SPARTA, Ga. — Hancock Central Middle schoolers are keeping calm and biking on with a wheelie fun way to move during gym class.
They're on the road to success with their bikes since receiving a $23K grant from Outride that brought 30 bikes to the school.
Now, kids are getting more active and enjoying gym class.
"I like the breeze when I ride," 8th grader Shaniyah Davis said.
"I enjoy it," her friend Hailey Tucker said. "I get to come outside and not stay in the gym."
Some of the kids never learned how to ride a bike before the program started last Spring.
They're learning skills and techniques that allow them to roll with the punches.
Coach Dana Walton has a passion for teaching the kids life lessons in addition to biking skills and riding techniques.
Walton said she likes using analogies to teach them.
"We're gonna learn shifting today. Why are we learning shifting? Because life is gonna happen, you're gonna find hills, tough times, you're gonna wake up one morning and feel that mountain ahead of you and you're gonna have to climb over that mountain and get through that day," she said.
Now they're on the roll to cycling their way to confidence.
When Kenadie Posley was in 7th grade, she explained how she started to learn how to ride a bike through the "Riding For Focus" program when it started at her school.
She told us she faced a lot of challenges when she first took the seat, but eventually, she learned how to do it on her own.
One of the most important lessons Kenadie learned was "dusting myself and picking myself back up because that's necessary to overcome things."
Coach Dymear Poole said "Every child doesn't have the opportunity to get out and ride a bike everyday, but a childhood should have a bike."
Walton added, "The kids came a long way in a short time. There were times in the Spring I pinched myself at their patience to learn slow speed skills when, for the majority of them, all they really wanted to do is go fast and race."
Destiny Warren learned how to ride a bike on the day we met!
"I learned how to ride a bike today because my coach taught me," she proudly said smiling.
Every student is getting a chance to grow through the grant.
"It feels good," Sahvannah "Diamond" Culver said. "I get to be free."
Diamond and Michael Greer like to race one another at the end of class.
"I've been riding with this program for a while, but i used to do BMX, stuff like that, so i got a bit of experience with the bikes," Michael said.
He has a few tricks up his sleeve, like standing on the bike and riding with no hands.
"It terrifies me, but I love that they can do it!" Walton laughed.
"I have a hard time being strict because I'm like, oh it's really cool you can do that, but it's like, right now, we gotta follow the two hands on the handle bars, two wheels on the ground and, now I have to say, two feet on the pedal" Coach Walton continued. "Thanks to Michael, I had to add the rule."
The school's also a part of Georgia's Hi-Lo Trail, which is on track to building the longest paved trail in the country.
They're cycling at their own pace and gearing up for greatness.
"Bikes are the answer," Poole said. "Let's keep biking."
Congratulations to 13WMAZ's School of the Week: Hancock Central Middle School!
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