Colgate Women’s Games: Running for a Cause + Education in New York

“Track and field is the fantastic equalizer due to the fact everyone with the motivation and a pair of sneakers can take part.” Director of the Colgate Women’s Games Cheryl Toussaint shared this profound quote when speaking about how the activity of track and area changed her existence which in change aided positively affect tens of millions of women in the course of the region and more exclusively in the New York Metro Place. Each calendar year in the month of April the Colgate Women’s Games normally takes put in New York bringing collectively hundreds of youthful women of all ages and ladies intrigued in keep track of and discipline and furthering their education and learning. Right after a two-year pandemic pause, the game titles are again on in New York starting April 3rd. We connected with Director Cheryl Toussaint to find out much more about this option and the mission of the online games.

The Heritage

Decades prior to the start out of the games, Cheryl was a young female with humble beginnings from Brooklyn. All through her childhood, she would race close friends just for exciting in the neighborhood. Like lots of kids in very similar economic instances, Cheryl was unaware of operating as a group activity and the opportunities it could provide.

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Cheryl shared “I did not know that jogging was a group sport right until I was 13, but just one day I listened to about a observe meet up with and entered on the location mainly because I wanted to see what it would be like to compete towards serious runners. I was absolutely unprepared and wasn’t dressed effectively, but I finished up finishing in fourth place. That minute changed my everyday living permanently. All 3 ladies who finished ahead of me in that fortuitous race belonged to the exact same jogging group, which is how I 1st learned about the Atoms Track Club and fulfilled my longtime mentor, mentor, and founder of Colgate Women’s Game titles, Fred Thompson.”

In 1974 Colgate Women’s Online games was established with an emphasis on education and athletic excellence. The game titles had been birthed just a number of years right after Cheryl competed in the 1972 Olympics where by she took home a silver medal. Colgate Women’s Video games is a developmental sequence, which supplies a space for ladies and gals who may well not or else have the opportunity to participate in organized sports. It is a put where by Olympians and aspiring young athletes establish and compete facet-by-facet and inspire one particular an additional.

Cheryl remembers founder Fred fondly and his reason for setting up, “Fred served as our mentor and experienced girls and youthful women at a time when there weren’t a lot of athletic possibilities for women and interior-town youth like me, and it was where I found out and grew my athletic expertise.” For above 4 many years, Colgate-Palmolive has served as the title sponsor of the game titles permitting for the results of the event and hundreds of 1000’s of dollars in scholarships for the participants.

 Immediately after a existence committed to supporting youthful gals do well in the activity, in the neighborhood, and in their professions, Fred, sadly, handed away in 2019 from troubles from Alzheimer’s condition. His legacy life on by means of the video games.

The Games

The option to witness this extraordinary display of gatherings and sportsmanship is ready to kick off. Cheryl shared some perception on what spectators and participants can hope, “Each calendar year, the absolutely free, New York Metropolis-dependent satisfies entice countless numbers of opponents of all ages from up and down the East Coast. The series gives competition the possibility to acquire trophies and instructional scholarships from sponsor Colgate-Palmolive and has empowered 1000’s of ladies to get into and fork out for college and go on to have effective professions. I was equipped to defray the expense of graduate studies with scholarships I earned from participation in Colgate Women’s Game titles.”

 This year’s game titles open with the preliminary competitions on April 3 and April 10 at St. John’s University, DaSilva Subject, Queens, NY. The semi-finals and finals will be held at Icahn Stadium in New York Town on April 16th and 24th. Attendees can expect to see regular monitor and discipline situations such as the 100m, 200m, and 400m dashes, relay races, and industry events.

The function has served as a education ground for an astounding 29 Olympians (like two Gold medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Online games) and has educated hundreds of National Champions so a likelihood to see a long run star is attainable. Cheryl shared that with the near proximity of the online games in NYC, Hudson County college students normally take part and compete towards other local athletes.

The Foreseeable future of The Game titles

For the last 46 years, Cheryl has been element of the Colgate Women’s Online games. In 2014 she stepped into the position of Meet Director and in 2022 will be overseeing all elements of the software, “I am honored to be overseeing the 47th year of the sequence and giving gals and youthful girls with the very same opportunity I was specified to know their likely.” As the games go on, the mission of supplying good alternatives and opening doors for young girls both of those in athletics and in education carries on.

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Cheryl shared that lots of of the ladies involved with the method have gone on to have amazing career paths with the program graduating potential legal professionals, physicians, instructors, small business homeowners, and far more. Participation and admission to the online games are cost-free! Ladies and women of all ages can signal up now at www.colgatewomensgames.com to take part in the preliminary opposition.