Information Seminars

• Sat, October 28, 2006 - Orlando downtown library, 101 E Central Blvd, Albertson Room, 3rd floor from 4:30 - 5:30pm

• Sat, November 4, 2006 - Orlando downtown library, 101 E Central Blvd, Albertson Room, 3rd floor from 4:30 - 5:30pm

---

TRACKING THE FUTURE

A FORMER COLLEGE AND PRO ATHLETE COACHES YOUNG PEOPLE IN RUNNING -- AND IN LIFE.

[FINAL Edition]

Orlando Sentinel - Orlando, Fla.

Author:  Sonia Chopra, Special to the Sentinel

Date:  Mar 31, 2005

Start Page:  H.1

Section: ORANGE {ZONE} EAST

(Copyright 2005 by The Orlando Sentinel)

In his racing days, when Randall King was a sprinter for his college team, he had only one goal in mind: to break the tape and be first.

Now King has the same goal for the athletes he coaches: to help them win.

"Any coach who says that they don't live out their dreams through their athletes, to some degree, isn't being entirely truthful. We want the athlete to excel, even better than we did," said King, 40, founder and coach of the Central Florida Sprint Club of Winter Park.

"It's just like having kids. We want them to succeed, to win."

Three years ago, King started the club for his daughter Michelle, now 17, who showed an early talent for running. Before he knew it, more kids came along. He estimates that he has coached at least 30 kids.

"I do it for three reasons: I love the kids, I love the sport and I love the rush," he said.

"And I can't get it out of my system."

Dedication and addiction to his sport aside, as a former professional runner for Nike, King knows that apart from being among the best in your game, you have to have an education.

With that in mind, he trains high-school students and then contacts former classmates and coaches at prestigious colleges to try to gain athletic scholarships for his team members. His record so far: Six high-schoolers have won scholarships and many, including his daughter Michelle, are in the process of applying.

King trains and runs every day from 4 to 6 p.m. after he has finished putting in a day's work at his accounting business, The Enterprise Group, and working the phones to various colleges for his athletes.

Gary Duncan, an assistant track coach at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, applauds King's decision to coach.

"He was a top-notch competitor, but he has chosen to work with young people to make them the best they can be," said Duncan, who has known King for two decades.

Walter Johnson, associate track coach at Harvard University, agrees.

"He's taken his passion for track, given it to the kids and kept the focus on education," said Johnson, who has also has known King just as long.

Coaches who had heard of King in their college days return his phone calls and listen when he talks.

"I knew of him. He was a good sprinter, and in the future when we are recruiting sprinters and hurdlers, we will look at the kids he asks us to," said Clive Terrelonge, women's track and field sprint and hurdle coach at the University of Connecticut.

"I know that he's good, and he knows what it takes to get into the next level."

It would be fair to call King's club a family-run operation.

King's wife, Coleen, who is a mortgage broker and works part time for Cingular Wireless, has helped tutor and mentor kids to attain the academic standards necessary to achieve athletic scholarships.

"I have a tremendous admiration and respect for Randall's commitment to the success of his athletes. This type of commitment stems from his passion for kids, especially minority kids, who would have otherwise fallen through the cracks," Coleen King said.

"Randall knows firsthand that this opportunity can be the fork in the road for many teens, and this is his way of giving back to society, an opportunity he's been blessed with himself as a teen."

Besides Michelle, the couple have two other children: Marc, 15, and Maya, 6.

Randall and Coleen King worked for Arthur Andersen in Los Angeles, but they resigned to have a less hectic lifestyle and decided to move to Orlando.

Michelle is a sprinter like her dad and has already won many competitions and is waiting to hear back from colleges.

"He's very good at taking talent that's already there, harnessing it and correcting it," she said. "Anyone can run, but they have to be pushed and their talent has to be brought out. My dad can do that," she said.

King was born and reared in Boston. He started running in his sophomore year at Medford High, and by the time he was a senior, he was No. 1 in the state and among the best in the country.

He says that that two of the four records he had as a sprinter remain unbroken.

King went to college on a full athletic scholarship to major in accounting, first at the University of Maryland and then at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

He then turned pro and ran for Nike.

It was hard and intense, and with the onslaught of arthritis, he realized that it was getting more and more painful.

"I fulfilled all that my body could do. I could no longer compete at the high level, and I figured that if I couldn't do it at the high level, I wouldn't do it at all," King said.

Today, he has no ambitions for himself. Still, great things are expected of him.

"He's an awesome coach. He plans out our workouts and really makes us focus; he's inspiring," said Elizabeth Jones, 17, a Winter Springs High School student who has been under King's guidance for the past year.

Ell Turner, 19, who graduated from Edgewater High School in Orlando, is one of the students applying for athletic scholarships.

"He's a really good coach. He doesn't take any nonsense from anyone," said Turner, who has been running for four years but has been training with King for seven months.

"His mentality is, you are here to run, if you don't want to run, go home. He's tough, he's serious and strict, but deep down, he is a real good guy."

King's vision for the future is clear:

"I can't see myself stopping. I will coach until I die. I will be an old man in a wheelchair, and I will still be coaching," he said.

Coleen King wishes all that for him and then some.

"More than anything else, I would like to see Central Florida Sprint Club grow into the club we envision it could be for the betterment of our youth. This can only happen through the support of individuals and businesses," she said.

[Illustration]

PHOTO: Ell Turner, 19, a former Edgewater High track standout, trains with the Central Florida Sprint Club of Winter Park under coach Randall King. PHOTOS BY RICARDO RAMIREZ BUXEDA/ORLANDO SENTINEL PHOTO: Randall King, a former runner for Nike, times a sprinter during a coaching session Tuesday. PHOTOS BY RICARDO RAMIREZ BUXEDA/ORLANDO SENTINEL PHOTO: James Beckford and Ell Turner, who train with the Central Florida Sprint Club in Winter Park, run sprints recently. Turner says the coach `doesn't take any nonsense from anyone.' PHOTO: Central Florida Sprint Club founder and coach Randall King, 40, can still fly over the hurdles on his way to helping kids earn scholarships.