Saturday, May 13, 2000

Aim is to get kids on track

---

Meet today kicks off schedule

By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer Contributor

        Cincinnati Recreation Commission superintendent Nathaniel Wilkins can re member how dedication and discipline helped make him successful academically and as a sprinter in high school and college.

        Mr. Wilkins is hoping to get that point across to youngsters through the CRC's Greater Cincinnati Track and Field Program, which opens a summerlong series of events with a novice track meet today at Taft High School.

IF YOU GO

• What: Cincinnati Recreation Commission Track and Field novice meet. • Who: Open to all Greater Cincinnati students. • Where: Taft High School. • When: Signup at 9 a.m.; events start at 9:30 a.m.

        One goal of the program is to revitalize track and field in Cincinnati, Mr. Wilkins said.

        Another is to encourage a relationship between academics and athletics.

        He's hoping to produce what he calls “acathletes.”

        “Where we're going with this is we are encouraging young people through tutoring mechanisms and adult role models and other ways to better understand and ap ply themselves in academic areas such as the Ohio proficiency tests, the SAT and ACT college entrance tests, reading and computer skills,” Mr. Wilkins said.

        “What we're trying to suggest is that it's a means to an end. A sound mind is a sound body. It's a pursuit to a better life.

        “That's what we're trying to get young people to begin to think.”

        Tutoring will be available for participants.

        The track and field program was established in February, Mr. Wilkins said.

        Helping oversee the program are City Council member Todd Portune, Bill Madison of the Cincinnati All-Stars Track and Field Club, WCIN-AM (1480) radio personality Lincoln Ware, Cincinnati Public Schools athletic director Dave Dierker, and Carl Burgess, the associate director of the Evanston Community Center.

        Miss Ohio 2000 Cheya Watkins, who participated in track at Princeton High School, is a spokeswoman, Mr. Wilkins said.

        “There are a number of track enthusiasts in Cincinnati,” Mr. Wilkins said.

        “We just sort of got together and said, "Something ought to be done to bring back track and field.' It's not costly, and our children deserve opportunities to do that.

        “Then we started talking about problems that the kids are having academically. We know the other skills that the young people need. We asked ourselves, "How do we combine these things that we're talking about to get all this tied together?'”

        The track program is an extension of ones at several CRC community centers, including in Evanston.

        “What we try to do is coordinate athletics into the academic preparation for life,” Mr. Burgess said.

        Mr. Burgess is hoping for 20 participants from the Evanston center at today's meet.

        The inaugural meet is for be ginners.

        No times or distances will be recorded, Mr. Wilkins said.

        The event list: standing long jump, softball throw, 50-meter dash, 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash, 200-meter dash, 400-meter relay and 1600-meter run.

        Also on the schedule are a Hershey track qualifier June 13 at which participants can qualify for meets sponsored by the candy company, a summer novice meet June 19, a West End meet Aug. 5, and two more novice meets and one intermediate meet for which dates have not been set. More may be scheduled.

        “We have something for everybody,” Mr. Wilkins said. “We want to encourage everybody to get out and participate.

        “Where we want to be some 15 or 20 years down the road is to see a major track-and-field event here in Cincinnati.

        “We want to see a number of males and females receiving college scholarships, academically and athletically.

        “Lastly, we want to see a state-of-the-art track facility. We don't have that now.”

       

---

Events draw big crowds
    Music Review
Diploma day a victory for many
Taft searches for tax solution
RAMSEY: Lesson in grace
Agency accuses former minister
Architects criticize ballpark design
Buying tobacco tough for teens
Falcons hatch brood - at last
Life springs anew at nature areas
Ballet Review
A.M. REPORT
Aim is to get kids on track
'Anything Goes' musical lures theater supporter
Around the Commonwealth
Candidate for Senate gets assist
Convention plan needs salesman
GET TO IT
Opponent for Lucas chosen
Pig Parade: The Piggest Show on Earth
Students charged with trespassing
What to save
Woman found dead in house by firefighters
Young man hopes to walk again
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book