THOMASVILLE — The Thomasville-Thomas County Sports Academy is preparing to send kids to the Junior Olympics in Humble, Texas after receiving word that they qualified for some of the track events. 

There are roughly 25 kids participating in the TTCSA program and this year, eight of those kids from the program’s track team are excited to get the opportunity to compete. 

The kids who are competing range from ages 8-12 years old and will participate in events such as shot put and the 100 meter run. 

“It feels great. This will be our fourth trip to the Junior Olympics, but just actually seeing them over the past few months, I tell them all the time about the improvement that I see just from when we started in April to where we are now,” Bryon Howell, founder of TTCSA and head coach, said. “I see their hard work paying off.”

The Junior Olympics will be held July 31-August 7, but the kids will start competing on August 2.

Stephan Thompson, board member of the TTCSA, said the kids have a good chance at advancing to the semifinals, given their progress throughout the program. 

“The most we would probably be out there would be four days, if we have kids make it to the finals but, right now, we have a really good shot with the kids at least making it to the semifinals, based on the current times that they’re running,” he said. “All it takes is one good day, and we could have some gold medals coming back.”

Howell founded TTCSA back in 2015 with the intent to expose kids in the community to AAU sports such as football and track. The program requires kids to have passing grades, no disciplinary issues in school and to complete at least 10 hours of community service. 

“I just saw a need in the community,” Howell said. “We wanted something that the children could actually participate in year round. We felt like we could make more of an impact that way.”

Thompson said the program in its entirety has touched almost 150 kids per year, ranging from third to seventh graders, and that offering opportunities like attending the Junior Olympics meets the program’s goal of having a positive impact on kids in the community.  

“For a lot of these kids, being taken out of Thomasville is something that hasn’t happened. Some of them may never get that opportunity, but having this exposure to go to a place as far as Texas we feel is something that will encourage them so they can see one of their accomplishments,” he said. “We hope they don’t look at it as something beyond their reach. We want to instill in them if you work hard and you participate fairly and correctly, these are the things you can achieve.”

A GoFundMe was created in the efforts to raise funds for the kids’ lodging and food accommodations. So far $700 has been raised out of the $8,000 Thompson and Howell are hoping to raise. 

“Our program is very new, so resources and funding is premium in this town,” Thompson said. “We try to make sure we’re able to afford to take them and get the resources we need. We think we’ll reach our goal to get them there.” 

The Junior Olympics is only one out of many other goals the program hopes to accomplish. Howell said he is planning to expand the program into different sports but needs the community’s support to help him accomplish his goal. 

“Next year we’re looking at starting an elite track club, so we’re looking to add more programs and grow overall,” he said. ”We like to support our community. We basically service kids from the city as well as the county schools, so we feel like with broad community support, we’ll be able to provide more activities for the children.”