Students improve grades, teamwork through district track meet

By JULY KELLEY 

Special to Leader-Press 

Fifth grade student athletes at Fairview/Miss Jewell needed to not only demonstrate their athletic ability but also their desire to be part of something bigger than themselves if they want to participate in the district track meet. They had to want to be part of a team. 

When Coach Mike Sheon picked his track team for the CCISD Elementary Track Meet, he was looking for more than just athletic prowess. 

“I use the pacer scores from the fitnessgram, but then I work with the 5th grade teams who succeed that represent the ideals of the CHAMP program,” Sheon said. “Our CHAMPS program is a school-wide set of expectations and procedures. The students and teachers are aware at all times of what is expected in the classroom and in common areas. We talked about the students’ academics and citizenship. We had students who had success at the track meet as individuals, but what I am most proud of is how our kids grew as a team.” 

Fifth grader Chris Hankerson understood that being a winner is about more than taking home a ribbon or trophy.

“I think being a citizen athlete means being fast but also being nice and caring for others and doing well in school,” Hankerson said.

Coach Sheon talked about the most important awards he was giving to the students do not happen only at the track meet but were about how the students behaved before, during, and after the meet. Student M.J. Anderson won the Heart of the Team award. He practiced every morning before school, was a good teammate during practice and at the track meet. Tyler Mastin-Ramierez and Isabella Altott received the Grit award. They never stopped running no matter how tired they were; they kept running.

The team met for practice every Monday afterschool since January. 

“We started out with learning stretching in January then we started running in the gym. We have been working at practice to build up our endurance so if we were picked for a longer race we could finish all the laps,” Hankerson said. “Finally, we practiced handoffs for the relays. M.J. Anderson handed off to me and I handed off to Charlie Stein.”

Heather-Lee Gooden, a fifth grade member of the track team, learned discipline through the multiple laps she made around the track.

“Most practices we would do eight laps. We walked the first one and ran six laps and cooled down by walking the last lap. It was hard but so much fun,” Gooden said. “We all cheered each other on when anyone was getting tired. I would tell any fourth grader that is interested in doing it next year that they should work hard at running but also to keep their grades up and be a good teammate. You can always improve at running and teamwork.”