Resources: Concentrate Ann Arbor Sarah Rigg’s Feature Article: Ypsi mini-grants support youth nonprofits offering sports and professional trades programming All About Speed Track Club City of Ypsilanti Youth Mini-Grant Transcription: Rylee Barnsdale: You’re listening to 89.1 WEMU. I’m Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Back in March, the City of Ypsilanti announced the […]
Resources:
Concentrate Ann Arbor
Sarah Rigg’s Feature Article: Ypsi mini-grants support youth nonprofits offering sports and professional trades programming
All About Speed Track Club
City of Ypsilanti Youth Mini-Grant
Transcription:
Rylee Barnsdale: You’re listening to 89.1 WEMU. I’m Rylee Barnsdale, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. Back in March, the City of Ypsilanti announced the recipients of this year’s Youth Mini-Grants program, designed to bring grant funding opportunities to local nonprofit organizations providing resources to the youth in our community. After evaluating applications submitted back in the fall of 2024, a committee of city council members awarded $9,000 in total to two different Ypsi orgs to help bolster their missions of promoting the well-being of young people right here in our town. Today I’m here with Sean Brandon, the president and head coach of Ypsi’s All About Speed Track Club and one of this year’s mini-grant recipients. Hi, Sean! How are you doing today?
Sean Brandon Jr.: Hi! I’m doing very well! How about yourself?
Doug Coombe
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Concentrate Media
Rylee Barnsdale: You know, I am loving the sunshine! I’m so glad that spring has actually sprung here in Michigan!
Sean Brandon Jr.: I’ve been waiting a long time for it!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, you started All About Speed, the All About Speed Track Club, back when you were living in Flint in 2016. And you’ve since moved to Ypsi and brought the club with you. But how did the idea for a club like this–this brand of athletics club for young people–come around originally?
Sean Brandon Jr.: So, back in, I want to say 2010, I was in college. My parents actually started the program because they also run an All About Ball Youth Sports in Flint, Michigan. So, it started with flag football and tackle football, elementary basketball, tee ball. And then, in 2014, we started track and field. We started with a very small group, so it wasn’t anything to write home about.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Sean Brandon Jr.: And that was when I came on as like the head coach for the track and field program. And my parents just kind of oversaw everything because they’ve run youth sports for three decades now.
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure.
Sean Brandon Jr.: And in 2016 is when we really kind of made a bigger name for ourselves throughout the state, competing in the AAU Junior Olympics right here at Eastern Michigan in the summer of 2016. And that was our first real taste of like being on the national stage for track and field and youth track and field. Since then, we’ve grown. And then, 2020 hit and the pandemic hit. And so, it created a big change and shift for everyone. And that summer, I ended up moving down to Ypsilanti with my wife Jessica, and that summer was just like a transitional period for us. I was traveling back and forth to Flint to coach. And then, the following summer in 2021 is when we officially started the Ypsilanti chapter of the All About Speed Track Club.
Rylee Barnsdale: And as you mentioned, too, this club stemming from the work that your parents had been doing originally as well, this is all pretty much family-run from top to bottom.
Sean Brandon Jr.: Yes.
Rylee Barnsdale: You work with your wife pretty closely with the Ypsi chapter as well. Family members and team members also have a lot of opportunities to come in and be a part of the coaching and things like that. Is that just stemming from its roots in All About Ball or is that something you wanted to really instill in the participants–this idea of community and this close-knit kind of feeling?
Doug Coombe
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Concentrate Media
Sean Brandon Jr.: It’s kind of how our foundation is set. It’s family-run. It’s community led. Most of our coaches either have children who participate in the program, or they were athletes themselves in prior years, either in football or basketball, or they we’re one of our first runners when we started track and field. And they said, “You know what? I enjoyed my experience so much, I want to come back and be a coach.” And it’s also helped us to recruit some former college athletes to say, “Hey, I ran with this person who was in this program. I want to come and help coach too.” And so, that’s kind of how we grow and develop our administrative base. And then, we just kind of build from within.
