Night Moves Track Team - Feeding the Hungry
As a non-profit organization founded in 2014, Head Coach Frank Merriex has developed a unique concept for youth sports teams. A track team that incorporates community service as one of its basic tenants. The young men and women on Frank's team excel at athletics. They train at a very high level 4-5 times per week and participate in both indoor and outdo
or track meets throughout the year. There are local meets as well as regional meets which the team members run in. There is also a national meet that requires contestants to qualify in one of the lower level competitions order to participate. The NiteMoves Track team is well known in the Colorado region. Team members range from Elementary to High School grade levels, and the team is fortunate to have depth at every level. There are championship caliber athletes across several events, including: sprints, hurdles, long jump, triple jump, and long distances. There is a lot of parental involvement and the team is constantly utilizing new training techniques to try to get an edge on the competition. Coach Frank makes sure that his team members are not only champions on the track - he encourages them to become champions in the community. This is one reason that he has incorporated community service as part of the track team activities. At least once per month he takes members of his team to prepare lunch bags to distribute at a local homeless shelter. These lunch bags contain a sandwich, chips, cookies, and napkins. There never seems to be enough bags to give out to the many people but everyone is always happy to see the NiteMoves people when they show up! The benefit is not only for the people at the shelters. The young people on the track team also benefit by being able to see how fortunate they are and that not everyone has many of the the things that are so often taken for granted. The team members can also see that people in need come from all walks of life and they can appreciate the impact of serving the bag lunches. Coach Frank is truly an innovative person. He has been able to integrate his youth track team along with being an agent of change for good in the community. Frank does not receive a salary for being the track coach and often puts his own money into buying the food that goes into the lunch bags. His selflessness is reflected in the eagerness that his team embraces the community service that they are involved in. Coach Frank Merriex has a long history of coaching various sports. Through his coaching career he has coached Soccer, Basketball, Tennis, and Weight/Sport Conditioning. He attended North High School and was a stellar basketball player. Coach Frank has an older son that graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He also has a younger son and daughter that are currently in college and excel in both sports and academics.
