POWERGRAMS

38 FOUNDATION How do you make chicken salad without chicken? Or how do you win first place in the Alabama high school 400-meter relays without a track? As for the chicken salad, you'll have to call a restaurant. But anyone can ask the proud student body, faculty and student athletes at Wadley High School about the track, or lack thereof. "Everything we do is on the grass. We do not have a track," said Wadley High Principal Lori Carlisle. "We do not have a way to practice some of the events, such as high jump or pole vault. But we make do with what we have." The lack of "things" has been replaced, she said, "by a burning desire to rise above in spite of the situation." That burning desire earned Wadley – a rural school in east central Alabama's Randolph County – first place in the 4x100-meter relay in 2016 and second place this year among Class 1A schools. In 2017, recently graduated Wesley Caldwell earned second- place honors in the javelin, and 14 students qualified for 14 different events, including Caldwell becoming the school's first decathlon qualifier. The situation improved this past spring thanks to a $2,500 Alabama Power Foundation Power to Play grant the school used to buy javelins, hurdles, shot puts, a discus, runner starter blocks and materials for a long jump pit built by the school's agriscience department. "Previously, we had to jump on a mat at practice and use a pit at competition," said 10th-grader Sebastian Owens. "Now we can practice with the sand pit. It has made me feel more confident and sure of myself at the competitions." Owens is a cosmopolitan kind of guy when it comes to track, competing in shot put, triple jump and discus. He qualified last spring for state competition in javelin, using a new one bought with the Power to Play grant. "All the new equipment made me better prepared and more confident," he said. "My goal is to go to state in more than javelin this next year, and to keep improving." Cassidy Taylor, a junior, qualified for the 4x100 team, javelin and 400-meter dash. "We bought hurdles, which helped us become quicker on our feet," she explained. "The girl's javelin helped because it goes farther and flies great. The batons have a really good grip. For us to be such a small team without a track, the grant from Alabama Power helped physically and mentally. We are so grateful." "The Power to Play grant has given my students a more level playing field by providing them with equipment they need to be more competitive," Carlisle said. "Track is a sport that teaches kids that might not excel in other areas, and provides an outlet for them to express themselves." "Track is a team sport," Taylor said, "but it's also a 'me' sport. In most of the events I do, I'm on my own, so I can't get mad at anyone else but myself. I'm more about doing things myself, and track helps with it all." Power to Play is a grant program to help athletics and the arts in high schools in Alabama Power's service territory where at least half of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals. Since 2014, Power to Play has awarded more than $175,000 through 70 grants. Athletic grants are used to increase participation in team sports, help start a new sport, upgrade equipment or pay a coaching supplement. Art grants can fund a new program, increase participation in an existing program or enhance equipment and supplies. The new equipment made an impression on junior Jamichael Angel. "The new javelin was a good pickup to me because it is stiffer and you can really tell if you know how to throw it correctly," said Angel, a state qualifier last track season. He will be making use of the new shot put and discus this coming season. "I love throwing different objects in different forms," he said. "I just fell in love with the field events I am in. They show your strengths and weaknesses." Former track coach Amber Dudley, who left last summer for Brookhaven Middle School in Decatur, explained the core challenge Wadley track runners face. "Training without a track is difficult in the sense that pacing is difficult for events," she said. "A lap around a football field is about 340 meters, while a track is a 400-meter oval. There is a rhythm to events in track and field and it is hard to translate that to running around a football field. "On a regulation track, you know at which place you need to pick up speed or how far you should be driving out from the blocks." On the other hand, she said that having no track isn't all bad. "There is a plus side to running on grass, though, as it tends to save our kids from developing shin splints." EQUIPMENT GRANT AIDS TEAM WITHOUT A TRACK By Gilbert Nicholson Photography by Christopher Jones In front, JaMichael Angel, Trevor Cameron, Cassidy Taylor, coach Amber Dudley; in back, Taquavian Drake, Sebastian Owens and Ka'Darius Zackery. Drake Cameron Taylor

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