Pink power

n Girls in tiaras prepare to take on Marines’ Leatherneck run this Saturday

Friday, April 11, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by REID SILVERMAN Third-grader Danielle Lynch, left, fifth-graders Ashley Roberts and Jania Randolph and fourth-grader Danazia Estep-Hill get off to a good start while training at Carver Elementary School after school Wednesday for this Saturday’s Leatherneck 5K at Patuxent River Naval Air Station. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Students Chantel Bryant-Miles, left, Katie Price and Harley Locklear save their energy for Saturday’s big run as they walk around the practice course Wednesday afternoon with Kimberly Morrill, a volunteer coach from Booz Allen Hamilton.

A group of young girls in training for the Marines’ Leatherneck 5K Race and Run⁄Walk this Saturday at Patuxent River Naval Air Station loped around the field at Carver Elementary School.

The sun was out.

The girls chatted as they rounded the first corner.

The girls sped up, though, as they approached the end of the final lap. Their volunteer coaches had stretched out a finish tape and clapped for the runners, urging them on.

‘‘Come on! You can do it! Let’s go!”

Ashley Roberts, a fifth-grader, came in first. She said she has always liked running, but admitted that sometimes the girls don’t work as hard as they could. ‘‘Sometimes we jog,” she said, instead of run. ‘‘But we just try our best.”

The 10 adults who are coaching the 14 girls in the program – volunteers mostly from Booz Allen but also one from Lexington Park Family Dentistry and another who is a government employee – make a big difference, Roberts said. ‘‘They run with us,” she said. ‘‘They’ll be, like, ‘You can do it!’.”

Lady Simmons, another fifth-grader in the training program, finished in fifth place at the practice. She said the training for the upcoming run⁄walk hasn’t been easy. ‘‘Yes. It has been very, very hard,” Simmons said, smiling up at one of the coaches. ‘‘Because Miss Rhiana, she pushes us.”

Rhiana Allston and Kelly Weiner, both employees at Booz Allen, have headed up the training program for the girls that is part of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maryland after-school program that is offered in cooperation with the St. Mary’s County public school system.

Weiner participated in a 10-mile run in Annapolis last year and heard about a similar training program for young girls. She came back to work at Booz Allen and told her coworker and fellow runner, Allston, that a training program like that would be a great project in St. Mary’s County.

The Boys & Girls Clubs office was contacted, a group of volunteers was enlisted and sponsorship funding for the program was offered by Booz Allen Hamilton and Lexington Park Family Dentistry, as well as donations for outfitting the team of girls from JC Penney and Atlantic Screen Printing.

The team of 14 girls, ages 9 to 11, was formed, calling itself the ‘‘Tiara Troopers.” And yes, they plan to wear tiaras in the Leatherneck run.

The team of girls and volunteer coaches have been meeting two days a week after school for the past 12 weeks for training that has shaken some of these girls out of a sedentary lifestyle.

Allston, a marathon runner herself, designed the training program to build up the girls’ endurance. Each training session includes 30 minutes of running, 15 minutes of stretching and plenty of talking about their day, Weiner said.

They also work on positive attitudes to the training – not complaining, cheering others on, running the whole time.

Jameia Lynn, a fourth-grader in the program, has stuck with the training although she started without much enthusiasm, Allston said, describing the first meeting.

Lynn ate an orange slice as her coach reminded her of that first training session. ‘‘I said, ‘Who likes to run?’ and Miss Jameia said ‘I hate it.’ And she’s been running ever since,” Allston said.

‘‘They’ve really come far,” Weiner said.

Weiner agreed there was some complaining at the beginning

‘‘But now they’ve learned they can do it. Now, instead of putting their energy toward complaining, they put it toward running.

‘‘The ... program is helping them realize that eating healthy and healthy habits ... it’s helping them develop their whole future,” Weiner said. ‘‘The whole idea is to help them set a goal, work toward it and achieve it.”

Pam Wilkerson, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Maryland, dropped by for one of last week’s practice sessions, saying that seeing programs like this one in progress remind her of why her job is important.

‘‘Our mission is to inspire kids and give them hope and opportunity,” she said.

This program does that, she added.

‘‘Absolutely ... Because some of these little girls would never think of getting involved with a parks and recs program. [With this] there’s a sense of belonging, a sense of competence.”

At the end of the practice, the girls lined up for Wilkerson, as well as representatives from the school system and Booz Allen Hamilton, and recited a cadence they composed, in the spirit of the upcoming Marines event.

‘‘I don’t know what I’ve been told,

Tiara Troopers, sweet as gold.

Every day we try our best.

Now we’re ready to impress.

Sound off,

One, two,

Three, four,

One, two, three, four”

The adults laughed and applauded. ‘‘I’m inspired. I may go out and do some exercising myself,” Wilkerson said.