Nonprofit gives kids cycling and life lessons

There are big differences between riding a street bike on neighborhood roads, and racing a track bike around the Velodrome in Morley Field.

Middle-school aged students ride with the San Diego VeloYouth, a program that teaches them the ins and outs of riding in the Velodrome at Morley Field, and rewards them with a road bike at the end of 18 hours of training. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego VeloYouth)

To start, the track bikes — designed to be lighter and faster — don’t brake, so cyclists in the Velodrome’s steeply banked oval track have to be keenly aware of speed and their surroundings.

“It’s kind of like you have to slow down and really pay attention to where you’re going and the track in front of you,” said 13-year-old Carly McCoy, an eighth-grader at Chula Vista Middle School. “It’s very different. I’m used to backpedaling when I want to stop, but (on the track) you’re never supposed to stop pedaling.”

Alongside the cycling info, themes of perseverance, self-confidence, respect and awareness emerge. Thanks to a nonprofit youth program that trains middle school students to cycle at the Velodrome and supplies them with road bikes at the end of the six-week course, underprivileged or at-risk kids are learning all about biking — and themselves — in the process.

Quality of Life Connections started the San Diego VeloYouth program in 2007. The VeloYouth program partners with middle schools where at least 65 percent of students are on a free or reduced meal program.

There is, in general, a physical fitness programming gap in middle schools, said Tanya Landry, board president and co-founder of Quality of Life Connections and program director for the San Diego VeloYouth. It’s a precarious time for at-risk youth who can be recruited into gangs or lured by drugs and alcohol.

Victor Valle, a 13-year-old classmate of McCoy’s, said he enjoys racing in the track. He said he’s learned a few valuable lessons — “like, never give up and stuff.”

Landry said the VeloYouth program gets kids out of their neighborhoods and into a productive, healthy, positive after-school activity.

“There are kids, 12 or 13 years old, who have never been outside the National City limits or who have never been to Balboa Park, so this is a big deal for them,” she said.

The VeloYouth program has worked with Chula Vista Middle School, Castle Park Middle School, the San Diego Asian Youth Organization and the Monarch School, a downtown school for homeless and at-risk youth.

The VeloYouth partner schools are required to provide transportation to and from the Velodrome at Morley Field, where the students ride.  The “class size” is no more than 20 riders, and the curriculum for the students was designed by  Dave Grylls, a 1984 Olympic cycling silver medalist.

Students ride three hours each week, twice a week. As part of the requirements, the students must complete at least 15 of the 18 training hours and a community service project — often something done with the VeloYouth team. They are also required to raise $50 toward bikes for the next “class” of riders.

More stories of nonprofits working with youth: Corps work creates routine for high school dropouts and Kenya service trip opens 11th graders’ eyes

The reward: a 16-speed road bike they take home with them; a mode of transportation, and a means to inching toward independence.

“In terms of their relationship with the bike, we emphasize to them the many ways they can use the bike,” Landry said. “We talk to them about physical fitness, but it goes way beyond that. If they’ve had a rough day at school, or there are issues at home, they can go pound it out on the pedals… They can use it to get out of unsafe situations. We encourage them to use it as transportation; to the library or their first job.

“And we teach them driving a bicycle is similar to driving a car. Yeah, the number of wheels and the engine are a little different, but the rules of the road are similar. It teaches them awareness and life skills, and it gives them a sense of responsibility.”

The adults who work with the VeloYouth — Landry and a team of volunteers — say they’ve seen tremendous transformations in the teens and preteens they work with.

A student cyclist with the San Diego VeloYouth - a nonprofit that works to teach students cycling and life skills - navigates the steeply-banked oval track of the Velodrome in Morley Field. (Photo courtesy of San Diego VeloYouth)

Kyle Kupper, a teacher at Chula Vista Middle School, accompanies his students to the Velodrome during the program. The program helped Kupper launch a bike club on campus — but, Kupper says it has helped students much more.

“I didn’t realize how big this was going to be as far as the influence it has on the kids,” Kupper said. “To watch these kids grow in this way is incredible.”

Kupper said he’s seen many of the Velo program’s participants “come out of their shells,” or take leadership roles on campus. He’s watched them influence friends to be more positive and tackle discipline issues with a more level head.

“I take a chance with two or three kids every year, and I’m never sure if they’re going to make it in the program because of discipline issues — but the No. 1 reason they have trouble with discipline is the lack of opportunity for them to express themselves,” Kupper said. “When they get their bikes, they have an opportunity to leave the neighborhood, and see things they haven’t seen, and do things they wouldn’t normally be able to do without this program… A lot of the kids don’t know much more than the three or four square blocks from their homes, and this lets them see more.”

The program is funded in large part by private donations, while students shoulder some of the responsibility by fundraising to purchase bikes for kids in later sessions. Landry — who is not a cyclist — said that though the program uses cycling to engage youth, “the bike is just a tool” to helping students create a healthy lifestyle, and make positive choices.

“The program is really about empowering youth, building self confidence and creating a positive space where kids can go out and learn something new and make mistakes, and where that is OK.”

Joseph Peña is SDNN lifestyle editor. Email: Joseph.Peña (at) sdnn.com.

Tags: Castle Park Middle School, Chula Vista Middle School cycling, Dave Grylls 1984 Olympic silver medalist, Dave Grylls cyclist, Kyle Kupper, Monarch School, Quality of Life Connections, San Diego cycling nonprofit, San Diego nonprofit, San Diego Velodrome, San Diego VeloYouth, SDNN, Tanya Landry, The Good Squad, Youth cycling, youth nonprofits

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm and is filed under Good Squad, Lifestyle . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.