Sean Brandon Jr.: And so, you applied for this year’s round of Youth Mini-Grants from the city and All about Speed received, was it $4,000 from this grant?
Sean Brandon Jr.: Yes.
Rylee Barnsdale: Was this your first time applying for this grant?
Sean Brandon Jr.: This was our first time applying for this grant. We’ve actually been applying for grants for months now. And this was the first one we actually like got a response back from that was positive. And so, I was excited! I still remember the call that I got, and I was dumbfounded and lost for words. It was just like, “Oh my gosh! Thank you! Like, thank you!” I didn’t have any other ways to express how gracious I was in the fact that we were awarded this grant.
Sean Brandon Jr.: How has receiving this money impacted the team and its members and even on the admin side of things? What are these dollars going towards to continue elevating these students in this program?
Sean Brandon Jr.: It’s had an immediate impact. It actually helped us to be able to afford to travel to the Michigan indoor state track and field championships. We were able to pay for some of our athletes to stay in the hotel because it was a two-day event all the way in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It also helped to pay for travel opportunity for a couple of our high school runners who qualified for national championships in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City at the Armory. These are really big opportunities that we get to have kids within the community travel and represent themselves, represent their city, represent our team on a national level, and kind of get the word out there that we’re small, but we’re talented!
Rylee Barnsdale: Sure! I’m curious about how this grant will impact All About Speed also in the long run as well, as in the immediate, being able to travel and provide these different resources for your athletes. But as far as next year, three years down the line, etc., what does showing this particular commitment now mean for future members of the club?
Doug Coombe
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Concentrate Media
Sean Brandon Jr.: Well, this is going to help us show our dedication to the city and how much we plan to put into growing within the city and being able to add more kids and more structure to our program to provide more opportunities for others to join and participate. This is going help us with traveling, being able to take more kids on the road to bigger events out of state and allow more kids who may not be able to afford the registration fee to participate anyway and be able provide scholarships and scholarship opportunities.
Rylee Barnsdale: This is WEMU’s On the Ground Ypsi. I’m talking with All About Speed Track Club head coach and president, Sean Brandon Jr. Sean, why is a program like this youth mini-grants program we have here in Ypsi so important to nonprofits like yourself and others that are specifically geared toward the youth in our community? I mean, you’ve spoken at length about the impact that these grant dollars can have on your personal organization. But from a nonprofit standpoint, what does having this opportunity just available mean for groups like yours?
Sean Brandon Jr.: It allows us to provide an opportunity for younger kids to participate in something outside of school, something extracurricular. Because we start at such a young age, this is something that can help a kid find direction or find a community that is like-minded. And we promote education through our program. And so, this is something that gives kids–a group of kids–just like them to grow with outside of school. It’s a small, community-based program that looks to grow within the community with the community.
Rylee Barnsdale: We’ll wrap up our chat here just by asking as someone who went out to apply for this grant and then did end up receiving it if there are other non-profit leaders or folks in similar organizations to All About Speed that are thinking, “Maybe I could apply for a grant, but maybe I’m not.” For whatever reason they haven’t gone out and done so yet, why would you encourage them to take that leap and put that application out there?
Sean Brandon Jr.: Because growth is scary, but growth requires risk. And this was something risky that we didn’t even think we would get, but it was also something we felt like was necessary. And in order for us to grow, we have to take a risk. And the risk was applying for a grant and saying like, “This is what we need to keep growing.” And in order for us grow, we got to reach out to people who have the opportunity and the means to help. And this was someone saying, “We see what you’re doing. We like what you are doing. We want to help.” And if you want to grow, reach out and give somebody an opportunity to help you.
Rylee Barnsdale: Well, Sean, I want to thank you so much for being here today with us. It’s really wonderful to see such great work being done with young folks in our community. And when you’re talking about athletics and you’re talking about, you know self-betterment, those things are hard for adults to do sometimes.
Sean Brandon Jr.: Absolutely!
