By Brian Howard

REXBURG, Idaho — A seven-time National Junior College Athletic Association Cross Country Coach of the year has taken his talents to another level—grade school and junior high school.  Doug Stutz loves it.

“When we coached at Ricks College, we wanted that to be successful. We love to be of service to the youth in the community, and hopefully, we can help some of them develop a love for the

sport and maybe want to continue to help bolster our middle school and high school programs here in the area,” said Stutz.

Stutz started the Rexburg Track Club to help his children have a good experience with track and field. His children have since outgrown the youth program, but Stutz decided to keep it going. He feels that helping young people achieve excellence is rewarding, but this track club is also about giving kids a chance to try something new.

“In our club, we let them try all the different events.  One fellow who started as a distance runner tried the high jump one year just because he was in our club, and he decided he could high jump,” said Stutz. That young athlete went on to be a high jump medalist at the state high school level.

“It really is to help expose the kids to the sport.  For a lot of the kids, this is the first time they’ve ever done track and field, and they don’t know what it’s like. They can come, and they can have some success, develop friendships, develop skills, and some discipline to be able to accomplish

something after you put the work into doing it,” said Stutz.

Stutz knows what he’s talking about. He coached seventeen Ricks College men’s cross-country runners to All-American status as a head coach. 

As the president of the Rexburg Track Club, Stutz keeps plenty busy at both practices and meets. He makes sure the venues are ready, the events are organized, and the meets are scheduled and run on time.  However, he says it is not a one-person job.

“We have lots of help. We have 15 high school Madison High School track and field athletes that

help us as coaches during the year to help with our practices. At meets, they help run the events.  We have three of the Madison High School coaches that are out here helping us run the meets. So, there are a lot of people involved,” said Stutz.

Stutz says the volunteers help the kids learn how to compete but also to have fun and to do their best. “Competition is important, but more important is participation and competing against yourself. So even if you’re finishing last, but you’re doing your best, you deserve to be cheered on because you’re doing your best,” said Stutz.

According to Stutz, Pocatello had one of the first track clubs in the area, followed by the Rexburg Track Club. He helped encourage the start of clubs in Idaho Falls, Rigby, and Shelley.

“It’s good to see other clubs starting in the area so we can compete against them,” said Stutz.

The Rexburg track club summer session lasts four weeks with two practices and one mini-meet each week, culminating in a regional meet with other area clubs.

The regional meet is just a whole bunch of fun,” said Stutz.  The regional meet had over 400 athletes from clubs in Southeast Idaho. Stutz and the volunteers make sure the meet is well-organized and complete in just two and a half hours.  Medals are awarded to the top three finishers in each event.

“Even if they don’t win a medal, they can have a lot of fun competing against youth in the area” said Stutz.

 Organizing and running a youth track club is a lot of work, and Stutz says he is thankful for all of the support he receives.

“I just say thank you to all of our volunteers, all of our parents who are patient with us as we work with their children. Then all the children, of course, for coming out and giving it their best and being willing to learn from us who have something to share with them so that they can have an enjoyable future,” said Stutz.

The Rexburg Track Club summer program is offered every summer during June and is for youth ages seven through fourteen. There is also a cross-country program in the fall for boys and girls in grades three through sixth. You can find out more about the club at their website, rexburgtrackclub.org.