Derek Moskal is a student journalist at the Walter Cronkite school at Arizona State University assigned to cover the Carl Hayden cross country team.

The cross country coaches at Carl Hayden Community High School pride themselves on caring for their athletes. Many runners on the team come from low socioeconomic standards and can’t afford many essentials. 

“Our kids struggle sometimes with having something to eat. Or not having enough to eat. Or going home and not having the right kind of food,” coach Gabriel Robles said. 

Junior Casandra Gamez comes from a family of six, plus multiple dogs. “Especially coming from a family that is kinda big, we don't always get what we need,” she said. 

Because of the runners struggling with the necessities at home, the staff works to provide them with one of the necessities for cross country: shoes. 

Robles and head coach of the girls team, Gary Anderson, have been providing shoes for runners for five years, and it started out with them paying for it out of pocket. However, this cost them hundreds and even thousands of dollars a year. With practices twice a day for months, athletes run through shoes quickly, and those shoes need to be replaced to prevent injury.

“We’ve noticed we have a lot of issues with shin splints and stress fractures, and kids are running with shoes for so long that the sole is falling off and are just raggity,” Robles said. 

The district gives the team a $900 stipend that the team uses for shoes, but this still isn’t enough. This past summer, the Falcons fundraised by selling chocolate bars. Each athlete has to sell one and a half or two boxes of chocolates at $1 per bar. This results in a $30 profit per box for the program. 

Robles said they purchase shoes ranging from about $40 to $50, but they get help from Buddy’s Allstars, a large sporting goods company,  to find quality and affordable shoes.  

For the runners, this is more than just being given a free pair of shoes. For one runner in particular, these shoes are special. Jeff Sumaili was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa. He then lived in Zimbabwe, until he moved to the United States in 2015. “When I would run over there [in Africa], I would run with no shoes,” Sumaili said. “So it’s great that they make us feel comfortable and take care of us for running.” 

The Falcons practice twice a day and average over 10 miles each day, so they work hard in practice. But they also have to work hard for everything else they have. They aren’t given anything; They earn everything. 

“We don’t get everything for free. So it allows us to be responsible and to work hard for what we want,” Gamez said.  

Robles cannot stress enough how much he cares for his team. “I love these kids. We have some really, really great kids here,” he said. 

This love is obvious because of the constant support and help that he gives to his athletes every day, “I think it's a really beautiful program,” Gamez said. “They are really dedicated to the sport. They are like our fathers. They take care of us and they are really inspiring.”