At home on the track
Niles sprinter deals with no sports and dad’s illness
Chante Clinkscale listens to music as she runs around her neighborhood, jumps rope or works out in hopes the high school track and field season will start.
The COVID-19 pandemic has closed schools through at least the end of April and has put spring sports on hold. The Ohio High School Athletic Association has released a potential schedule for the resumption of an abbreviated spring sports season, but it depends on the return of students to school.
Clinkscale says she listens to Dr. Eric Thomas, a motivational speaker, author and minister, as well to keep her focus on the 2020 season.
Her Niles coaches, Alan Caldwell and Mark Greene, would be guiding Clinkscale, a junior, this time of year.
But all she can do now is listen to or read their words once a week through texts and phone calls. The rest of the time, she imagines the two are there and she’s competing in meets. Neither is possible at this time.
Clinkscale finished eighth in the Division I girls 100-meter dash at last year’s state meet, but would compete in Division II this season if there is a season.
“I don’t want to be at the bottom of the podium no more,” Clinkscale said. “I aim big, and I know the sky is the limit. I have to go up there, do whatever I have to do to be on top of that podium. With my coaches pushing me, everything came to plan.”
Clinkscale did so when she won the 60-meter dash in the Division II-III Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches indoor state meet in early March.
Her mother, Kimberly, was at her side, celebrating the moment.
It was a brief respite from reality for both Clinkscales. Kimberly’s husband and Chante’s father, Gabriel, suffers from dementia.
“She’s been fighting this battle ever since she was 5,” Kimberly said. “It’s hard for her and hard for me. He was 55 when we found out. All the memories she had, the ponyback rides, the sleigh rides, sitting on his lap, picking her up from school. That’s the only thing she can remember.”
No talking or walking, Gabriel is bedridden and he’s in a lot of pain. A home health care aid comes to lend assistance.
Kimberly runs a non-profit organization. She’s cutting back on her workload to be closer to her family.
“He needs more attention from us,” Kimberly said. “Running two organizations is getting kind of rough on us. Doctors said there’s nothing else they can do.
“All this time, we really want to give it to him because we don’t know when his last day is going to be.”
It’s about keeping the faith at this point.
“With me working and trying to maintain, keep everything going, it’s not an easy thing,” Kimberly said. “It’s rough. With God, it’s being a true believer — that he gives us strength.”
Kimberly ran for Warren G. Harding in the early 1980s, while Gabriel was a runner for Youngstown South.
Seeing Chante win a state indoor championship at SPIRE in Geneva was beyond words.
“I was so excited, because she’s been working so hard,” Kimberly said. “Just her personality, she’s got a heart for the people. She wanted it so bad. Tears just ran down my face. With me and her father, we would’ve seen we’d really been. I’m jumping. She’s jumping. She’s excited about that.
“Just seeing her going over to the other runners and shaking their hands, saying good job made me feel really good and proud of her.”
However, she wishes her husband could be there to see Chante excel on the track.
“It helps out a whole lot,” Kimberly said. “I hate that the school is not in. I love track. I was a runner myself. Her father was a runner.
“Not having him see that, it’s heartbreaking.”
Chante occasionally runs at Mineral Ridge to get in some practice. Only a few people are allowed to be at the facility due to social distancing. Kimberly waited in her vehicle as her daughter practiced.
Chante enjoys running, school, her friends and teachers. Being a student-athlete gives her joy.
“Sometimes when you’re around sickness all the time, you kind of get depressed because you can’t go out,” Kimberly said. “That’s all we see. She’s seeing more and more of everything with her dad. I want her to go back. I really want to, so she doesn’t have to see all of this.”
Chante wants to be follow in her mother’s footsteps. She sees her mother’s hard work, how she’s overcome struggles in her life to be a better person.
“With me facing, that every day is my biggest motivation,” Chante said. “You’ve got to go out there and do bigger things. With me, I try to go out and motivate people as much. You can’t take anything for granted.
“It seemed like with him, it made me more motivated to do what I do best, focusing on track and field and trying to go out there and do bigger and better things.”