A Valley track club is facing uncertainty after its contract to use Paradise Valley Community College's track was abruptly canceled.
A key lesson Coach Erwin Jones looks to instill in his Phoenix Bobcat Track and Field Club is a life lesson: finish what you started.
”Out here, we don’t quit,” he said.
The hurdle Coach Jones faces these days is that some in his circle have quit on him.
”The community needs to know what happens to these kids,” he said.
For the past ten years, the Phoenix Bobcat Track and Field Club has used the facilities at Paradise Valley Community College.
The nonprofit welcomes athletes as young as five years old and has had more than 200 people compete statewide, nationally, and even internationally.
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After the contract was renewed with PVCC for the season, Coach Jones was told just two days before Christmas that the contract would be canceled for reasons still widely unknown to him.
He says as of Saturday, January 18, he and his team can no longer use the PVCC Track. This means his two storage units filled with equipment would also have to be removed.
So with just a few days left, Jones wants PVCC to honor their word.
“You told us, you wanted the kids on this track, you told us you wanted the bobcats to be a part of this community. Honor your word,” he said.
ABC15 reached out to the Maricopa County Community College District, who said, "There are occasions when Facilities Use Agreements with external organizations must end because the primary obligation is the operations of the college and the needs and success of our students. We have attempted to return the funds to the organization over the past several weeks and have provided instructions on where to pick up the check at their convenience. While we recognize that this situation was not what the team had hoped for, we wish the program well and hope it can continue at a new venue."
However for Coach Jones, he feels it’s not always how you finish – just that you get a chance to.
”Let us finish, not us, let these kids finish,” Jones said.
