Many kids who participate in track & field do so as part of a club. Among the benefits to joining a club are to get coaching, be part of a team, and gain the financial support that a club can provide through sponsorship and group fundraising. It also means, however, sacrificing your flexibility in terms of practice time and location. You may also end up relinquishing control over which events in which your child gets to participate.
But although there is team scoring in track & field, fundamentally it is an individual sport. Kids can participate and compete at all levels as unattached athletes, meaning they aren't part of a club or team.
The best place to start is with the USA Track & Field website, www.usatf.org. On the home page there is a "Get Involved!" option that allows you to enter your zip code to generate a listing of the USATF-registered clubs in your USATF Association area. The list will indicate the age groups served by each club.
It would also be wise to ask around, check local phone listings and use online search engines to identify other local clubs.
Once you've narrowed your list down to clubs that are geographically feasible for you, you should visit their practices to get an idea of how the program operates, what the coaches are like, etc.
You can also check the results of regional and national meets to see which clubs have had the most success. Through the USATF and AAU (Amateur Athletic Union, www.aauathletics.org) websites you can find meet results to see which local teams have athletes finishing in the top places. When you navigate to the USATF Junior Olympic section, look for the link on the results page that takes you to the Association and Regional results. These results will give you a more accurate picture of how your local clubs fare than the national results.
Lastly, if you are getting an early start on finding a club, try to go to a local meet or two and observe. See which clubs give you a good feeling based on performances and how you see the coaches interacting with the athletes.
Here are some tips:
- Safety should always come first. Athletes should have the opportunity to train on a soft surface that will protect them from impact injuries.
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Check to see if the young athletes have been taught to do a thorough warm-up that involves jogging, stretching, drills and exercises, and a gradual increase in intensity leading up to the workout.
- Check the quality of any equipment being used.
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Is there adequate separation between athletes practicing throws and other athletes?
- Do you feel comfortable with the level of supervision?
