For 7 weeks during September through November, WorldWide Leader, Repeat and Gekko have been investing their time twice a week, for an hour and 15 mins at a time, with 6-9 5th and 6th grade boys at the Ashley Park Academy (located off of Wilkinson Blvd).

Earlier this year WWL and Repeat awkwardly asked each other out for F3’s Whetstone partnership deal. At the time there was a lot of talk about finding your “one world problem”, where your dolphin and daffodil intersect to address that one problem you see everyday that calls to your heart. Neither of us knew what our one world problem was nor how to go about exploring it.

That’s when one of us suggested coaching a Let Me Run team. If you haven’t heard of Let Me Run (it’s the boys version of Girls On the Run), its a non-profit offering running programs to 4th-8th grade boys with the goal of combining exercise with fun activities and lessons to help boys learn teamwork, build relationship skills, create friendships, grow emotionally, amplify their self-esteem, empower themselves and others, and live an active lifestyle.

Let Me Run is headquartered here in Charlotte but has teams all over the U.S. They conduct two season per year, a Spring and a Fall. F3 is a major sponsor for Let Me Run, in fact, if a team has two F3 pax as the team coaches, F3 Foundation covers 100% of the cost for each boy on the team (~$115/boy)!

This Fall, the three us of committed to coaching a team at Ashley Park Academy, a K-8 school located in Mecklenburg County. Ashley Park is a title one school, its students and families live 120% below the poverty line and in one of the highest crime rated neighborhood in the area.

But don’t let that prejudge the students at that school.

Each Let Me Run practice starts with Words To Live By, a quote that tees up the character lesson for that day, we run a Unity Lap together, dynamic stretches, a 20-40 min running based workout, static stretches, push ups, a character building lesson and often some fun games. Each practice ends with a huddle, hands in and the Let me Run chant; Let me be me, let me reach out, let me run!

Below is a weekly recap over our seven week season:

Practice 1:
– We had NO idea what we had gotten ourselves into, WWL/Repeat had never coached a team before, we had no idea of how many kids would show up
– We had four or five boys the first day, we had no credibility with them, some kinda knew what they had signed up for, most didn’t
– Let’s just say the first practice gave us some GREAT positive criticism on what the heck we were doing there
– Most boys didn’t have their paperwork, coaches kinda had a game plan but not really, the boys couldn’t really run more than 75 yards before wanting to walk, every little distraction grabbed the boys attention over the attention of the coaches
– We learned we could only reasonably have their attention for about 2-4 mins at a time (for discussions)

Practice 2:
– Words to live by- A goal without a plan is just a dream
– Character building lesson – goal setting
– We assigned one coach to lead the practice, the other supported the lead and helped keep the boys focused

Practice 3:
– Words to live by- Let Me Run Boys are en courageous enough to be themselves. When we are ourselves, our unique gifts are allowed to shine!
– Character building lesson – discuss the Let Me Run Credo and Values
– We gave the boys their F3 names this practice, they loved it!
– Jamotis – The Mayor
– Tyrell – Strike
– George – Tiger
– Jaden – Stunt Man
– Gerardo – Stark
– Geffrey – General
– Dexter – Slam Dunk
– Tyvon – Bolt

Practice 4:
– Words to live by- The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side.
– Character building lesson – teamwork
– We did some great water balloon relay races! the boys asked us to pop the remaining water balloons on-top of their heads in a ball of man.

Practice 5:
– Words to live by- Respect yourself and others will respect you
– Character building lesson – Respect
– We did a team relay challenge spelling our R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Practice 6:
– Words to live by- You have the power to encourage or discourage
– Character building lesson – how to be competitive without putting down the competition

Practice 7:
– Words to live by- Tears are words the heart can’t express
– Character building lesson – Real men show their feelings
– We did a great activity combining baking soda and vinegar (think volcano explosion) to simulate what happens when we bottle our emotions inside

Practice 8:
– Words to live by- Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness
– Character building lesson – You are what you eat
– We made a crisco sandwich illustrating the amount of fat in a McDonalds quarter-pounder, fries and McFlurry….. one boy tried to eat it…. he didn’t like it…

Practice 9:
– Words to live by- Be kind to unkind people. they need it the most
– Character building lesson – Why bullying is a bummer

Practice 10:
– Words to live by- Always stop to think whether your fun may be the cause of someone’s unhappiness
– Character building lesson – Taunting vs. teasing

Practice 11:
– Words to live by- Never ruin an apology with an excuse
– Character building lesson – apologies and making it right
– This was a particularly interesting practice, a few of our boys had to use the bathroom in the middle of practice (#2), after a lengthy break, a teacher came back outside and called us in, our boys had made a mess of the bathroom, toilet paper on the ground, water/soap on the counter and poop on one of the toilet seats…. So as a TEAM we all had to go into the bathroom and clean up the mess, and as a TEAM we went to the teacher’s room and apologized.
– WWL looks to Repeat and says “add this to the list of things I never thought I’d be doing”

Practice 12:
– Words to live by- Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out
– Character building lesson – Redefining success

Practice 13:
– Words to live by- What you call a hero, I call just doing my job
– Character building lesson – Everyday heros

Practice 14:
– Words to live by- Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance
– Character building lesson – Inspiration

At the end of the seven weeks and 14 practices, Let Me Run organizes a 5K and each team runs in it. This is what we’ve been training for!

5K recap

Takeaways from the coaches:
– Overall a very humbling experience, these families live off of $10-20k household incomes
– Money doesn’t matter to kids
– These kids were awesome, we certainly had our challenges, some days were better than others, but each boy at some point or another showed just how great and awesome they are
– Never underestimate kids, they may seem like goof offs or trouble makers at times, but they do pay attention, they do have good intentions and they are a lot smarter than you think
– Flexibility is important, we don’t always see eye to eye with one another and being able to empathize with each other so that you can adjust your interaction is a key skill
– Life is not fair, nor will things always execute as you’ve planned them, but if you treat each other with respect, you’ll make it through it and likely have a lot of fun along the way
– Take risks
– No task is too small nor any gesture of kindness unnoticed
– Everyone benefits when you delegate and entrust someone else to be responsible for specific tasks/items (i.e. kids loved leading our dynamic warm ups, pushups and stretches)
– Work hard, play hard is not an easy motto to instill. Consistency, perseverance and willingness to fail are necessary

So is coaching 9-10 year old boys about character building, exercise and accountability our “one world problem”? Maybe… maybe not… but we are certainly glad we took a risk and tried it, it may be more of an experimental process until we each find it.

A huge shout out to Gekko, he originally wasn’t roped into this, but when we made the call to the pax looking for someone to fill in a few days when someone was out, Gekko stepped up and he didn’t just fill in for two days, he joined the team and was an integral part of the team!

It wasn’t easy leaving our 9-5 corporate jobs two times a week for seven weeks…. But it was definitely time well spent!

Aye.
WWL, Repeat, Gekko