Before Kids Stop Feeling Athletic
When Does a Kid Stop Feeling Athletic?
At some point, many adults decided they weren’t athletes. Maybe they weren’t fast enough or gym class wasn’t particularly kind to them. Maybe running became punishment instead of play. But what if we could reach kids before that happens?
That’s the idea at the center of our latest Fireside Chat with Fitness Finders and the Playmakers Foundation.
Fitness Finders’ Mileage Club has spent four decades introducing children to movement. The beauty of the program isn’t necessarily creating the next great runner. Kids can walk. They can run. They can move at their own pace and earn Toe Tokens representing what they’ve accomplished.
Movement Without The Resume
Rich explained that part of the mission is reaching children who aren’t naturally athletic or don’t already consider themselves runners.
That’s important.
Endurance athletes love talking about pace, distance, finish times and podiums. Kids don’t need any of that before they’re allowed to experience the joy of moving.
They need an opportunity.
And sometimes that opportunity becomes something much bigger.
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From Mileage Club To A Lifetime Of Running
Joe participated in Mileage Club as an elementary school student.
He eventually ran cross country, competed through high school and continued at Michigan State University. Today, he’s Executive Director of the Playmakers Foundation, helping create opportunities for another generation of kids to move.
That’s one story.
Fitness Finders says millions of children have participated over its 40-year history, with roughly one million children and more than 2,000 schools participating this year.
More Than Running
The impact isn’t limited to miles.
The conversation moved into confidence, leadership and community. Kids run and walk together. They encourage each other. Sometimes they’re competing against themselves rather than the child beside them.
Maybe that’s the bigger lesson. The goal doesn’t have to be creating faster children.
Maybe it’s creating kids who grow up believing movement belongs to them. Because today’s kid walking their first lap could become tomorrow’s marathoner.
Or they could simply become an adult who never decided they weren’t an athlete. Either one sounds pretty damn good to us.
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