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20th Anniversary Banquet Purchase and Meal Selection - Options: Pan Seared Chicken Breast or Blackened Rib-eye
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Flights are 20 years old and running

Charlotte track-and- field team celebrates two decades.


As posted in the Charlotte Observer
Subscribe to The  Charltte Observer

By Joe Habina
Special Correspondent
Posted: Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011

More Information

  • Charlotte Flights Highlights

    Flights athletes who have won multiple AAU (or USATF) national championships (number of championships).

    Brittany Carroll, 1999-2004 (7)

    Brandon Jones, 2000-03 (7)

    Taryn Wentz, 1999-2003 (5)

    Jasmine Isley, 2001-03 (4)

    Shamaya Poe, 1998-2000 (4)

    Taylor Hancock, 2001 (3)

    Ronda White, 1999-2000 (3)

    Fred Staton, 1997 (2)

    Nyosha Bryant, 1998-99 (2)

    Nigel Orr, 2001-2003 (2)

    Mike Edwards, 2001-03 (2)

    William Scott, 2001-03 (2)

    Khala Dawson (USATF), 2008-10 (2)

    Other notable accomplishments by Flights alumni:

    Ronda White: A 14-time conference champion at Appalachian State, the triple jumper gained all-America status in 2003 and qualified for the Olympic trials in 2004 and 2008.

    Felicia Fant: White's Olympic High teammate, Fant set five school sprint records at N.C. State and won four ACC championships.

    Trent Guy: An AAU pentathlon national champion in 2001, the West Charlotte graduate turned into an all-conference football return man at the University of Louisville.

    Tim Walls: Earned all-American status as a member of N.C. A&T;'s 400-meter relay team in 2000.

  • 20th anniversary celebration

    For information on the Charlotte Flights and the 20th anniversary celebration, visit www.charlotte-flights.org or call Alvin Woods at 704-236-4512.


Before she became a two-time Olympic Trial qualifier, Ronda White was a member of the Charlotte Flights.

It's been almost 10 years since White competed for the Charlotte-area youth track-and-field program, but she still feels indebted to the coaches who helped her prepare for college and life.

On March 11-12, White, who helped the Flights win a national championship in the 400-meter relay as a teenager, will have the chance to reconnect with some of those coaches, as well as fellow athletes she knew in the program.

This year, the Flights are recognizing their 20th anniversary; they will start the celebration with a weekend's worth of feel-good events.

On March 11, the Flights will host an informal gathering where current and former athletes and coaches can socialize. The event, at the Revolution Park Sports Academy, is free and open to the public.

The following day, the group will host a formal banquet at the University City Hilton. Charlotte television and radio personality Steve Crump will serve as the emcee for the fundraiser.

The banquet's keynote speaker will be Stephanie Hightower, a former world-class sprinter and hurdler.

Hightower has held national and world records and earned a spot on the 1980 Olympic Team, though she didn't compete in the Moscow Olympics because the United States boycotted those games.

Hightower is president of USA Track and Field, the national sanctioning body for the sport. The Flights became a member of USTAF in 2005.

That membership was a pivotal step for the program, which always had prided itself in developing youths in more than just track and field. Team President Alvin Woods said the Flights joined the organization so that its scholarship-seeking athletes could get a greater amount of exposure to college programs that were recruiting them.

The team was founded by Mecklenburg Park and Recreation employees Anthony James and Cynthia Smith-Perkins in 1991. They worked at the Double Oaks and Earle Village Recreation Centers, respectively, and noticed a lot of children would run between the two neighboring facilities.

"We had these kids that didn't have anything to do," said James, who is still the Flights' head coach. "Their parents didn't have money to send them to day camp, but we wanted to give them something to do."

The program quickly developed to include all track and field events and became a national power within the Amateur Athletic Union sanctioning body.

The Flights started with 20 youths, and its 15- to 16-year-old 400-meter relay team qualified for the AAU national championships in the first year. One of those runners, Trey Miles, now 35 and an art teacher at West Charlotte High, eventually served as a coach for the Flights for about 10 years; he now serves on its board of directors.

In 1996, Jamorya Funderburk became the Flights first national champion, winning the long jump in the 15- to 16-year-old division. In 20 years, the Flights have produced 49 national champions. Woods said he guesses approximately 300-400 former Flights athletes have received college scholarships.

Membership peaked with a yearly average of 400 athletes between the late 1990s and early 2000s. Enrollment dipped to 185 members in 2010, a result, Woods feels, of parents' needing to prioritize their money in a poor economy. Registration for the program is $100, and parents are responsible for travel and other costs.

The Flights have made large strides in areas off the track as well. In 1994, the group incorporated, and it received federal nonprofit status in 1998.

In 1994, the program established a relationship with Johnson C. Smith University. The Flights supported the partnership between JCSU and Mecklenburg Park to help get the Irwin Belk Track and Field Complex constructed at the university in 2003.

The Flights host an annual meet (sometimes at UNC Charlotte) in the memory Dr. Jim Law, the JCSU professor who advocated the partnership with the Flights and the construction of the track.

Flights coaches and volunteers helped with timing and in other capacities as JCSU hosted the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2007.

The network of support that the Flights offers, within and outside of its program, is what Ronda White fondly remembers about competing in track and field as a youth.

"For me, the Charlotte Flights was like a family," she said.

"You often see programs that don't come together as a team. With the Flights, the coaches would talk to team and talk to the parents. It was just a close-knit family."

Joe Habina is a freelance writer. Contact him at [email protected]

Beginning Monday, Sept 13-Off Season Training
 

Mondays and Wednesdays

Functional Strength Training

1800-1930 (6pm-7:30pm)

Revolution Park Sports Academy

 

Mondays and Wednesdays

Water Running

1930-2030 (7:30-8:30pm)
Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center

 

Tuesdays and Thursdays

Off Season Training

1800-1930 (6-7:30pm)

JCSU Irwin Belk Track Complex

 

Functional Strength Training is one price for the season: $55.

 

Water Running is $2 per session.

 

Off Season Training is one price for the season: $55.

 

The season will end in March 2011.


Event Timing


The Charlotte Flights offer event timing services for various fun runs, 5ks, cross country, high school and college meets.  Contact Alvin Woods at 704-236-4512 or Anthony James at 980-722-2303 or Pearl Williams to discuss your event.

We Feature HY-TEK Sports Software
Click the logo to download our '2011 Brochure
Charlotte Flights College Athletic Planner

Click above to download some sound advice provided by
Charlotte Flights parent and board member, Duane Orr. 

  Please wear running sneakers to practice 
 Reminders
�         Rainout number 704- 336-5956 (updated after 4:00 pm).
�         Park on the Johnson C. Smith campus and walk across the street into the stadium.
�         Please bring your child with comfortable clothes/shoes ready to practice.
�         Bring a copy of your child�s birth certificate.

�         If you have any questions or concerns contact Pearl Williams.


Lay Aside Every Weight, And The Things which So Easily Beset Us, And Let Us Run With Patience The Race That Is Set Before Us.    
Hebrews 12

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