Belle Glades’ Big Lakes Track Club and it’s young athletes will compete in the AAU Junior National
championship next week in Detroit.
And the team is going the extra mile to succeed on and off the track.
On a weeknight in the city of Belle Glade, things begin to slow down. But over at Pioneer Park, you’ll find the Big Lakes Track Club just starting to speed up.
Every week night, this dedicated group of young athletes ages 6-14- meet there to practice.
“We work hard, put in lots of effort and we reach our goal,” said one of the team members Elijah.
That effort has paid off. Next week the team will be competing against hundreds of other young
athletes at the junior national championship in Detroit.
“It’s gonna be fun because I get to adventure the world,” said 7-year-old Patrick Vickers.
" A lot of these kids have never left Belle Glade. A lot of them haven’t gone past West Palm Beach,” said Willie Smith one of the team’s coaches.
“You don’t have to tell them to line up in a circle. They’re already lined up in a circle,” said Smith.
While making it to nationals was of course the athletic goal, for many of these players, it’s helping them achieve so much more than that
“The passion that they have, they will be successful. It’s more than just running out here,” said Smith.
