For Tuesdays with Toyota, we are spotlighting some of USATF's most dedicated members with a short feature on USATF.org and our social media channels. Here is our seventh feature of the year with 23-year-old, Alex Andrei, a USATF Level 2 Coach – Endurance and member of the USATF Ohio Association from Columbus, Ohio. “My journey with USATF started in 2018. After a year serving as a volunteer coach, I was asked to join the coaching staff of my middle school program which I was able to do 6-7 days a week as a full-time college student at The Ohio State University. I saw the great need for a knowledgeable multidisciplinary coach in the program. Through the support of athlete families and my friends, I was gifted the opportunity to enroll in a USATF Level 1 Coaching Education school. I had an incredible weekend in the program and it only left me wanting to know more. As a result, I began an Exercise Science degree on top of the Biology degree I was already in the middle of. The instruction and mentorship I am able to provide to the kids I coached has become invaluable not just to the athletes but even more so myself as the community I coach in adopted me as one of its own. This past year I kept the fire burning by becoming one of the nation's youngest USATF Level 2 coaches in endurance with plans to continue coaching my athletes as they now prepare to show off years of preparation as state and national title contenders across multiple events. I really want people to know how much USATF can do for them by sharing my involvement and experience. They have helped me learn not just how to be a better coach in the sport, but also how to care for developing athletes as a caring adult. They provided Safe Sport training so that coaches like myself can recognize and act to be a light in the life of athletes facing physical and sexual abuse. They have introduced me to like-minded individuals in the sport from across the entire nation who care for the development of the future of the sport and the future of Team USA. I hope that by seeing my story, more coaches, athletes, and fans, would join their local USATF association and learn more about how to be empowered to raise the bar for Track & Field in the USA! I am most grateful for the vast network of coaches I have met across the country through both Level 1 and Level 2 coaching schools. In our Coaching education schools, there was a lot of focus on working together to develop athlete plans and presentations. The push to collaborate with coaches of all ages from all states and athlete levels was extremely impactful to the foundation of my coaching philosophy. I hope to pay this forward in my interaction with future coaches and encourage them to do the same! The dream of collaboration over competition will in turn allow athletes to reach higher levels than ever before. At 23 years old with the energy of a 13-year-old, a lot of people actually still mistake me for one of the high schoolers I'm coaching. The funniest moment my athletes and I have shared is when another adult (quite a bit older) came up to my group and asked where our coach is. They laugh and turn to me asking, "Coach Alex can you get coach Alex for him?" To which I respond by putting on a serious face and deepening my voice asking, "How I can help?" It's actually one of my favorite compliments to receive because at the end of the day it's exactly how I want to be seen. I want people to know that my commitment to my athletes goes towards their performance on the track. I want them to know that as a coach I have a great responsibility in the lives of the youth on my team and as an adult in their life that they see sometimes 6 or 7 days a week, how I treat them and guide them through life will play a formative role in their development. Of course, I want all my athletes to reach podiums in front of crowds. But more importantly, I tell my athletes that the world doesn't need faster people, it needs kinder people. Kindness certainly won't make you any slower, but it will make you happier than being fast can - and it will last you a whole lot longer. Somehow this advice keeps producing champion athletes anyways. I remember becoming emotional to the point of tears at the end of my Level 2 coaching school after presenting a year-long training cycle my group of coaches had spent countless hours preparing for a hypothetical athlete. I felt overcome with how grateful I was to be a part of such a prestigious program and among such humble and wise people. It's memories like that and staying in touch with other coaches across the nation to tackle training issues or athlete problems in a collaborative way that makes this community unlike any other! When eligible, I hope to next become a USATF Level 3 coach and eventually work to develop young athletes on the international stage after graduating with my second college degree this semester!”