Pueblo track coach inspiring athletes while competing for Team USA track and field
Dolores Huerta Preparatory High track coach R. Kenneth O'Neal knows how to lead by example.
The now 55-year-old coach, who served in the military for 23 years, has enjoyed a unique athletics career and has competed at a high level for years in track and field.
His prime years of competition have come after what many would assume is the peak of an athlete's career. O'Neal has competed for Team USA in the open division for his age group for several years and will compete this weekend in the USA Track and Field Mid-America Region Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Boulder.
He has fond memories of taking the main stage at an event while representing the red, white and blue of the USA.
“I'm walking down the hallway with everybody else and they only come out of the tunnel into the stadium,” O'Neal said. “And that sun hits you and wakes you up a little bit, and I can I hear that chant ‘USA, USA, USA!’ and it's crazy because I looked up to the right and I saw all the rest of the team in blue and I saw Old Glory back there ... I looked back and looked around and realized I was the only American on the field.”
There was a sense of pride, O'Neal said, to be there in at that moment. Having served in the military for as long as he did, O'Neal said it was an honor to represent the U.S. in a different capacity.
“I had chills and I felt like I blacked out, just for a second while I was walking,” O'Neal said. "It was just so emotional, you know? You've got the USA across your chest and me having served in the army for 23 years and to represent team USA again was just an amazing feeling.”
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Over the past four years, O'Neal has won more than 80 medals and competed across the globe. With the upcoming championships in Boulder, he's hoping to add a few more medals to his collection.
O'Neal said his work ethic comes from his background in the military. Having been a child of a military father, O'Neal was used to having a strict schedule. He continues that commitment today in the way he takes care of his body.
“I try to go to the gym often, at least three times a week,” O'Neal said. “In the army you know you do (physical training) every morning, five days a week, and so I just tried to never break that regiment. I've always tried to stay in shape, but I've cut it down a little bit.”
O'Neal loves coaching and looks to inspire his athletes when he goes out and competes. He said his goal is to show them that no matter what the situation is in front of them, they can accomplish anything if they put their minds to it and give it their all.
“It's good for them to know that I love track and field myself and so I think they feel that and they feed off of that and then they get that feeling, you know?" O'Neal said. "It's good for them and then they start getting better and better at the technical aspects of track and field.”
With the DHPH program coming back last year after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his influence has already been felt: DHPH’s Cameron Smith made it to the state track finals in his first year competing in track and field. O'Neal said he was proud of how Smith competed in his first year and repeatedly told him that he could break records if he set his mind to it.
“I told Cam, 'You know you’re built to high jump, you're built to triple (jump), you're built to long jump.' And he said ‘You think so coach?’ And I said, ‘No, I know so.’
"So being able to help themselves and to find themselves is great. He did everything I asked and he got out there and he didn’t know he could do it, and of course, he ended up breaking the school record.”
Smith would ultimately break school records for the high jump and the long jump on his way to an appearance in the state finals.
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O'Neal's relationship with his athletes and local kids goes beyond the track.
He looks to mentor not only those who compete for him in track and field, but others in the area that may not have the opportunity to learn certain skills in life.
“My relationship with a lot of them is focused, if they need guidance, if they need mentorship ... everyone is not getting that at home and what I try to do is give them the things that I know they need,” O'Neal said. “I've got a program and we talk to the kids about financial management, the basics of investing, how to do a job interview, how to tie a tie and at the end of the program they get to keep the tie.”
His program helps youths prepare for life outside of school. It’s something he believes is important to teach young kids because there is a lot that they don’t know and aren’t being taught in school.
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“Really, I just want to prepare them for life as much as possible,” O'Neal said. “To let them know you don't have to do it the way everyone else does, you can do what you want to do. You could be your own person, being an individual and find out how far you can go in life.”
Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at cabdelmalek@gannett.com or on Twitter: @chowebacca
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo track coach inspiring athletes while competing for Team USA
