WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

The Winston-Salem recreation centers have not competed in the Hershey youth track and field games in recent years. Bryce Sherman, director/supervisor, of the W.C. Sims Community Center, wanted to come up with a city-wide competition to bring track and field back to the rec centers.

As a result, the Winston-Salem Recreation Department track meet was born.  The event was held Friday, July 8, at Carver High School.  Twelve of the city’s rec centers participated in the event. According to Sherman, each center held its own meet at its respective center and sent six to 10 competitors to the citywide meet.

“It was great, and after all the work everyone put in, I was very happy,” said Sherman.  “It wasn’t just an individual effort; it was a team effort, and that was the biggest thing I wanted to stress.  It feels good after all  the hard work, phone calls and meetings we went through and to see it turn out like this makes me feel great.”

This was the first year the rec centers came together for this meet. Sherman says there was a lot of trial and error and he saw where improvements can be made for next year. This year the meet included the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, race walk, broad jump, softball throw and the 4 x 100 meter relay.

There were two age groups for the kids; 6-8 and 9-12 year olds.

There are plans to change the time and date of the meet to enable more parents to be able to witness their kids perform.  This year many parents had to drop their children off due to work obligations.  Sherman wants to hold it during evening hours so more parents are able to attend.

Following the meet there was an awards ceremony where the first, second and third place winners for each event were given ribbons for their performances.  W. R. Anderson took home the overall team title for the meet and somewhat ran away with the competition.

“The kids work so hard and the kids are very competitive, not only in sports but in academics as well. We just have some very well rounded kids here,” said Bryant McCorkle of W. R. Anderson.  I am very happy and proud of the great effort these kids put forth.”

Many of the recreation center directors and employees hung around for the award announcements.  Louis Lowery Jr. of the 14th Street rec center was very happy for his athletes.

“I thought it was exceptional and gave kids the opportunity to really enjoy themselves,” said Lowery.  “The city-wide competition helps these kids with their self-esteem and gives them a teachable moment to look back upon.  Most recreational center workers take pride in teaching kids to compete and seeing them give their all makes us proud.”

There are plans to add a staff relay to the event to include the rec workers. Sherman expects next year’s event to run much smoother.