“The school wanted to create some new after-school programs. I’d...

“The school wanted to create some new after-school programs. I’d run track in high school. Was I good? No. But I ran. So I volunteered to create the track program. The minimum to form a team is eight girls. Luckily I’m a cool teacher. I’m not rushing them to be grown. And I know the memes. So I had some girls who signed up just to be around me. In the end I found my eight. Nobody had any track experience. But these girls had playground reputations; they were fast. We just needed to build up our endurance. At our first practice we ran around the track one time, just to see how we were feeling. I ran out front to show them how it’s done. At one point I turn around, I got girls walking, I got girls stopping. My goal was just to finish the season. I wanted them to learn commitment. So when they grow up they can determine their own way without somebody pushing them. We were a little nervous on the morning of our first meet. Some of us were panicky. Some of us were crying. I told them: We don’t need any MVPs. We don’t need any Rookies of The Year. Just don’t stop running. No matter what, just don’t stop running.’  All of them raced in different heats. Then the scores started coming in; it was like: ‘Whoa. What’s up. We winning this?’ A lot of the girls placed. Our captain Jaziah was second out of 24 girls. That was the day we became a team. I started buying Gatorade. We chose a team name. Every time I gave a suggestion, they’d be like: ‘That’s corny. That’s corny.’ They’re in that phase of like, they hate everything. But when we got to ‘Baby Got Track,’ that hit. BGT, baby. BGT. Now before every meet we do our BGT chant to give us a little bit of that braggadocious energy. These girls are committed. During the 7th grade trip to the Poconos, the BGT girls were in my cabin. We woke up an hour early, ate breakfast, brushed our teeth, then we ran track. Tomorrow is the championship. We know that we can do it and we’re gonna show that we can do it. But no matter what happens, these girls are already leaders in the middle school. Our principal has noticed the results. We’re getting brand new jerseys. And next year we’re going to have an indoor track team too.”