While some kids soak up the last days of summer vacation before another school year begins, five elementary school track-and-field athletes from Oakland are ready to lace up their sneakers to compete in the Junior Olympics in Iowa this week.

These 8-to-10-year-old competitors, along with a swift, 5-year-old teammate, are a part of the East Oakland Track Gems, a nonprofit organization that prepares students from various OUSD campuses for success in the sport — and offers mentorship.

EOTG was originally founded in the early aughts by Cal Athletics Hall of Fame track star, the late Coach Willie White. Coach White died in 2021 at 82 years old. But during his time as a mega-athlete in the 1950s, he received countless honors and awards through his more than 60-year career as a mentor in track and field. In 1981, the City of Berkeley dedicated July 11 as “Coach Willie White Day,” followed by the City of Oakland proclaiming June 7 as a day in his honor in 2016.

A man runs on a track with the word "California" written on his shirt. — Cal Athletics Hall of Fame track star Willie White. During his time as a mega-athlete in the 1950s, he received countless honors and awards through his more than 60-year career as a mentor in track and field. White was the original founder of the East Oakland Track Gems. (Courtesy of Cal Athletics)

Picking up Coach White’s baton by keeping EOTG an active community organization, is Coach Traivon Soto-Johnson (who goes by Coach Soto), a longtime friend of White’s and current leader of the nonprofit. Coach Soto said about 25 kids ages 5 to 18 participated in the program during the school year.

This year, five students qualified for the USA Track and Field (USATF) Junior Olympics in Eugene, Oregon, where they competed in three categories last weekend: the 4×100-meter sprint relay, long jump and shot put. Although EOTG athletes often qualify for the Junior Olympics, this is the first season the team made it to the finals and traveled for the event.

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The relay team is currently ranked No. 9 in the nation overall. One 8-year-old, John Howard III, placed No. 8 in shot put, qualified for the finals and received the All-American medal. In his first year on the Gems, 9-year-old Kaden Remson said he achieved a personal record by throwing a round, 6-pound shot at a distance of 6 feet, 14 inches. His mother, Jasmine Remson-Omari, drove him to Oregon to compete.

Four children wearing lots of medals pose for a photo with a man on an athletic field. — East Oakland Track Gems Coach Traivon Soto-Johnson with team members Kaden Remson, Elijah Soto-Sims, Kayden Thompson and John Howard III at Castlemont High School. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

“I think that this whole entire season has been a confidence builder. And then, to get to that level, he stood a little bit taller, arms and shoulders a little bit back,” she said. “Everyone that stopped him was just telling him, dude, no matter where you place, no matter what you did, there’s thousands of kids that want to be here.”

Coach Soto’s son, Elijah Soto-Sims, was the only athlete on the team who qualified in all three of the events he entered. William Blackwell III, an 8-year-old anchor leg with several gold medals in long jump and the 100-meter, zoomed by many tough competitors while in Oregon to help the relay team achieve its national ranking. (The anchor leg is the final position in a relay race and is generally reserved for the fastest runner on a team.) The Gems even have a 5-year-old in the mix with Kayden Thompson, who earned a whopping 19 medals over the entire season, all while keeping up with his older teammates.

A boy flexes his bicep muscle while posing for a photo with over ten medals hanging from around his neck. — Kayden Thompson, 5, poses for a portrait with his track medals at Castlemont High School in Oakland. Thompson earned 19 medals total during this season as the youngest member of the East Oakland Track Gems. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

“As a parent, I can be proud until I’m blue in the face. But I ask him, ‘Are you proud of you?’ Because that matters,” said Jocelyn Evans, Thompson’s mother, during Monday afternoon’s practice at Castlemont High School. “I just love to see them in their element. It’s just so organic. It makes me so proud because how many people can say their kids went to the Junior Olympics?”[pullquote size="medium" align="right" citation="Jocelyn Evans, mother of 5-year-old Kayden Thompson"]‘As a parent, I can be proud until I’m blue in the face. But I ask him, ‘Are you proud of you?’ Because that matters.’[/pullquote]With their Olympic debut in Eugene behind them, these Oakland students are now gearing up to compete in the second biggest competition of their lives so far: the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa, running from July 26 to Aug. 5.

“Tears come to my eyes just thinking about it,” said Coach Soto, holding back emotion. “Coach Willie White is a legendary coach. I’ve been working with him for over 15 years helping build the program. So to be in this position, where we’re at right now, I said, ‘Coach, we’re going to do it, Coach. We’re going to do it.’”

Rooted in Oakland

EOTG’s path to the Junior Olympics wasn’t easy. In fact, it wasn’t even paved. When training started, the team didn’t have a track to practice on, let alone access to a long jump pit. The Gems typically train in the evenings at Castlemont High School on MacArthur Boulevard, but at the time, the field was under construction. So Coach Soto rented space where he could at Bancroft Middle School to keep his athletes sharp until Castlemont’s track was ready to welcome the team back in May.

