The following is from The Jaguar Track Club
The Jaguar Track Club was founded two decades ago to give boys and girls in Maplewood-South Orange and surrounding communities something positive to do. But along the way, the competitive and successful South Orange Department of Recreation program became a family and a connection to the community that has spanned 20 years for nearly 2,000 young people ages 6 to 18.
On Wednesday, December 28th, alumni, family and friends will celebrate this journey during a reunion from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Richfield Regency in Verona, N.J.
Ticket purchase for the event and donation contribution can be made on Eventbrite.com, by searching “Jaguar 20 Reunion.”
Since its inception in 1996, the Jaguar Track Club’s commitment to academic and athletic excellence has been based on this motto – “Train your mind to lead, train your body to follow.’’
“It’s not about winning,’’ said Daneen Cooper, the sprint coach and one of four founders of the club. “It’s about doing your best and let’s see what happens.’’
The team, led by a volunteer coaching staff, started out with 30 athletes for the inaugural outdoor, indoor and cross country season. Now, there are over 200 athletes in the program and they have competed in numerous local, state, regional and national meets across the country.
Jaguar athletes have attended more than 108 colleges and universities and some are now lawyers, physicians, writers and photographers,
The team, a feeder system for the Columbia High School track program, shows no signs of slowing down with 90 kids already signed up for the current indoor season. “When you have a kid that’s all in, then we have to be all in,’’ said Maurice Cooper, a head coach, founder and husband of Daneen Cooper. “It’s not like we’re shutting this down anytime soon.’’
