George Yates loves running, which is to be expected as the head cross country coach at Fulton High School.
Now, he's going to help bring that love to some of Fulton's youth.
Yates will be a consultant for the Fulton Flash, a new competitive running club being offered through Fulton Parks and Recreation.
"I just love running and it's been such an awesome thing in my life and I just want other people to experience the awesomeness," Yates said Thursday.
Mike Stradford and Morgan Kraus will head up the team, which costs $45 to join and is open to runners ages 6-14. The Flash will practice 6-7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 9-10 a.m. on Saturdays begining Aug. 5.
Saturday practices will stop after the team's first competitive event, the Columbia Developmental Cross Country Meet on Sept. 6 at Two Mile Prairie Elementary School in Columbia.
Yates was approached about putting a squad togehter by Stephanie King, the head cross country coach of the Columbia Blue Thunder Track Club. With the nearest competitive cross country competitions for the Blue Thunder being in Kansas, she broached Yates and coaches in Hallsville and Ashland about establishing local clubs and joining the Central Missouri Athletics Circuit.
Yates knew that his friend Stradford, a second-grade teacher at Bush Elementary, wanted to get into coaching and thought this team might be just the right opportunity.
"Seeing people improving, especially children, has always been of importance to me," Stradford said Thursday.
Putting the team together and arranging all the logistics has been easier than originally envisioned, said Strafford. The team's had 20 sign up so far with Yates thinking there could be a few more before the start of practices.
Runners aged 6-8 will compete in the 2K, 9-12 year olds will run a 3K and 13-14 year-olds will take part in a 4K.
Stradford - a high school cross country and track participant - runs in his spare time to stay fit. He's already thought of ways to get his team in shape, including mixing in some fun, useful activities.
"If they're not having fun, they're not going to come back and won't be instilled with this joy of running," Stradford said. "Whether it's through games like Capture the Flag or Ultimate Frisbee, there will be training, but we want to keep the kids active and involved in fun running."
Just as Yates professed his love for running, Stradford hopes this club can get to kids early enough that they'll want to continue the sport on through middle and high school.
"I'm really excited for it because if you instill that love for being active, it's going to cause them to have healthier lifestyles in the future, especially when feeding into middle and high school with them having years of competing," Stradford said.