Rylee Barnsdale: So, it’s really wonderful to see that happening with our young folks! And I’m really excited to see where All About Speed goes in the next couple of years, too!
Sean Brandon Jr.: Well, we’ll be growing right here in Ypsi and doing the best we can!
Rylee Barnsdale: For more information on today’s topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I’m Rylee Barnsdale, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting at Eastern Michigan University!
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DULUTH — Bill Punyko extended his arm, smiled and offered words of encouragement as one of thousands of runners took the water-filled paper cup from his hand. It was one of countless cups Superior’s longtime head swimming coach handed out alongside more than 60 other Spartan volunteers during the 49th annual Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, […]
DULUTH — Bill Punyko extended his arm, smiled and offered words of encouragement as one of thousands of runners took the water-filled paper cup from his hand.
It was one of countless cups Superior’s longtime head swimming coach handed out alongside more than 60 other Spartan volunteers during the 49th annual Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, June 21.
“We’ve been coming here for around 10 years,” Punyko said. “The purpose is to provide community service. It’s also fun; we’re dancing to music, handing out water, and all of the runners are very grateful for the volunteers.”
The Spartan swim team is one portion of a larger Superior presence that worked mile marker 19 near Lester River in Lakeside. In addition to their athletes, coaches and several parents, Superior also had volunteers from the Lake Superior Youth Chorus.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Together, Superior’s swimming program and Lake Superior Youth Chorus volunteers — who ranged in age from young children through high school students — operated one of the largest multi-purpose water stations during Grandma’s Marathon this year.
Superior educator and Lake Superior Youth Chorus choir coordinator Elise Sterling said bringing multiple unique aspects of the community together for a day of giving back was a great way to bring everyone closer together.
“It’s a great and super-valuable community builder,” Sterling said. “As an organization, we want to make sure we’re giving back to the community. We have some swim team kids and some non-swim team kids, but we all came together as one group today.”
The Lake Superior Youth Chorus is a Duluth-based nonprofit organization that offers holistic musical education for children living in the Twin Ports. They had more than a dozen volunteers at Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday, including Sterling.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Whether it was handing drinks to parched runners, continuously filling additional cups or picking up discarded trash, Superior’s volunteers — including roughly two-dozen swimmers — made a positive impact, according to water station captain Susie Burns.
“It’s so amazing,” Burns said. “I just love the groups that we have. This is the first year in a while that the Lake Superior Youth Chorus has volunteered, so we’re super excited to have them here. The swim team is back again, and it’s always great to have them, too.”
Multiple Spartans said giving back to the community is always a rewarding experience, but when surrounded by the fun and festivities of Grandma’s Marathon, it takes the joy to a completely different level.
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
Among them is Max Carey, who just finished his junior year with Superior’s swim program. He said Saturday was a fantastic day of community service and that it was an honor to represent Spartan athletics on such a large scale.
“This is my first time volunteering,” Carey said. “We’re helping people, having fun and eating hot dogs, too. It means a lot to be able to get out here and do some community service because I have a lot of pride in our sports and athletes.”
It was an action-packed day that began as early as 5:30 a.m. for many of Superior’s volunteers. They filled thousands of cups and handed them out to a percentage of the thousands of people who raced in either the half or full marathon on Saturday.
Spending time together contributing to the greater good is something Punyko and Carey believe translates far beyond one extremely humid race day in June. For Spartan swimming, it’s a jumping off point that gets the program ready for the upcoming year.
“It’s not just swimming,” Punyko said. “They’re building the bonds you need for when things get hard during the year. They’re going to have to rely on each other, trust each other and have relationships. This is the first step in coming together for next year.”
Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group
The Spartans swimming program has been volunteering for essentially a decade, but this year was the Lake Superior Youth Chorus’ return to Grandma’s Marathon after a couple of summers away.
Sterling said Saturday was a perfect return to Minnesota’s largest and oldest marathon, and that she hopes it’s the genesis of a lengthy run of the Lake Superior Youth Chorus volunteering again at a truly historic event.
