Last fall, a group of NYU athletes led drills, games and themed races at free weekly running sessions for kids in the East River Park. Now, Run Greenwich Village is back in full swing for its second season, led by college students that are just as enthusiastic as their K-8 mentees. 

The six-week exercise program is part of nonprofit Run Your City, an initiative where college athletes help introduce children to sports by creating a supportive environment that focuses on building confidence and community. Senior Cindy Leonard and junior Beverly Okyere, both sprinters on the women’s track and field team, founded the Greenwich Village chapter in the spring of 2025, and their first sessions commenced that fall. The program returned for the spring on March 29. 

“To have the kids recognize you and be excited to see you and come back, it was like, ‘oh, wow we’ve really done something here,’” sophomore distance runner Lindsay Guthrie said. “If this is just the starting point, it’s exciting to see where it can go.”

Okyere told WSN that she wished she had a program like this when she was growing up. Especially in New York City, kids often lack spaces to run and play, and many pose financial barriers that further limit their accessibility. 

“There’s not many sports things that are free,” Okyere said. “Doing something like this that’s free, where they’re not on a screen for at least one hour of their day, that they’re outside playing with others and being a kid — that’s really valuable.”

A typical practice session starts off with a warm up, where leaders will form a stretching circle and demonstrate drills and exercises. Participants then break off into age groups for a running-based activity or game, such as Red Light, Green Light or Sharks and Minnows, and every other week the group will hold a unique race day — such as a three-legged or egg spoon race. Each session is themed around a specific value, such as leadership, positivity, teamwork or sportsmanship, which the leaders introduce at the start of each day. 

Local chapter participation has grown — rising from 63 members last fall to 89 this spring — with many returning members. On a larger scale, Run Your City has now amassed 660 student and professional volunteers, and has reached 4665 kids nationwide. 

“We’ve built something that people enjoy and feel is necessary, because no one has to come to a free run club on a Sunday afternoon,” Okyere said. “I’m glad people see the value in it as much as we do.”

The club is experimenting with several changes this season based on previous feedback from parents and kids. In addition to making groups smaller, they’re also hoping to mix up the age ranges so kids can interact with each other in different ways, and hear a variety of perspectives. 

Last season, limited funding often forced them to rely on less nutritious, lower cost snacks. The club is now trying to provide healthier snack options not only to keep participants energized, but to set an example of proper nutrition.

“When I think about how I would fuel for a race or practice day, I would have fruit or a granola bar,” Okyere said. “We try to teach them that foods can help fuel your body so you can do your best.”

The club is also navigating space constraints and limitations — a barrier most other chapters of the program don’t face. Using an unreserved section of a miniature practice field, the team has to find creative solutions to make room and keep the kids engaged. The team has previously openly collaborated with Columbia University’s chapter, which faces a similar issue, and is considering working with NYU Athletics to obtain greater organizational backing and to recruit more volunteers. 

“Student athletes are some of your most hard working, dedicated organizers because we’re choosing to be here,” Guthrie said. “We’re choosing to run and wake up at six in the morning every day. Then you take it a step further where everyone who’s coming is choosing to do so. You just want to share that love for running.”

Maintaining the club alongside the volunteers’ busy academic and athletic lives is no easy task. Volunteers often go straight to Sunday Run Your City meetings following their long runs in New Jersey as part of their track and field training. Still, the students discover great joy in their work.

“I’m hoping that our presence and being there is not just about starting a community service for our team, but ensuring that we’re truly impacting the community in a positive way,” Okyere said. “If at least one kid finds they like sports after a session, then we’ve accomplished our mission in ensuring that they can feel confident in their bodies and how they move, whether they decide to do a sport later or not.”

Contact Isabella Bickenbach at [email protected].