LKT

LKT is back for 2025, but with a new home! Check the team calendar for dates.

Thanks to Stephen Dravis for the ink about LKT on IBerkshires.com. 

Check out the article HERE.

In the late 90's Coty Pinkney began a Youth Center track and field program for 1st through 6th graders held at Williams College. Coty had younger children (6 of them) and he wanted them to have an early track experience. He enlisted a few other volunteers and started the program. In the early 2000's Coty moved away and Kris Kirby took over the program. Again, Kris enlisted a small crew of parents to volunteer, but there was not a lot of track & field experience among the crew. When the Kirby boys got older, Kris handed the program off to Brian and Julie Gill. Brian is the head coach of the Mt. Greylock Track and Field team.

At first, Brian thought he would run the program just as Kris and Coty had, but we were missing a key piece to the puzzle...the athletes of Mt. Greylock. The Mt. Greylock Track Team knew a lot more about Track and Field than the parents of the kids in the program and it was a great experience for them to have to teach the events they were involved in. We also found it to be a lot of fun and a good bonding experience for our athletes to give something back through volunteerism.

At the end of the first year involving MG athletes, Mrs. Gill put on a dinner for the volunteers and everyone said, "This is awesome" (or something like that). So Mrs. Gill, being the wonderful person she is, decided that she would host a team dinner for all the volunteers of Youth Track on every night that we ran the program. The first year we would have anywhere from 12 to 25 people. By 2019 we were hosting 40-60 people for dinner twice a week. This year...who knows. 

We are looking forward to another great year of Youth Center Track. A typical night might look like this...

5:00 - MG practice ends and we pile into cars and SAFELY drive down to the Gills (you can also take the bus as it goes right by the house).

5:15 - eat dinner (all cell-phones go into the cell-phone bin during time at the Gill house. Parents can call the house phone 458-3770).

6:00 - planning session for the night - who is a group coach, who is an event coach, what are the events and timeline and skills of the night.

6:15 - depart for Mt. Greylock

6:30 - Warm up with running and moving games.

6:45-7:45 - 8-10 minute stations were kids go through sprints/jumps/hurdles/distance/throws/relays, etc.

MG students earn community service learning hours for their participation (1.5 hours per night).

This year we are scheduled for 8 sessions on Monday and Wednesday nights.

We are scheduled to begin on April 9th and end on May 12th. 

We have a ton of athletes on the team now who started out in the Youth Track Program. Let's keep the tradition alive. It's time for you to play your part.

See Coach Gill if you would like to be involved. Also, email Mrs. Gill (brjugill@hotmail.com)  if you would be interested in hosting a dinner or providing some food for a dinner.