“The fact that they wanted to include us, that’s really cool,” Sterling said. “We were like, ‘Of course we will be there to help, even if there are just 12 of us.’ This was exciting, and it’s something I think we will definitely continue.”
Reagan Hoverman joined the Duluth News Tribune as a sports reporter in July 2023 after spending the better part of two years covering a variety of prep and collegiate sports at the Pierce County Journal in Ellsworth, Wis. Before that, he was a news and sports reporter at the Inter-County Leader in Frederic, Wis.
INWOOD – In the resumption of a game that started on Tuesday, South Berkeley rallied from a three-run deficit to knock off Jefferson County 5-4 in eight innings on Friday to win the District 6 Senior League softball tournament and advance to the state tournament. Jefferson County was ahead 4-1 when the game resumed, after […]
INWOOD – In the resumption of a game that started on Tuesday, South Berkeley rallied from a three-run deficit to knock off Jefferson County 5-4 in eight innings on Friday to win the District 6 Senior League softball tournament and advance to the state tournament.
Jefferson County was ahead 4-1 when the game resumed, after it previously scored a run in the first inning, two more in the second inning and another in the third inning.
The San Francisco 49ers receiver is looking forward to the future, but he hasn’t forgotten where he came from. TEMPE, Ariz. — It’s been seven years since Corona del Sol High School product Ricky Pearsall committed to play football at Arizona State. His football career has taken him from the Valley of the Sun to […]
The San Francisco 49ers receiver is looking forward to the future, but he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.
TEMPE, Ariz. — It’s been seven years since Corona del Sol High School product Ricky Pearsall committed to play football at Arizona State. His football career has taken him from the Valley of the Sun to the Swamp and now to the Bay Area, but the second-year NFL wide out took time during his offseason to return to where it all began by hosting a free youth football clinic at his old high school in Tempe.
“I was just on this turf not too long ago and I know this process. I remember being a kid looking up to NFL players.” Pearsall said. “I just took a look around to remember all the memories. It’s really crazy how things go around.”
Pearsall became a standout receiver for the Sun Devils during his three seasons at ASU, then transferred to the University of Florida for two years. In 2024, the San Francisco 49ers selected Pearsall in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. His talent and faith took him from Friday Night Fever on 12News to Monday Night Football on ESPN.
Before heading to Training Camp in Santa Clara, Pearsall wanted to return to his hometown and give back to the community that helped foster his football dreams.
“I always had that belief, and I think that just goes back to who I was raised by: my parents. They instilled that belief into me,” Pearsall said. “I had a great group of friends at [Corona del Sol] that always believed in me as well, so I had no choice but to believe in myself. Now we’re here.”
Ricky’s mom, Erin, says the mission behind the free football camp is to make an impact off the field and leave a legacy. Her son is living out his dream but in August 2024, she and her family experienced what felt like a nightmare.
Ricky was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in San Francisco. He made a full recovery and 50 days later, he made his NFL debut.
“It gives me goosebumps to talk about because it could’ve went the other direction and it didn’t,” Erin said. “[Ricky] had a dream since he was six years old and he’s living it out right now because of the sacrifices he made to be disciplined. This is a story about persistence and him overcoming difficult times.”
Pearsall is looking forward to his future as a 49er, but he hasn’t forgotten where he came from. He plans on hosting more youth football camps in Tempe as well as Gainesville. While he finished his college career as a Gator, he looks back on his time at ASU fondly.
Pearsall is another hometown hero young athletes in Arizona can look up to and after making his dream a reality, he offered a simple message to the kids at his football camp: just keep believing.
“Have faith and continue to believe in themselves and work extremely hard because you’re never going to get anywhere in life unless you’re super dedicated, you manifest about it and you work really hard towards it.”
Follow the conversation with Lina Washington on X and Instagram: @LWashingtonTV. If you have a sports story idea, email Lina at LWashington@12News.com.
