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'I owe that all to Andrew': Special Olympics marathoner takes on cross-country head coaching duties at Tindley school

Athletes, fellow coaches and the administration noticed Andrew Peterson's impact on his cross-country athletes right away.

INDIANAPOLIS — His talents have taken him far, but his tendency to lead made Andrew Peterson a head coach at his former school, Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School on the northeast side of Indianapolis.

"What I like about it is it helps other athletes get better at running distance," said Peterson, who is an accomplished Special Olympics marathoner from Indianapolis.

Peterson goes pace for pace with his cross-country athletes.

"I'm like, 'He's not doing it with us. He’s going to tell us to do the miles,' but he was running with us," freshman runner Derek Scott said.

Peterson's style of coaching is one these runners weren’t used to. 

"I was able to keep them focused," Peterson said, who just wrapped up his first season as cross-country coach. "Tell them that you can't give up and stuff like that. That you have to work harder."

Credit: WTHR/John Doran
As head coach of the cross-country team at Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School, Andrew Peterson (far right) runs alongside his athletes to help motivate them.

It isn't all just working up a sweat. 

"When you're having a bad day mentally and you see your coach right next to you, beside you, actually guiding you through it, guiding you through your bad day, it takes the bad day away," junior runner Jeremiah Bailey said.

Athletes, fellow coaches and the administration noticed Peterson's impact right away.

"I had teachers and other folks outside of our community saying, 'Hey, your kids are constantly getting personal bests, their PRs. They're doing fantastic.' I said, 'Besides how hard the kids work, I owe that all to Andrew,'" Tindley Athletic Director Marcel Bonds said.

"You don't see him with the disability; you just see Coach Andrew as a really great coach," Bailey said. "Even beyond that, a really great mentor, friend." 

Peterson's work is just getting started. 

"Right now, I can honestly say we have a cross-country team, but I’m expecting Andrew to build a cross-country program," Bonds said. 

Peterson will be an assistant track and field coach for Tindley this spring and return to head coaching duties for the cross-country team next fall.

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