The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Youth running program builds skills
CANASTOTA, N.Y. » Passion for track and field is inspired at a young age in Canastota. In some cases, very young. A youth running program has been bringing kids between the ages of 2 and 12 and their parents to the school for more than 15 years, allowing children the chance to get out on the track for the first time and experience events like the 100-meter dash, hurdles, shot put, javelin, long jump and more.
The program started as a way for Canastota’s cross country runners to train during the summer and grew from there into the youth program that it is today. Tabitha and Stephen White, along with assistant coaches Tessa Gaglianese and Danielle Burkhead and a number of student volunteers, work with the kids on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for four weeks each summer. The first five days are practices before a meet is held on the second Thursday of the program, with each athlete allowed to compete in two events and medals given out to the winners. Then, the cycle resets, with five more practices and then another meet on the final night of the program.
Dozens of children from around the area and beyond typically participate in the practices with even more coming for the summer’s two meets.
“It’s the best part of the summer,” Tabitha said. “Watching them grow. The little ones stop at the hurdle the first year. The next year they jump, and the next year, they run over.”
Tabitha was once one of the Canastota runners participating in the program during its formative years. Her love for the sport and helping impart
her wisdom comes as no surprise, considering her father Darrell Gaglianese and Doug Holdridge ran the program when she was a high school volunteer. More than a decade later, Darrell is still right in the thick of things, helping inspire another generation of tracksters alongside his daughter.
The goal of the program is to expose children to a sport that can get lost in the shuffle. Youngsters are taught proper form and technique at an early age so they are better prepared for the modified and varsity levels.
“The older they get, the more we focus on form and technique,” said Stephen. “It’s a chance to build throughout our program.”
For some participants, the program sparks a lifelong love for the sport.
Steven Scaramuzzino, a 2017 Canastota graduate, was back this summer as an assistant coach and could be one of the poster children of the program. His first track experience came through the program when he was “two or three” and parlayed that into a varsity career in a Raider uniform and a collegiate gig as a runner on the On- ondaga Community College track and field team.
“Taking what you’ve been through and reteaching,” Scaramuzzino said of his coaching style. “Helping them get to their goals.”
Fellow Canastota Class of 2017 alum Dennis Delaney was another former Raider back to help carry on the track and field legacy at his alma mater. He enjoyed getting to know the young runners throughout the summer.
“It’s fun teaching them what I learned growing up,” Delaney said. A com- mon lesson at the summer programis proper running form, or as Delaney put it: “not stomping your feet as much.”
Otto Shortell 11-year-old Fiona Mahoney has spent her last five summers on the Canastota track engaged in the running program. Her favorite part of the program is spending time with her peers at the track, and she is beginning to figure out which events she likes the most.
“I like distance,” Fiona said. “Not so much sprinting.”
Eventually, she wants to follow in Delaney and Scaramuzzino’s footsteps as a student volunteer.
“Next year, I want to help,” she said.
Her mom. Jill Mahoney, a 5th grade teacher at Roberts Street Elementary, also enjoys the relationshipbuilding aspect of the summer program.
“I watch these kids grow up,” she said. “I learn more about the kids that are coming through [fifth grade]. It’s another way to build relationships. It’s a good thing all around.”