Patrice Wilson wrote:
> Netters:
> First I'm surprised that so many of you were unaware of the
> qualification process for the world youth games. It was highly publicized
> last year at both the Youth Athletics Nationals and at the Junior Olympics
> meet in Buffalo. Much of the problem lies in the ages of the competitors
> for the World Youth Team. The format of that meet forces the selectors to
> pick from the Youth and Intermediate age groups only. The age limits are
> 15-17. One may not turn 18 during the year. In all the complaining I
> haven't heard a lot of kudos for all the medallists that we did have and
> the fact that we did win the team competition. Even our Junior National
> team has not had a better result on the international scene.
I have never been involved in Youth Athletics, so please excuse what may be a
dumb question, but has anyone ever proposed aligning our age groups with the
international age groups, i.e., making Young Men and Young Women unable to turn
18 during the year?
>
>
> In Illinois our USATF association is very strong. We host local
> invitationals most weekends which draw 500-700 athletes. Our J.O.
> association meet drew 1360 athletes even though the national meet is in
> California. We hosted the Youth Athletics National Meet in Decatur, IL and
> drew over 3000 athletes. When you look at the results from both USATF
> J.O.s and AAU J.O.s the results are always superior at USATF in every
> event. AAU even cost more to enter. A membership card for USATF is
> $12.00. For AAU it is $25.00. Coaches know upfront that not attending
> the USATF meet will cost their athlete a shot at making an international
> team. It is their choice. When USATF is the national governing body for
> Track and Field in the US why in the world should we go outside our own
> house for athletes. If the USATF association in your area is not putting
> on meets as well as hosting a quality Junior Olympics program then maybe
> some of you should get involved in the local association. Just my .02.
Patrice, maybe coaches where you live are smarter than in other places, but it
has been my experience that most high school coaches are oblivious to anything
that occurs outside the high school framework or even outside their own
conference. I wonder if half of them even know there is such an organization as
USATF, let alone know that USATF is responsible for selecting international youth
teams. In addition, most seem to have no knowledge of or interest in the sport
at the national or international level
--
Wayne T. Armbrust, Ph.D.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Computomarx™
3604 Grant Ct.
Columbia MO 65203-5800 USA
(573) 445-6675 (voice & FAX)
http://www.Computomarx.com
"Know the difference between right and wrong...
Always give your best effort...
Treat others the way you'd like to be treated..."
- Coach Bill Sudeck (1926-2000)
