For some time, the children at the Liberty County Pre-K Center watched as Bradwell Institute’s new football stadium was built. Once it was complete, the students admired the new field and facility, which sparked an idea that came to fruition last week.
“These kids all talk about playing football, soccer, basketball and all kind of sports when they grow up,” pre-K center transition coach Carolyn Kelly said. “So we wanted to get the children on the field and let them play and compete so they can start to see it as something possible for them to do.”
Kelly said pre-K center administrators started collaborating about a month ago with Bradwell Institute Principal Scott Carrier so the pre-K students could host field-day events on Olvey Field.
“We were glad to allow the pre-K students to have an opportunity to use Olvey for their field-day activities,” Carrier said. “It is a wonderful chance to help our young children begin to see the importance of physical activity.  It also begins to show students how to be competitive, but also the importance of good sportsmanship.”
Carrier and Kelly said it is good to start sports programs at an early age.
“The younger our children are when these skills are introduced, the more likely we are to be able to make our students understand about healthy competition and the need to support each other,” Carrier said.
The pre-K center planned events on the field all week, which pitted different classrooms against each other. Class members wore colored T-shirts to differentiate the teams.
Allowing the children to participate in activities on the high-school field gave them something to strive for, Kelly said. In addition to encouraging physical activity, field day helped the young students understand the importance of studying hard and staying in school.
“Kids are never too young to begin to be introduced to the goal of graduating from high school,” Carrier said. “We want all of the children in Liberty County to reach that major milestone in life. We want this to become a goal at an early age, before other factors influence them in a negative manner and may make them lose focus and lead them away from understanding the importance of school.”