only do we as Coaches get to share our passion with the children and watch them develop before our eyes, but we also get to build relationships. Most parent participants are moms at Village. Having some “Dad Time” gives us the opportunity to make friends, share experiences and start new relationships that probably would not have happened without YTRC,” explained Coach Caesar. “[My son] sees that I go out on runs but rarely makes it to my events. When we first started doing our runs, he would not push himself nor would I want to push too hard and discourage him. Now running with 15 plus friends, he loves to run, loves to push himself and loves to help his teammates!”

Results of the program: 68 Happy Hearts, 136 Strong Legs, 34 5K Teammates, 6 Dedicated Coaches and 23 Young Tritons who have discovered that the finish line is just the beginning.