Sheffield Academy hosts Olympic gold medalist ahead of new school year

SHEFFIELD — A new public charter school in Sheffield looks to mesh sports and academics for elementary school kids. Sheffield Academy will open its doors to its first 50-some students on Wednesday, ACCEL regional marketing manager Logann Little said. The early kindergarten through fifth-grade school focuses on high academics, she said, and competitive sports. The school, in a former Sheffield-Sheffield Lake School building at 2180 Lake Breeze Road, is only the second of its kind for the ACCEL brand — modeled after another sports academy in Toledo. On Friday afternoon it welcomed incoming students and community members with a field day and a chance to exercise with Olympic gold medalist and Akron native Butch Reynolds. Reynolds, now living in Columbus, is a former track and field athlete who won gold and silver medals at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and several gold and silver world championship medals for the 4-by-400 meter relay and 400 meters. On Friday, Reynolds jogged around the blacktop not to beat a record, but to keep up with more than a dozen elementary school kids. Sheffield Academy Principal Gary Lane watched and helped corral the kids who'd shown up for the afternoon meant to help get the word out into the community about the newly opened school. Lane grew up playing baseball, basketball and football all through high school before focusing on baseball in college. He played for the University of Northern Iowa, as well as on summer leagues in Minnesota and Kansas. After teaching for some time, he became a principal and continued coaching travel baseball on the side. When the opportunity presented itself to open Sheffield Academy, Lane jumped at the chance, he said — as travel teams and high-quality competitions can be cost prohibitive to families, especially for older students. "I could provide kids quality sports for free and then in turn, when they fun, quality sports and they're active, they're going to have better results in the classroom," he said. "So it's going to help with their behavior, help with concentration, their overall health and they're going to enjoy coming to school." The majority of kids coming in this fall are kindergartners, he said. If the school is successful, those students will grow with the school, which hopes to add classes every year to reach up to eighth grade. And they'll help shape the sports offered by showing staff what they're interested in, he said. "When kids feel like they're part of something, they feel like they're more special, they belong and they're going to have like an hour of sports every day — and that doesn't even include recess," Lane said. "So they're going to be active." Staff are also working on a physio room or break room with padding on the floor for students to do sit-ups, push-ups, yoga or other activities. To accommodate the majority of practices, and games, held during the school day to give students more family time after school, the day is slightly longer. Classes will run from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., with breakfast starting at 7:15 a.m. and practice for older students running until around 4 p.m. The school is in the process of building baseball fields and a soccer/football field behind the building, which should be open later in the fall, Lane said. For more information, including open enrollment, visit sheffieldacademy.org or call (440) 201-3875. Classes start Aug. 17. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.