CofC Students Get Kids Off to a Running Start

^{Above: Local youth came out to Stoney Field for the first practice of the season on Sept. 21}

This fall, children in Charleston won’t just watch CofC student-athletes compete, they’ll run alongside them.

Run Your City Charleston, a youth initiative led by College of Charleston and MUSC students, officially kicked off Sept. 21 with a free six-week season of sports, team building and fun. 

Run Your City is a national nonprofit dedicated to making sports accessible to all children, regardless of socioeconomic background. Founded in 2018 at the University of Virginia, the organization has expanded rapidly across the country. Its mission is to help kids grow into happy, healthy and confident individuals by pairing them with collegiate athletes who serve as both coaches and mentors.

Thanks to some of CofC Athletics’ finest, Charleston now has its own chapter. 

On your marks!

For many of the student-leaders behind the Charleston chapter, personal experiences with running and sports fueled their passion to give back.

“Joining the track community in high school was transformative for me,” says Emily Kreek, a senior majoring in biology, who is on the Cougars track and field team and is responsible for planning the RYC Charleston’s season. “Running teaches healthy habits, but also discipline and resilience. My motivation in helping launch this chapter is to give kids that head start.”

Chapter co-president Claudia Satzke echoes that sentiment.

“RYC allows me to bridge the gap between my love of running and my passion for community health,” says the second-year MUSC student. “Not everyone has access to be their healthiest self at a young age – and this program helps change that.” 

Across the leadership team, there’s a shared vision of sparking confidence and joy amongst every child who participates. Andrew Catapano, a sophomore exercise science major on the men’s cross country team who serves as the chapter’s donor relations manager, describes it as “a new spark in the eyes of the youth … a spark that will ignite their passion to stay active.”

Teammate Roger Brown, a mathematics major at the College and treasurer for the RYC chapter, adds: “I wanted these children to get to experience the empowerment that running can give you that I’ve benefited from so much in my life.” 

Get set!

Running the program has required careful time management from student-athletes juggling academics, competition and leadership.

“I attempt not to waste any second where I could be benefiting from the success of RYC and the excitement for the kids,” says Catapano.

Besides, the leadership team agrees, service helps keep them centered when things get overwhelming.

Time management hasn’t been the only challenge they’ve faced while launching the chapter. Choosing a central location, finding donors and managing logistics have all created hurdles.

“Working over the summer while being remote presented many challenges,” Brown says, “but my teammates were able to cover for me and vice versa to stay impactful.”

That teamwork has brought moments of joy and kept the group motivated.

For Catapano, it’s been “the collaboration and creative thought” that helped the student-athletes “truly unite as a team.” He points to a funding milestone as a particularly motivational moment: “Finally filling our budget in a way that shows we can afford to help our kids was my most joyful moment.” 

Teamwork was also the focus of first week of practice for the youth runners, who made team posters, conquered the human knot and finished off with an obstacle course and a game of sharks and minnows.

Go!

Looking ahead, the leaders see Run Your City Charleston as more than a short-term program. Kreek hopes it becomes “a lasting tradition – one where students continually step up, take leadership and invest in their community.”

For his part, Brown envisions “a permanent community program that kids will grow up in and benefit from the sport the same way we have.” 

With its first season having just kicked off, Run Your City Charleston is already shaping up to be more than a youth program.

It is a bridge between campuses and neighborhoods, athletes and children, passion and purpose. 

Corrina Castillo is a senior communication major from East Hampton, New York, with interests in writing and broadcast journalism and TV production. She is a Martin Scholar and a member of the Phi Eta Sigma National Honors Society and the Lambda Pi Eta National Communication Honor Society.