When sixth grader Andrew McAmis runs into the gymnasium at Clinton Elementary School, he says he feels confident.
"I like to pretend I'm playing in a big gym. It looks so nice and everything," McAmis said about the newly-renovated gym that was funded by members of the community.
"All school systems have these wonderful ideas of what they want, but money is always an obstacle," Director of Schools Kelly Johnson said. "This community has just reached out and wrapped their arms around us. They've funded to project to the point that we did not spend any system operational dollars."
The school system's athletic director, E.T. Stamey, said they had talked about starting an athletics program for a while, and finally took the plunge last school year.
"I said, 'let's start with basketball first and we'll see how much interest is there.' My goodness, we had more than 40 boys and 30 girls try out, so the interest is here," Stamey said, adding that when he saw the kids were interested, he reached out to the community to help. "The community is the reason we have this gym."
They call themselves the Clinton City Blaze after the high school's mascot, The Dragons.
"The idea is that we're building the fire for the dragons," Johnson said.
"We started this with the idea of getting Clinton Middle School and Clinton High School better down the road," said basketball coach Jeff Little. "Every night, it's usually packed. People are standing in the corners and there's not a free spot in the bleachers. That tells me that people support us, and it's something great that we've started here."
In its second school year, the Blaze has added sports like swimming, cross-country, and bowling.
"The kids have been wonderful. They've run their legs off. One girl did really well in the state competition and is going to nationals," said cross-country coach Terri Kerley.
"I'm kind of nervous because people are coming from Hawaii and Alaska," said 5th grader Laci Percibal, who qualified for the national cross-country competition.
"I would like to eventually have a sport or activity that every student can be involved in," said Kerley about the growing future of the athletic program.