Issue Four- April 2021:

By Mercedes Barreto

The East Orlando Track Club program is structured to ensure the best experience for its members and establish a standard of attention and discipline needed to succeed. Their environment is a far cry from the ‘everyone wins’ setting, and at times invokes a few tears. A love for running is the goal, and they want to make sure each member is mature/capable of embracing those methods. With that said, a commitment to mental and physical improvement is their mission.

How has the East Orlando Track Club strived to make a name for itself in 2020, and 2021? What brings pride to the organization and its community of loyal and grateful followers/supporters?

“2020 was a challenge for EOTC, as I’m sure it was challenging for everyone. Beginning that year with goals and plans, only to see them slip through our fingers like sand. As restriction eased and small groups of 10 or fewer were allowed to gather, our more advanced runners assembled to develop areas they had neglected. Although some of the development areas focused on their physical/athletic performance, we spent a good portion of our time working on college prep.

Starting with communication, we reached out to college coaches, drafted letters, emails, and created athletic resumes to ensure our schools of interest knew our name. Also, some of our student-athletes needed volunteer hours. Therefore, we connected with several different organizations that were looking for help. We offered support in as many areas as we could. It was actions like those mentioned above that instills pride in our program and student-athletes.”

Has COVID had any significant sort of impact on the Track Club’s plans? In what way, if so?

“Yes. There are very few that I’m aware of who were not significantly impacted by the pandemic. EOTC is a program that works closely with the physical and mental development of its members. Spacing restrictions along with health and safety guidelines made it extremely difficult to function under normal parameters. These components affected our membership numbers and heavily altered our revenue forecast. In turn, as we began 2021, we were unable to purchase needed equipment and apparel.”

What are some positive achievements to expose and explore with all those who might be interested in helping out? How may someone go about doing so?

“EOTC has 15 track & field All-Americans, and we are extremely proud of each member who achieved the accomplishment. However, EOTC hangs its hat on another achievement, college interest, and scholarship offers. Several of our Junior and Seniors are currently being recruited by and Division I and Division II Universities. Results like these are what we want to expose. People or organizations who want to support EOTC can do so by contacting us directly and contributing financially to our non-profit. They can also volunteer their time; we are always looking to develop new coaches.”

What three words describe the incredible advancements your organization has made, considering any list of all possible and existing goals met, and accomplishments obtained?

“Discipline, Honor, Pride. The three words at the bottom of our logo. These words have been our mantra since day one. Every achievement, every goal has been center around those words.

Discipline: to train and learn even when it wasn’t easy.
Honor: to do things the right way, to not take shortcuts, and to know you are representing more than yourself.
Pride: To establish and maintain confidence in ourselves, our team, and our family.”

Is there anything you absolutely need to add to share with those who might be interested in joining the organization? What message can you relay to those people?

“This question becomes extremely complex when you look at the unique and individual stories of our members. Each of them has different journies, challenges, and goals. Some of our members do not have aspirations to be athletes yet use the skills they develop to navigate and master other areas of their life. This concept disrupts every previous notion of who they can be and what they can achieve, for they arrive at each training session ready to work and compete as student-athletes.”