THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Coeur d'Alene Charter coach Patterson giving back to the sport that gave him so much

Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy head track and field coach Chris Patterson earned everything he received from the sport of track and field as a kid.

Fortunately, he’s not one to back down from a bit of a challenge.

“I wouldn’t be the person I am today if it wasn’t for track and field,” Patterson said. “I had a difficult childhood, and my upbringing wasn’t the best. I was told I’d never amount to anything.”

Then, he went to a track meet in Portland.

“I was 9 years old and a gentleman came up to me and asked if I’d like to run for their team,” Patterson said. “I was a kid that didn’t have a uniform, and didn’t match the other kids. We didn’t have a lot of money, and I pointed him to my dad. Unbeknownst to me, they worked out a plan. The coach said ‘I’m not going to give him shoes, because he wouldn’t appreciate it.’ So I’d go and mow his lawn and earned them. And that’s how I paid for track and field. The coach lived a few blocks from the school I went to.”

Then, the coach had a chat with him.

“On the first day, he asked me if there was anything I could do in track and field, what would it be,” Patterson said. “What’s my goal, and how do you know where you want to go. Nobody had ever asked me about a goal or dream before, so he told me to dream big. I told him I wanted to go to the Olympics, and he smiled big. He told me that if I showed up, believed in the system, work hard, and just outwork everyone else, I can give you a chance to get there. And that’s all the motivation I needed. I just took all that energy and angst I had from everything else, and I was going to prove them wrong.”

PATTERSON WAS recently selected to participate in the U.S. Department of State’s International Sports Programming Initiative (ISPI) — a competitive sports diplomacy exchange program, focused on youth track and field and youth development.

"I got an email during track season and was asked if I'd be part of a program to mentor other coaches," said Patterson, 60. "I signed up for all of that and got an email from the PH International and they were looking to put together this trip. I called them and thought it was a good fit and got selected to be part of the 10-person delegation." 

Coaches from Montana, Washington and Oregon were also selected to spend two weeks in Botswana.

"It's kind of a regional thing, but they do things all around the United States," Patterson said. "They kind of pick a region and typically don't do track and field in this area." 

Patterson is also the head cross country coach at Coeur d'Alene Charter. 

"Our first practice is on Monday and I'll be here for the first week, but my assistant Josie (Yovichin) will be taking over," Patterson said. "She's a former athlete at Coeur d'Alene Charter and graduated from the University of Montana and came back to the area. She was one of my distance coaches during the track season and she's going to do cross country." 

Patterson will return after the Panthers' first meet of the season. 

“Track and field has been my life, so this is my way of giving back to those that gave to me," Patterson said. "I've got two coaches Blake Nelson and Josie that are young coaches. The best part to me is being able to teach and mentor them and watch how the kids respond to them and how phenomenal it is to have those ladies coaching. My goal is to someday work for them. I'll still coach, but they're the ones in charge." 

As for his time in Botswana ...

"It's a cultural and knowledge exchange program," Patterson said. "I'll go over and teach them the things we're doing, specifically on youth development and youth track and field. I'm really looking forward to learning from them. They've got a great sprints program in Botswana. We're going to go to Maun, which is a rural area for the first half of the trip and then go to Hiban, which is the capital, for the second half. While we're there, they're doing a tryout program for their development program. We'll be part of that selection process. I'm really forward to that process and learning how they do things and being able to share what we do with them."

The group also focuses on making an impact in the area it represents.

"We'll come back to their local area and do a community impact as well," Patterson said. "I'm already in the process of figuring out what that will be. One of the programs is a run, jump, throw program and the goal is to do that before the winter season starts. I'm hoping to gear that toward elementary and middle school kids and do something like that in the Liberty Lake/Spokane Valley area in the spring and try to cover two areas." 

PATTERSON ATTENDED Catlin Gable School, a private school in Portland, where he set the school record in the triple jump. 

“I was very fortunate,” Patterson said. “I wanted to go to a small school, so I attended Linfield College (in McMinnville, Ore.) and decided it was way too small. I was talking to John Gillespie, the jumps coach at the University of Oregon because I was on semesters at the time, and they were on a quarter schedule. I finished the rest of the season at Portland Community College and eventually just decided that school wasn’t for me, so I didn’t end up running at Oregon.”

But Gillespie knew that inside Patterson was a fire for track and field that couldn’t be put out.

“John was an amazing coach and someone I drew a lot from,” Patterson said. “He just told me to show up and be a part of practice. What I realized was that going to a small school, I was the big dog and going to Oregon, I went from a top dog to a nobody. And it was amazing. It was the first time in a long time where I didn’t have a target on my back and was instead chasing other people. It was a great experience and great for me to learn. I’ve learned to carry that into my coaching where I know what it takes to compete at a high level. If you’re willing to put the work in, I can help you get there. What I tell people is that the word 'extraordinary' is two words. I was an ordinary kid that was willing to put in the extra, and nobody outworked me. When my friends were at parties, I was at the track. When they were doing whatever, I was at the gym, because I wanted to go to the Olympics.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1206 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on 'X', formerly Twitter @JECdAPress.