Life Lessons Through Sports

Running (sports) is a great vehicle for learning about life. Experience big feelings, good and bad, challenge yourself, and go outside of your comfort zone. Learn how to handle big feelings and situations, where the stakes are fairly low, to help you learn how to navigate them later in life, where the stakes are higher.

Too many kids burn out and quit sports around middle school. Too many youth sports programs focus on short term success with a culture of "Winning at all cost." There's explicit and implicit pressure to win now over long term development. The coach's egos and program's reputation are too dependent on that immediate success.

We make running fun

We strive to keep them engaged through games and other activities where they will be running, but also building strength and agility. They will get tired and sometimes complain (as kids do), but we manage the intensity to be developmentally appropriate. Small successes are building blocks, and failures are lessons along the way. Grit is the willingness to risk falling short, then come back stronger.

My ego, the program's success, comes from how well I engage the kids, and how many I move from A-to-B, wherever their A is. That movement is not just physical, but psychological, social, emotional; e.g., confidence, self-worth, appropriate risk taking, willingness to try and possibly fail, grit.

We encourage kids to participate in other sports and activites, to experiment with different activities to find out what they like, to build complimentary strengths and skills. There's no need to specialize until at least HS.

  • Ages 6-14.
  • Lowry & Central Park.
  • Free family runs on weekends (ocassionally).
  • No prior running experience necessary. They should be capable of running/walking 1/2-mile without stopping.
  • They should be coachable.

Summer, 2026

Limited to 25 kids.

June 9 - July 30
Tue at Central Park. Thu at Lowry. 5-6p
Because of summer vacations, we'll use a punch card type system so you can pay for what you think you'll use.

Dates: June 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, 30. July 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 30

Rates
$25 each.
5 for $100, 6 for $120*
10 for $190*
Unlimited $250

*Extra sessions can be purchased at the same rate. E.g., if you

Summer participants (5 or more) will get a $25 discount on the fall.

Competitions are encouraged, but optional. There are some youth friendly track meets in the summer (June 19, July 10). We might also pick a local road race or two to do as a group.

Fall, 2026

Aug 25 - mid Nov.
Central Park and Lowry.
Tue and Thu afternoons/evenings, 5-6p through Oct. We'll move it earlier in Nov.
End of season party.
Limited to 25 kids.

Fall pricing TBD

Fall is built around cross-country (XC) racing. Dinos are encouraged to compete in at least 3 races.

2026 tentative race schedule:

  • Sep 20 - Denver Dinos, Expo Park XC, Aurora*
  • Sep 27 - Coyotes Invitational, deKoevend Park, Centennial
  • Oct 3 - Boulder Mtn Warriors XC, Boulder
  • Oct 11 - Elevated XC Showdown, Aurora
  • Oct 17 - Kokopelli Challenge, Colo Springs
  • Nov 8 - USATF Colo State Youth Championships, Colo Springs
  • Nov 14 - USATF Region 10 Youth Championships, Colo Springs
  • Nov 15 - Colorado State Youth Championships, Aurora

This is just a sample of available meets. We'll pick several to do as a team.

*Our home meet. Free for Denver Dinos. Parents are expected to help at the race.

Distance for most XC races

  • 8&u: 2km (~1.24mi)
  • 9-12: 3km (~1.86mi)
  • 13-14: 4km (~2.49mi)

Spring, 2027

Starts early April