Amateur vs pro athletes: How an Overland Park athlete aims to bridge the gap
An Overland Park track and field runner, now attending Louisiana State University, is combining his interests to build a strong athletic community in his hometown.
20-year-old Trenton Sandler has taken it upon himself to bring the running community in the Kansas City metro together to bridge the gap between hobby-joggers and professional athletes.
While Sandler played soccer as a kid, his special knack for running took off when he joined his high school track and field team.
“I didn’t really get into running until I was like 15 or so, right after the pandemic,” said Sandler. “I realized I had a calling for it when I ran good times my junior year of high school and started getting college offers.”
While his interest in running came later in his youth, Sandler says that videography has been a passion of his since his early childhood.
“I’ve been obsessed with making videos since I was a kid, when my parents put a little camcorder in my hand for the first time,” said Sandler. “I took a formal videography class in high school, which got me really interested in the statistical side of cameras and how to compose good shots and make cinematic videos.”
With the rise of influencers, Sandler saw an opportunity to be a voice for amateur athletes. Now, Sandler has curated over 80,000 followers across his social media platforms.
“I combined all those interests into trying to make a running YouTube channel that non-runners could relate to and to try to get past the stigmas around runners,” said Sandler.
“I wanted to try to be a normal voice in the community and make videos that are personable so that even people who don’t run can enjoy them,” he said.
A running dilemma
For Sandler, the biggest issue in the community is the discrepency between the number of people who run as a hobby compared with the number of people who actively follow the professional running scene.
That increase in runners but decrease in professional running fans puts weight on running influencers, according to Sandler.
“Professional runners often aren’t personable and don’t put themselves out there,” Sandler told the Star.
“I think it then falls into the influencers hands to try to be more personable, so the general hobby-jogging community can watch a runner that is also an influencer,” he said. “That runner can then promote the sport of running and the competitions that are just trying to bridge that gap between professional and amateur.”
What comes next
For the second year in a row, Sandler is hosting a run club for all runners in the metro.
Held at Roe Park in Overland Park on Saturday, July 12, the long distance run will begin with a meet-up at 7:30 am at 10400 Roe.
Sandler hopes to draw in a crowd of about 100 and to secure food truck vendors for following years.
