Blue Thunder Track Club

Back in the early to mid 90's, some of the part-time staff members of Columbia's Parks & Recreation decided to teach fundamentals of track and field to youth of the community.  Tracy Edwards and Scotty Williams would practice with these young men and women in the field of Douglass Park and on the gravel track at Jefferson Jr. High a couple of days a week.  The group would find the money to join the AAU Ozark District as individuals and participate from time to time. 

Things began to fizzle out a little; and then another part-time worker, Alan Porter decided to take the program another step further. 

He and Darlayna Scott made the decision in 2000 to try forming a real TEAM of kids.  Alan & Darlayna decided to call the team "Blue Thunder".  Ms. Scott took on the lead for fund raising by having the kids sell candy bars.  Enough money was raised to puchase the navy cotton shirts that you see in the photo below. 

The team practiced every Wednesday at Hickman High School. They also participated in the weekly CTC meets, and the local Hershey meet.  Blue Thunder continued functioning in this manner with an average of 6-10 kids on the team yearly through 2004.

In 2005, a new promotional effort for the team was made with the arrival of Camren Cross, the Community Recreation Services Supervisor.  Mr. Porter was still the head coach of the team; but on the first day of practice, he saw 27 children in attendance.  A big difference compared to previous years.   He began shuffling for help & volunteers to address the big increase in numbers. 

Things were going fine with the club; and one day Mr. Porter called on Mr. Cross to help take over a practice while he went to Champagne, IL to watch his daughter graduate from Law School.  Mr. Cross happily accepted the fill in for the day.  After that day of practice, a few parents approached him and said "you have to stay! The kids looked really good!"  For the rest of that season, Mr. Cross stayed with the team in a supportive role by taking over the 8-14 year old group. 

During the fall and winter of 2005, Mr. Cross found a way to get Sam's Wholesale Club to help sponsor the club.  Pete Laguna of Sam's wrote a check for $3,000 in February 2006 to help purchase uniforms, equipment and other needs.  He was very touched by what the team was doing; and he made the promise to donate yearly. 

The Spring of 2006 brought about Mr. Ian White, a research doctor with the University of Missouri.  Ian volunteered with Parks & Recreation at several events and programs.  He jogged on the side for fitness, so he saw Blue Thunder as an opportunity as well.  Ian took over the younger half of the ages; and he brought in some of his students to help as well. 

The team saw a lot of success in 2006 with the help of the new coaches.  The team won 11 medals at the Show-Me Games.  A member qualified for the nationals in the Jr. Olympics Skills Competition, and it became regular to see  "Blue Thunder" crossing the finish lines in high positions at the CTC meets.  2006 was also the first year that the club offered registrations to AAU meets.

2007 was a year of growth.  The first practice had over 70 children in attendance, the group went to new age format, it was our first year registering with AAU as a club, and we attended several more meets.  A total of 7 athletes registered with the AAU in `07.  Some of our athletes went to: the state Hershey Meet in Jefferson City, the Cliff Wiley Track Classic, AAU Districts meet in Topeka, KS and a couple went to the North American Finals of the Hershey meet in Pennsylvania.

2008 is the first season in which the club had an "off-season" and winter program.  The team was meeting at Stephen's Lake Park, the Armory Sports Center and the ARC to train.  The workouts were tough, but there were as many as 34 kids at some practices.  Blue Thunder also began meeting for an introduction to weight training sessions at the ARC once a week for the athletes ages 10 and up.  It seemed to be an enjoyable experience.  That training helped the athletes to perform well at the Jayhawk Indoor Invitational meet in Lawrence, KS as well as the MU All-Comers meet here in Columbia.

Blue Thunder is now a very solid and well-respected club with over 150 members.  Other teams in Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma are very aware of us and have to account for us at meets.  Every season we are sending several of our youth to compete in the National Jr. Olympics.  It looks like the forecast is calling for a lot of Thunder for many years to come!

GO BLUE!