Jaguar Track Club Exposes Young Runners to National Competition

When Olivia Baker joined the Jaguar Track Club a few years ago, she had no formal training in running; she played soccer and raced other kids in school but had never competed in an official meet. This weekend, the 13-year-old South Orange resident will be running a 400-meter race and two relays at the University of Delaware, an easy task given that last year Olivia competed in Florida and came in first in all three races.

"The times that my wife ran in high school my daughter is running in middle school," said Sam Baker, Olivia's father.

Olivia is one of approximately 70 young athletes from Essex County who joined the Jaguar Track Club to improve their running skills and have since trained with and befriended kids from different schools -- primarily in South Orange and Maplewood -- and traveled outside New Jersey to compete against teams nationwide.

The Jaguar Track Club was founded in 1996 by four Maplewood and South Orange residents who wanted to give their children the opportunity to join a competitive track and field program. Indoor track is for ages 7 to 15, and outdoor track is for ages 7 to 18.

 "While we didn't necessarily think from the outset that we would come to compete nationally, we did want to have something that was a bit more serious than what went on at the Maplewood Recreation Club," said Maurice Cooper, one of the founding members and a current coach.

The team started with about 10 kids and practiced once a week. They were initially part of Maplewood's South Mountain YMCA and joined the South Orange recreational department a year later. Today, Jaguar Track members practice for an hour and a half, three times a week, and participate in regional and national meets on weekends. Soon, the Jaguars will have a sister team in Africa; the parent of a former member is beginning to organize a similar group in Liberia.

While the team is competitive, the idea behind it is to give all kids who are interested in running a chance to participate. Members get to compete in all meets in any given season, with the exception of the last two, which they had to qualify for, explained Maurice's wife, Daneen. It's not just about the running, but the experience as a whole, she said. "It's about keeping them focused, giving them the opportunity for leadership."

Another aspect of the team is their focus on academics. For the past five years, the coaches have scheduled a portion of their time in different states for the older students to visit colleges. They have visited Duke University, Hampton University in Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, and others.

"The whole vision behind the Jaguars is to have a scholastic athlete," said Adrian Cherrington, 22, a former member who currently volunteers for the team during practices and meets. "They push you to not only just give your best effort in running, but also in school," he said.

Like Adrian, other former Jaguars have returned to volunteer for the team. "We have runners who have come back and talked about how they miss the team and how it was because of it that they were able to excel when they went into high school and college," said Olivia's father, who defined himself and his wife as "track fanatics" ever since their daughter started running.

Being on this track team has benefited Olivia's running skills, but also her personal character, her father said. "Olivia has emerged as a leader and has taken a lot of the kids under her wing," he said. When the time to move on arrives, Olivia, who's now in 7th grade, plans to join the track team at Columbia High School and "hopes to have the same experience there that I've had here."