WSC Concludes Another Successful Season of the Summer Track Program
The third season of the WSC Summer Track Program recently concluded and this summer the program engaged more kids from all parts of the city than ever before!
The season concluded with the qualifier meet which was held on August 6th at Hanson Stadium, followed by the Championship meet which took place on August 27th at St. Rita High School. Almost 250 kids advanced from the qualifier to compete in the city-wide Championship meet. The meet began with a Parade of Athletes around the track which included hundreds of kids and coaches to celebrate the end of the season. This was followed by the competition in which various field and running events took place all over the field. More than 150 medals were awarded to the top finishers from each event. Complete results from the qualifier and championship meets can be found here.
The WSC Summer Track Program is a free city-wide program, for boys and girls ages 6 – 14, designed to provide basic training in the sport as well as community based programming to keep kids active during the summer. The program which is open to youth of all physical and visual disabilities began in June and ran through August. Community-based coaches held practices throughout the summer within the neighborhoods they represented teaching kids the proper techniques and form necessary to compete in the various events. WSC hosted four meets throughout the summer designed to provide fun and rewarding competition to the kids participating in the program.
Last year about 400 children representing 20 aldermanic wards participated in the program. This year the program was offered to Chicago community-based organizations to become program partners to field teams and almost 600 children participated in the program representing almost 30 community organizations throughout the city.