Four children run around a track. — From left to right: John Howard III, Elijah Soto-Sims, Kayden Thompson and Kaden Remson run on the track at Castlemont High School during one of their last practices before the Junior Olympics in Iowa. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

“It’s just an amazing year,” Coach Soto said. “We had nine [students] qualify for Iowa, but we didn’t have the funding available to have everybody go. A lot of the funding came in after we had to register. But we had enough to take the relay team because they qualified, and then, the [10-year-old] long jumper, we were able to get him out there as well.”

When asked what OUSD can do to support EOTG in its future endeavors, Director of Communications, John Sasaki, told KQED that since the organization exists outside the district, it couldn’t directly dedicate funds to the team. But it can show support in other ways by connecting the team to local companies that often partner with the district.

“Anytime that we have a great organization that we work closely with and that helps our kids, we want to raise those up,” Sasaki said. “Because it does, without a doubt, take a village to raise our kids with all these wonderful organizations.”

A boy flexes his bicep muscles while posing for a photo with over ten medals hanging from around his neck. — Elijah Soto-Sims, 7, poses for a portrait with his track medals at Castlemont High School in Oakland, on Monday, July 31, 2023. Soto-Sims runs track with the East Oakland Track Gems. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

Once word spread through the community that nine EOTG athletes qualified for Iowa, but the team lacked funds to send everyone to compete — Oakland stepped up. Coach Soto started a GoFundMe campaign for his team, which as of this reporting, received over $7,600 out of its $20,000 goal from 130 donations.

The funds raised will go toward helping the team with travel, food and hotel expenses as they compete in Iowa. Before the Junior Olympics in Oregon, many of the students had never stepped foot outside of California.

Local businesses such as Radius Recycling (formerly Schnitzer Steel), a company that operates in both East and West Oakland, heard about the Gems qualifying for the Junior Olympics and donated an additional $10,000 to support their trip.

Two children stretch leaning on the metal fence around a track. — John Howard III (front) and Kaden Remson do a drill at track practice with their coach, Traivon Soto-Johnson at Castlemont High School. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

Tasion Kwamilele, director of educational partnerships and government and public affairs manager for Radius Recycling, told KQED she grew up attending various Oakland schools, from Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary to the Oakland School for the Arts.

“Recognizing the public safety issues that we’ve been having in our city, it’s the work that Coach Soto’s doing, it really is keeping a group of kids off the streets,” she said. “Beyond that, it’s also showing them the possibilities of what’s out there.”[aside postID=news_11942006 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Mother-and-Son-1020x765.jpeg']Kwamilele said she knew Coach White and watched as Coach Soto continued his legacy.

“I’ve known about Coach Soto just continuing to keep the team thriving and his promise to Coach White to keep the team going,” she said. “I’ve been so proud of him for keeping his promise. It’s kind of been a fairytale season for the team.”

‘We are like hidden gems’

The light tinging sounds of metal clinking together radiate from a distance as four kids and a group of parents stand on a pristine football field surrounded by a terracotta-colored running track. On a warm, Monday afternoon at Castlemont High’s newly renovated sports stadium, the Gems hold one of their final practices before they fly to Iowa.

“These are hurting my neck,” said 8-year-old John Howard III, who proudly wore every medal from the entire season on his little body. Another child busted out a quick cartwheel near the end field before Coach Soto called the boys to focus on warm-up exercises on the track.

A boy poses for a photo with over ten medals hanging from around his neck. — John Howard III, 8, poses for a portrait with his track medals at Castlemont High School. In Eugene, Oregon, Howard III placed No. 8 in shot put, qualified for the finals and received the All-American medal. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

As parents stood on the field, faces beaming with pride, Coach Soto told KQED the Gems’ parents, along with the support of Oakland, gave the kids the push they needed to succeed going into their next competition.

“The Oakland community is rooting for y’all right now,” Coach Soto said. “We are like hidden gems. There’s so much negativity about Oakland, you don’t get to see the positive. This was one of the positive things that I saw that we were doing because we’re not just about being competitive or being good at track and field. We’re about health. We’re trying to improve the health of the community through track and field.”

A man inspects the shoe of a child on a sports field. — East Oakland Track Gems Coach Traivon Soto-Johnson (right) helps Kayden Thompson (left) tie his shoes at Castlemont High School. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

During practice, one Gem was already in-flight to Iowa with his family as he was scheduled to compete in events starting Tuesday. William Blackwell III, son of former wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers William Blackwell Jr., told KQED his son has surprised him and his wife, Aisha Blackwell since he was 9 months old. Still, seeing his boy run after new goals at full speed never gets old.

“He’s getting to show the world what he can actually do,” Blackwell Jr. said. “I’m going to always be there supporting him, training him, pushing him, encouraging him, strengthening him, loving him. Because sports only last for so long. But a father, for me, is a lifetime.”

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