Amanda Freed on Ready Set Gold!

By Amanda Freed

Courtesy of StudentSportsSoftball.com

One of the perks of being an Olympian, past or present, is being a part of an elite group of people who are always trying to find new and different ways to spread the Olympic spirit. Every once in awhile we'll receive emails about opportunities to participate in dinners and other events as a way to meet new people and share our ideas and experiences. Sometimes, an opportunity arises that just cannot be passed up and this particular experience turned out to be one of them.

	Scott Kurtz
	Amanda showing how to properly do the 20 yard shuttle at a youth event.

About a year ago I received an email from the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games asking for volunteers to participate in a new program called Ready, Set, Gold!

The idea of the program is to use the experience and expertise of past and present Olympians to help motivate students to live healthy, more active lifestyles. Unfortunately for many children who would love to be outside throwing the ball around or shooting hoops at the local park, it's not always an option. I realized this when I agreed to be a part of this project and am so grateful to have been given an unexpected opportunity to work with such a special group of students.

What the Ready, Set, Gold! program did was assign 30 Olympians and Paralympians to various elementary, junior high, and high schools throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The program was designed to complement Fitnessgram (the state mandated fitness program for all 5th, 7th, and 9th graders). Our goal is to share our stories and motivate children to set their own goals and develop a plan on how to reach them. The LAUSD was chosen because of its size, necessity, and also to gain a little extra momentum with the hopes of being nominated as the U.S. candidate city for the 2016 summer Olympic games, which, unfortunately for those in Southern California, was just recently awarded to Chicago.

My assignment was a 5th grade class in downtown Los Angeles. My job was to visit the school 5 times throughout the year to help motivate the kids to reach their fitness goals. These goals were not only passing numbers on Fitnessgram but also making health and fitness an important part of their everyday life.

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect. I don't know what it's like to be 10-years-old growing up in downtown Los Angeles.

After finding the directions to the school, all I knew was that historically it was not the "safest area." Looking back on my neighborhood and friends 15 years ago, I know I was spoiled. We would walk two miles to Taco Bell for lunch and not think anything of it, or take the public bus 45 minutes to Huntington Beach for the day. That's just how things were for me growing up, but I'm not so naïve to think that there aren't many more families who don't have those same opportunities.

I had assumed that, even with my experience working with kids, these 5th graders were going to be somewhat of a challenge. Turns out this assignment wasn't just about teaching kids about health and fitness and how to set goals, it was about sharing stories and understanding what it takes to be the best you can be, whatever that may be.

I have never been as touched by a group of kids as I was working with this elementary school.

They worked so hard to get better everyday. We weren't out there playing soccer or four square, we were doing push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and running the mile along a white line on the asphalt. Nobody worried about getting dirty and nobody ever wanted to sit out. Each time I visited, there was a new group of girls and boys telling me how many more push-ups they did that time than the time before because they were practicing in their living room at home.

After about 5 months of hard work we held a mini-Olympics at a park around the corner from the school. We opened the day with the national anthem sung by two students before everyone hustled anxiously to their first event. All students had an opportunity to earn ribbons in track, push-ups/sit-ups, soccer, the homerun contest, and the obstacle course.

Scott Kurtz
Amanda has worked with thousands of young athletes.

I was in charge of the obstacle course so I set up my SPARQ Training equipment and ran the kids through a maze of cones and hurdles as well as had them do push-ups, and sit-ups. We announced the winners at the end of the day and they came up one by one to receive their ribbon and applause by their classmates.

You can tell that they were a little embarrassed to be the center of attention for that moment, but at the same time they were extremely proud of their accomplishments. I was proud that even though not everyone received a ribbon that day, every single one of those kids participated and tried their very best.

I guess I chose to talk about this because I wish more young men and women, would take the opportunity to reach out to others, particularly our youth. You never know who might be inspired by who you are or what you do. By no means do you need to be a "world-class" athlete to relate to, motivate, and inspire others. I can guarantee you that less than 1% of those 5th graders watched softball in the Athens Olympics and even less, if any, knew who I was before my first day, but every time I walked through the gate to the playground, you'd have thought I was Michael Jordan!

This is for no other reason than because I, and others like myself involved in similar programs, came in and took the time to get to know these kids, believed in them, and told them that one day they could be really great if they just work hard. That's really all they needed to hear for their eyes to get big and their ears to perk up.

More than anything I wish that I could take each one of these kids by the hand and walk them through school, tough decisions, and other difficult times, just like I wish I could do the same with many of the kids that I've worked with in softball because I know that each one of them has the potential to be extraordinary!

Because I know this is not possible, I'm just going to try and reach as many kids as I can and hope that some of what I say or do stays with them for a long time. If that happens, I'll be happy!

Now just think how much that number will grow if we all inspire just a small percent of our peers. I'm not just talking about motivating girls to play sports, or get good grades, I mean everyday life inspirations; Be more considerate of others, watch your language, don't add fuel to rumors. You'll never know whose watching you, paying attention to what you do, and gaining inspiration.

I had no idea that these kids that I've met through Ready, Set, Gold! would have such an impact on me. I still get inspired by little things and I know you do too. I think about the way they look at me, or the naïve things they say about their life without thinking twice and I want so badly for them to know their potential.

They are the most fun, and caring kids that I've ever worked with and I'm truly going to miss my time with them.