'We're going to see some great things coming out of this': Gately Park track facility opens in Pullman

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It had to wait until July because of the pandemic, but that brand new track and field facility in Gately Park finally opened.

As CBS 2's Jackie Kostek tells us, the low-cost programs are now finding a rhythm and giving kids on the South Side a world class facility to train as collegiate competition heats up.

At nine years, Craig Collins' life got on track.

"I lived right across the street from Eckersall Stadium in which a track took place. I heard a meet from my house and decided to walk on over and find out what it was about. And ever since then I've been awestruck," said Craig Collins, the Gately Park Director of Operations, Track and Field.

Craig Collins went on to run track at Indiana University before coaching at the high school and collegiate level.

"I've always said the track is the truth. You put the work in, you will see results. It may not mean that you're going to win but you can better your time, you can better your mark with each attempt based on the work that you've put in," Collins said. "Kids need that. I needed that as a kid."

But growing up on the South Side, Collins never had what kids now have: A world-class indoor facility that is both public and in their backyard. Collins runs the Gately Park track and field programs, which are reasonably priced and open to kids of all ages and experience levels. The facility is a game changer that he believes will tap the potential of Chicago athletes.

"We've had quite a few. From Shamier Little to Alexandria Anderson, who have all grown up here in Chicago and Chicago's South Side and never had the advantage of an indoor track and field to train in and were always running in hallways, etc.," Collins said. "And so you take that motivation and now you present this to the kids, I think we're going to see some great things coming out of this."

Already some of the fastest runners in the country have taken laps at Gately, including Oregon standout and recent Olympian Cole Hocker, who caught even Collins off guard in January when he announced in a TV interview his next step.

"He remarks that, 'I think I'm going to attempt the American record in the mile in Chicago.' I'm thinking, I almost jumped up, like where else are you going to go to run that race but here at Gately Park," Collins said.

Hocker did run in Pullman at a meet hosted by Wisconsin. He didn't break the record but he did put Gately on the map. As a sparkling South Side space where kids want to learn and the best athletes in the world want to compete.