t-and-f: Junior Qualifying

[Ed Grant]

Netters:         It is obvious that there is a great variatiion from state to state in the health of junior summer track and field programs.           One problem here in NJ has always been that our little state is divided (and has always been) between two AAU/USATF jurisdictios. (Once upon a time, we actually had three jurisdictions in the state).             Our local body has tried for years to change thism but the best it has gotten is an agreement that indidvidual athletes, or clubs, may choose between the NJ and Middle Atlantic (for South jersey) associations.           There has also been little unity on the age levels. The 14-0 and-under athletes in the NJ district have a separate qualifying meet from the 15-18 group. There are few, if any clubs, which service both levels so there is a lack of continuity. And many of the outstanding younger atjhletes, when they get to HS, choose another sport (They can compete in two or three sports at a time while in elementary school, but it's one to a customer---with very few exceptions, like golf---once you get to HS.)             They key to a successful youth program in any USATF district is a strong club system and that just doesn't exist in our state for a lot of reasons. It didn't help USATF any to develop one when the years prior to its accession were marked by constant threats from the school bodies to rule ineligible athletes who dared to participate in out-of-school competitons. Nor did it help when the HS associations went along with the NCAA attempt to ban all AAU activity from school grounds. (This didn't work too well at the HS level as scjhool board were naturally loath to alienate local citizens by telling them they couldn't use facilities they were paying for.  )           The simple fact is that the USATF was born in the wake of actions by the school groups which should have sent some of their leaders to jail. Had the nation not been involved in much more serious civil rights questions at the time, this might just have happened, but the rights of college and HS athletes to compete freely on their own time paled beside the other problems of the 60s.           For years, though, I would be asked by coaches if it was OK for their athletes to compete in JO meets. No one who has not dealt with the school associations can have any idea of the fear that school administrators have of getting on their wrong side. That has eased up in recent years, but it was a hell of a way for a newly born institution like USATF to get started. The irony, of course, was that in many areas, certrainly here in NJ, the leading figures in the new a=ruling group had simply transferred their allegiance from the AAU; the faces were much the same, just the title was different.            As far as sscheduling the necessary USATF meets to qualify athletes in the same calendar year for the international youth games goes, I would only ask this "Why can't the senior and junior USATF meets be held on the same weekend, fior that matter why not in the same place. Both have a limited entry because of qualifying standards.                                                                Ed Grant