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ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A Rochester woman is celebrating a major milestone, and one that most never get to experience. On Friday, Maxine Schultz turned 110, and a party was held in her honor Saturday afternoon. Dozens of family members and friends lined up to greet Maxine Schultz as she celebrated her big day and […]
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A Rochester woman is celebrating a major milestone, and one that most never get to experience. On Friday, Maxine Schultz turned 110, and a party was held in her honor Saturday afternoon.
Dozens of family members and friends lined up to greet Maxine Schultz as she celebrated her big day and achievement.
Schultz moved to Elgin, Minnesota from South Dakota in the 1940s, before coming to Rochester after her husband got a job with Marigold Dairy.
Throughout her life, Schultz worked at the downtown location of JCPenney Co., at her family’s hardware store, and as a cafeteria worker for Rochester Public Schools.
Schultz said her biggest piece of advice is to always keep yourself busy.
“It’s tremendous that this many people would show up,” she said. “Keep busy. Don’t sit around and do nothing and feel sorry for yourself. That was the one thing, I could always find something to do.”
Family and friends said she is sharp as a tack. Schultz also shared her refrigerator was always filled with ice cream when her husband worked for Marigold Dairy.
Those who stopped by on Saturday afternoon got cake and ice cream. In the past Schultz has taken a ride on a hot air balloon to celebrate previous birthdays.
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CHARLEVOIX, Mich. (WILX) – Michigan State golfer and former Williamston standout Caleb Bond battled to win the 114th Michigan Amateur Championship at Belvedere Golf Club on Saturday evening. The semifinals were pushed back a few hours due to weather, but it was Bond taking down Laingsburg’s Zach Koerner in 16 holes and Cheboygan’s PJ Maybank […]
CHARLEVOIX, Mich. (WILX) – Michigan State golfer and former Williamston standout Caleb Bond battled to win the 114th Michigan Amateur Championship at Belvedere Golf Club on Saturday evening.
The semifinals were pushed back a few hours due to weather, but it was Bond taking down Laingsburg’s Zach Koerner in 16 holes and Cheboygan’s PJ Maybank beating Clinton Township’s Adam Burghardt to advance to the finals.
Bond held an early lead through eight holes, but Maybank would take the lead on the back nine until Bond tied it up on 12. It went all the way to the 18th for Bond to take down Maybank and win the Michigan Amateur Championship.
Bond gets an exemption into the U.S. Amateur in August.
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The former New York Giants guard returns to his alma mater to help the football program where his career began. MONTROSE, Pa. — About 80 kids showed up at Montrose Area High School to learn the ins and outs of football from the former Meteor, Chris Snee. Now an NFL scout, Snee spent his 10 […]
The former New York Giants guard returns to his alma mater to help the football program where his career began.
MONTROSE, Pa. — About 80 kids showed up at Montrose Area High School to learn the ins and outs of football from the former Meteor, Chris Snee. Now an NFL scout, Snee spent his 10 year career with the New York Giants and is one of the most decorated players in Giants history, winning 2 Super bowls with the team and a 4 time Pro Bowler.
Snee says he wanted to give back to his alma mater to help build the football program at Montrose starting them young.
“You know, the priority with this was I wanted all the varsity kids to get to know the youth players and then the youth players to get to know the varsity kids, um, because I told them how I looked up the guys before me and we want to reestablish that relationship and just again, you know, have them be role models for the younger kids and I think that you’re seeing that today. Yeah, but it’s just been a lot of fun, a lot of smiles. It’s competitive, but it’s loose and fun, and I think it’s a great day for Montrose,” Snee said.
“He’s supportive of what we’re trying to do up here and have Chris you know come all the way from Boston means a whole lot and it’s just the first of many. We’re all learning and we’re going to get better as we do this thing, but so excited just to see the direction that this program is headed,” said Montrose head football coach George Petrak.
Chris Snee and the New York Giants organization also donated $15,000 to the Junior Meteors football program and the booster club.
Snee will also be participating in a charity golf tournament on Sunday at Tall Pines Players Club in Montrose.
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