Our Team

Shelley Keeling joined Area Scouts in May of 2022 as the National Director of Track and Field.During her tenure she has created the national platform for Area Scouts for track and field for children Pre-K through 12th grade. With the BASE system as the foundation, skills, standards, and testing rubrics were supplemented and adjusted to meet the testing levels of each age group. The Area Scouts’ mission “to provide athletes with the training, guidance, and instruction they need to compete consistently at any level and stay healthy” is the bedrock of the platform.

It is with great enthusiasm that we embark on the second part of this journey, which is to introduce the track and field platform abroad. Shelley will bring her expertise and the Area Scouts system to the US Virgin Islands, (St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Johns); the British Virgin Islands, (Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Anegada, and the Dominican Republic. Her additional qualification as a Licensed Evaluator strengthens an established program.

An established and recognized Head Coach of Track and Field in the New York State Independent School system, Shelley finished her final year with one all American, two Junior Olympians, and three qualifiers for the Nike and New Balance nationals.

Originally from New York, Shelley pursued her undergraduate and law school studies over a sevenyear period which took her to Ithaca, Des Moines, London and Los Angeles. After graduation from law school, she returned to New York and clerked for two New York State Supreme Court Justices. It was during this time that her passion for long distance running developed as she and colleagues would run five to six miles during lunch hour.

Several years later Shelley was blessed with a son. She had become a fixture in the road races that dominated that decade. To become a more competitive road runner she began participating in masters track and field events. She also coached Little League baseball, track and field, tennis, and sponsored camps, clinics, and seminars in underserved communities, for children under ten years old. This allowed more time with her son and his friends. Sports, particularly track is a love and interest they share to this day.

She also began coaching her 67-year-old mother after the devastating loss of both sons. She would become the first woman over 100 to run the 100 meters and set seven world records all after the age of 92. (Book- Can't Nothing Bring Me Down published by Zondervan.)

To date Shelley has competed on four continents, in over 40 cities with WMA (World Masters Association, Gay Games, and Euro Games. Adding to her trophy room is a section for her six world powerlifting records. IPA (International Powerlifting Association 2016-2023). It is this love of competition, and a personal understanding of the value of athletics in the lives of both children and centenarians that has etched a permanent place in the world of training and serving youngsters. Sports serve to enrich their lives, develop viable communities, and elevate the human condition.