Volunteer Coach, Alan Smith is committed to the Montgomery YMCA Track program
My name is Coach Alan Smith and I have been a volunteer coach with the Kershaw YMCA Track and Field Club for the past 14 years. My interest in track and field began when my daughter first started running track for Cloverdale Junior High School in 1995 and Coach Lancaster gave her a tryout. Because of my daughter’s natural ability in track, Coach Black (an assistant coach for Cloverdale Junior High School), suggested we join the Kershaw YMCA Track and Field Club. Since my daughter became increasingly successful in track and field, I decided to attend a Coaches’ Level I Clinic in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in February 1996. With the completion of this class, I became a volunteer coach for Kershaw YMCA from 1996 until the present time. This coaches’ clinic and subsequent training sessions enabled me to work with my daughter and other athletes on improving their techniques in various track and field events. In order to increase my knowledge base in coaching, I also attended an AHSAA coaches’ clinic. I mainly work with boys and girls ranging from 6 to 12 years old, which is considered the Bantam through Midget age groups. I have taught various athletes the fundamentals of track and field. Throughout the years, I have worked with sprinters, middle distance runners, long jumpers, triple jumpers, high jumpers, shot putters, and discus and javelin throwers. In addition to working with the Kershaw YMCA Track and Field Track Club, I also volunteered with the Cloverdale Junior High Track and Field team from 1995 until 2001. With the help of myself and the wonderful coaches at Kershaw YMCA Track and Field Club (Coach Woods and Coach Hampton to name a few), my daughter, Theresa Smith, earned a full track and field scholarship to the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 2001. She went on to become a major asset to that track and field program, earning high honors at UAB and in Conference USA. I was also a volunteer track and field coach for my daughter’s high school, Loveless Academic Magnet Program, from 2001 until 2006. Because I have a passion for helping children develop into great athletes, I have continued to seek ways in which I can increase my knowledge of track and field and become a better coach. As of 2009, I have become a track and field official with the Metro Montgomery Association and the USATF. I have stayed with the Kershaw YMCA Track and Field Club for so long because the level of commitment that the Kershaw YMCA volunteer staff exhibits for the athletes matches my level of commitment, and together we are making a difference in the lives of children in Montgomery, Alabama.