The Port Huron Cheetahs began in 1997 with me taking my oldest son out to the track to practice for his middle school track team.The next thing I knew,a couple of his friends were coming out as well as his younger brothers and sister.We had alot of fun out there.It was like reliving the ole glory days through my children.I had no idea at the time that the Cheetahs would grow to what it is today.Its funny how things happen.There was no blueprint at the beginning or a master plan.It was just simply a father taking his children and their friends out to the track to have some fun racing and practicing.But I must admit that next to my children being born this has to be one of the best things that ever happened to me.Not only am I having a great time out there on the track but at the same time I have the opportunity to help other children in the community and to give them something constructive and fun to do.Since the birth of the Port Huron Cheetahs back in 1997 I have seen many wonderful things happen through the atheletes that I have had the pleasure of working with.I have seen babies grow into being strong,positive young men and women in the community.I have seen records being broken and names being made but I take no credit for any of their accomplishments.All of the accolades by prudency and neccesity must go to the wonderful parents that have supported them every step of the way and the community in which I live in that puts the welfare of their children first.But most importantly to the atheletes themselves for daring to reach for the skies,to sometimes,stand different from the crowd and to reach out and grasp all that life has to offer them.They are what made the Cheetahs what it is today for simply just being there and for that those atheletes have my respect and admiration.But I guess the most overwhelming thing that comes to my mind is that we've only just begun.We have grown so much since 1997 but we still have alot more to go.Like the saying goes 'the skies the limit!' Now back to the history part.Since 1997 we have grown to not only being a track & field club but we also have a basketball program ran by Coach Chris Deems that we offer to 4th,5th and 6th grade girls to supplement the basketball programs already in place in the area.Our goal is to prepare the area youth for middle school and high schools atheletics,not to take away from and we have been pretty successful in doing that to the best of our abilities.All of our coaching staff are volunteers,including myself.We do what we do because that is what we do.Nothing more and nothing less.
How the name Cheetahs came about was later that summer of 97' we had grown from 7 kids to about 30 and at that time we were calling ourselves 'The Northend Track Club'so I put the task to the kids to come up with a name for our club.It was funny because some of the names the kids were coming up with....well..they were unique to say the least.We had Jaguars,Cougars,Speedsters,Trackers to name a few.But a kid named Frankie Edwards actually came up with the name Cheetahs.Well the name fit perfectly because Cheetahs are known for their speed so I liked it right off.So I took all of the names in the pot to the kids and asked them to vote for a name (Secretly I was hoping for the Cheetah name to win out but I did not persuade the kids either way) and they voted for the Cheetahs!I also think that this is one of the key ingredients to the success of this club and that is by opening up to the atheletes and the parents the input as to what direction the club should be going with the director sort of guiding things along.In doing this it truly becomes a community endeavor.
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