LONGVIEW, Texas — It all started off as a vision in the mind of Coach Andre Thomas. Growing up, he participated in elite track programs in Dallas. However, when he moved to East Texas, he noticed there wasn't anything like that here.
So, he took matters into his own hands to create the Beast Texas Track Club.
"When I moved to East Texas, I wanted to bring that level of competition to this area," Thomas said. "We've already doubled in size. We have roughly about 175 kids now."
Out of those 175 kids, 75 have qualified for the Junior Olympics in North Carolina. It's a truly impressive feat for a new program. With participants ranging from Lufkin to Gilmer, the track club will now be competing for something they previously could only imagine.
"The fact that we were able to get 75 kids from East Texas to the Junior Olympics, most people would consider that impossible," Thomas said.
But Coach Thomas isn't just teaching these kids to be fast. He's teaching them valuable life lessons along the way to carry with them off the track too.
"Our standard, our foundation, is trying to get the kids to be a better person in society," Thomas said. "Like you see on our shirt, we have spiritual words from the gospel. That's our standard."
But now, in order to fully achieve their dreams, they're calling for the community's help. Inflation has caused prices to skyrocket, meaning their trip is even more expensive than they thought. The estimated cost is over a thousand dollars per kid. For some families, that may be enough to sway their decision against attending Junior Olympics.
They've set up a GoFundMe page to encourage donations. Coach Thomas acknowledged the hard work all his incredible athletes have put in all year long, saying it would be a shame if they couldn't participate in an event like this. But he said that truly any donation can make a huge difference for these athletes.