County couple on track to help area youth

Page Dowdy/Chesterfield Observer Donyelle and Clifton Thompson coach Steve Kelley as he practices running hurdles.

Donyelle Thompson and her husband, Clifton, are used to the naysayers.

"People say, 'You're crazy, '" Donyelle admitted. "They say, 'I can't believe you spend all your money on those children.'"

"Those children" are the same ones that Donyelle often refers to as "my children." They are members of the Tri-City Jets Track Club that she and her husband started last spring. The club is now entering its first season of indoor track competition.

About 40 children ages 5-19 showed up for indoor-season practice at Meadowbrook High School in mid-November. The Chesterfield couple expects to have about 100 team members when the spring and summer seasons start.

"We had about 300 sign up last summer, but we have to keep it at about 100 at the most right now," Donyelle said.

The Thompsons are assisted by about six other volunteer coaches. All are passionate about helping the club's members, who come from throughout the Richmond and Tri-Cities areas, to succeed.

"I'm serious about what I do," Donyelle said. "I'm going to make sure these kids have the best time that they can possibly have while they are doing this."

"It's something we love doing, and we love the children who are on our team," Clifton seconded.

The team attends invitational meets across the country, including Detroit, New Orleans and Knoxville. Their first indoor meet is scheduled for Dec. 27 in an All-Comers event at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond.

Tri-Cities Jets is an expensive endeavor for the Thompsons, who help fund a lot of the costs themselves.

"We fell behind on our mortgage when we spent money to help with some of the costs for the club," Clifton said. "Just staying at a hotel alone costs us about $1,700."

The team sometimes travels on chartered buses to competitions. There also is the cost of food and lodging along with expenses to enter meets.

Donyelle, who is the team's head coach and executive director of the club, has a special reason for wanting to see the children succeed. As a prior multi-event standout at the former Jefferson-Huguenot-Wythe high school complex and Virginia State University, her dream was to compete in the Olympics.

"I really believe I could have made it, but I pulled my hamstring three different times and that ended my dream," said Donyelle, who works as an instructional assistant at Blackwell Elementary School in Richmond. "I want these kids to have that same opportunity. I am determined that some of my kids are going to the Olympic trials for the 2012 games. I promised to take some of them there. After that, it's up to them."

She tells the athletes that it's important to do everything possible to also make the grades academically to succeed off the track.

"We're trying to help them get into colleges on scholarships," said Donyelle, adding that she has at least three college coaches on speed dial on her cell phone.

"I tell them to ask their teachers if there's anything they can do for extra credit or to make sure to ask if there's anything they can do to improve their grades."

The club's coaches emphasize a repetition in fundamentals to help improve performance for team members.

"They have a willingness to break down the techniques to the kids over and over," said James Rodgers, the club's athletic director. "They want them to have a total knowledge of what they are doing, whether it's in the shot put, a sprint or any other event. They really break it down for them. They have such a dedication to help the kids."

It's apparent that the youngsters appreciate the opportunity to learn and compete for the team.

"I like everything about it," said Sade Tanner, a sophomore at Meadowbrook High, who also is currently suiting up as center on her school's basketball team. "It's something positive for me to do. If I didn't have anything to do in the summer, I don't know what I'd do."

That, said Clifton, is exactly what he and his wife hoped to achieve when they started the club.

Their two children, Du'Shaun and Di'Yea, both Meadowbrook students, are also team members.

"We wanted to give all the kids something to do to help them stay off the streets," Clifton said. "We wanted to help give them a positive outlet."

He said his wife is the perfect person to lead the way.

"She loves the kids," he said. "She calls all of them her children. She has such a caring heart. She just takes all the kids under her wings."

He said the adults who coach the children are firm, but loving.

"The kids love to be corrected and shown discipline because it shows that we care about them," he said. "We want to help teach them better manners and a respect for themselves and for each other."

And in the process, they hope to help the children become winners, on and off the track.

"I know if they make it, that makes me happy in my heart," Donyelle said. "We want them to become the best that they can be."

Anyone interested in learning more about the club can call the Thompsons at 901-4888.