Extra Beginner Practices, Upcoming Meets, Gear Orders, Summer Competition

Dear Spring Track & Field Families,

In this email:

• Two weeknight practice sessions added for beginners
• Upcoming meet schedule and details
• ***Attending your first meet***
• All Gear Store orders are now in (YL t-shirts too!)
• Summer Camp is set for Haddon Heights HS!
• Summer Meets and AAU Junior Olympic Qualifiers

Weeknight Practice Sessions for Beginner Group:

We have scheduled two practice sessions that we want to invite all of the kids to attend. We know that some kids were not able to make many of the Saturday sessions, and we want to provide some additional practice in the events they are most interested in doing, or would like to try at the meets. We will have multiple stations and the kids will be able to choose 2 or 3 events to focus on at each session.

Dates/Times/Location: Monday, May 2 and Wednesday, May 11, 5:00pm, Cooper River Park (we are now meeting at the grassy field beside LaScalas Restaurant)

Upcoming Meets and Details:

Our next meet is this Saturday at Seneca HS at 10:00am. We will start our team warmup at 9:30. Although we have made it clear that families can arrive late or leave early from meets, if you are planning to attend from the start, please try to arrive by 9:20, so your child can pick up their number and start warming up at 9:30. This is a good time for the coaches to be able to talk to all of the kids about the meet, and what to expect. The Seneca meet will have the same running events/order as the first two meets (no parent relay), and will only have long jump, shot put and discus as field events.

***Attending Your First Meet***:

If this Saturday will be your child’s first meet, please come early for an orientation. I will be at the track at 9:00am to go over how the meets work, and to answer any questions. Track meets are organized chaos, and have lots of moving parts (literally!) If you show up in the middle for your child’s first meet they will likely be a bit overwhelmed, and we coaches will be quite busy. That said, if you do miss the 9:00am meeting, please let us know when you do arrive that it is your child’s first meet so we can at least give them some instructions. We really do hope that every kid in the program will get to experience the fun of competing with their team. If they are nervous, please remind them the meets are meant to be fun, and their coaches are here to help with anything, explain things, or answer questions.

Saturday, May 7: Medford Mile (with Field Events too)

The Medford Mile is a great tradition run by the Medford Track Club at Shawnee High School every year. This is an all ages event. We know that a lot of kids do not want to run this distance, but it is a fun opportunity to stretch their comfort zone and give it a shot. There will also be shot put, discus, javelin, long jump and high jump competitions. The mile races are organized starting with the youngest kids first, by birth year, and then the adult heats will be based on estimated seed time. The first race is at 2:15pm. ***This event is free, but requires each participant to register in advance with the Medford Athletic Association. Register for the Medford Mile and Field Meet.

Gear Store Orders:

We have now received all of the gear store orders and you can pick up your bag at the meet or at practice (it would be great to hand them all out this Saturday, hint, hint). We have the bags organized alphabetically, but this can cause some confusion if the parent last name is different than the child’s, and depending on how you entered your info at check out. Now and then, items do not get ordered. If you have a receipt that shows you were charged for an item, then it is on the vender and they will make good on it. However, if you were not charged, then there isn’t anything we can do at this point to get that item.

Summer Track & Field Camp is Set!:

We are very excited to announce that we have a great new location for our summer camp!

Location: Haddon Heights High School
Dates: June 27-30, July 5-8 (one camp session, over two weeks)
Times: 8:00am to 9:30am, except for July 8
Summer Finale Track Meet: July 8, 6:00pm
You can read all about our summer camp and find the registration form at the link below, but this is our original program that we have been running in one form or another for 7 years. It is a great way to introduce kids to the sport, and for those that had fun this spring, its a fast-paced, super fun start to the summer. The camp ends with an evening track meet/club social. The camp is also a great bridge to the summer AAU meets that motivated kids may be interested in doing.

Summer Meets and Junior Olympic Qualifiers:

If your child is very motivated to compete after our spring program ends, there are lots of opportunities. In early summer there are “developmental” meets that are a bit more serious than our spring meets, but also designed to prepare kids for higher levels of competition. Then there is the AAU Junior Olympic District Qualifier on June 17-19 in Millersville, PA. This is a huge, fun meet, and it is open to all kids (considered an all-comers meet). