Being a student athlete involves an immense amount of pressure, requiring individuals to balance grueling practices with challenging courses and hours of homework. However, seven members of the ASU track and field team go beyond their own burdens to bring their sport to the youth of Tempe.
Through the Tempe chapter of Run Your City, a nonprofit designed to "make running fun and accessible for kids everywhere," these select Sun Devils showcase their commitment to community involvement and the growth of their sport for a new generation of runners.
Teammates and best friends Taylor Brown, a sophomore sprinter and distance runner, and Alexia Schofield, a graduate sprinter and jumper, work as co-presidents of RYC Tempe. Both were excited to become involved with the organization and head ASU's inaugural chapter due to a shared passion for community involvement and working with children.
"I really just wanted to get involved with the kids here, especially because I love to be around kids, and I thought it would be fun getting our team involved, being at the track," Brown said. "It's a good environment."
In their second season in Arizona, Schofield shared that she and Brown were looking to "get to know the community" on a deeper level and thought RYC presented a great opportunity to do just that.
For Alex Johnson, a junior jumper and the social media director for RYC, her interest in joining the nonprofit came from her close relationship with teammates who were already involved in the organization.
As someone who never usually interacted with kids, Johnson had to learn how to adapt to the new role while developing her leadership skills and giving back to the community along the way.
"It's made me a better leader," Johnson said. "You have to be able to encourage people when they lose, give advice. You have to stay organized."
Sunday practices involve anything from running drills with the kids, teaching technical skills such as getting in and out of starting blocks or simply playing games with teammates. Competition is also at the forefront of the RYC experience, as the kids enjoy racing and "smack talking" each other during relays.
Even so, RYC leadership does its best to emphasize the importance of enjoyment when it comes to track and field, hoping that this joy is not lost for those who hope to pursue competitive careers in the sport.
"Number one thing we teach them is to have fun," Schofield said. "It's definitely forgotten as you grow through your sport, but we try to keep that main foundation."
Brown and Schofield both noted a lack of opportunities like RYC in their journeys toward becoming elite athletes, highlighting a significant issue in the absence of accessibility to similar youth programs for many aspiring runners.
Mia Chavez, a senior distance runner and the RYC seasonal planner, stated that the terms "Division I" or "student athlete" used to sound, to her, like a "whole separate entity that was so unattainable."
Brown shared a similar feeling that, if she "had the opportunity to go out there and to run with some older kids," it would have been a great inspiration for her younger self.
RYC addresses this gap in accessibility, as it runs for six weeks a semester free of charge, with the sole requirement that participants must fall between kindergarten and eighth grade.
This setup allows athletes in different areas of track and field — from jumpers to sprinters alike — to unite youth from across the city of Tempe and put running more in reach for youth athletes in the East Valley.
"All these kids are coming from different backgrounds and doing different things," Chavez said. "Joining them all together, they really became good friends."
Even for Sun Devil athletes not involved in RYC, seeing the work that other teammates put into running the nonprofit chapter shows an unparalleled level of commitment and an inspiring dedication to the community.
"Being able to start that whole thing from the ground up and then working at it by themselves shows a lot of leadership that a lot of people wouldn't want to use their time for," Jayden Davis, a junior sprinter, said.
However, the work these student athletes put in is not for the recognition. It is not for glory or praise. It is simply for a love of track and field and an even deeper desire to instill youth runners — runners that reflect the journeys that these same Sun Devils took in their days of youth sports — with the joy and skills necessary to grow as athletes.
"When I had the opportunity to bring accessibility to youth sports here, it just meant so much," Chavez said. "Especially with running, it's given me everything."
Edited by Niall Rosenberg, Jack McCarthy and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at bcsmit41@asu.edu.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
Brooklyn Smith is a sports reporter for The State Press and an English Literature and Economics student at ASU. She is in her 2nd semester with The State Press.
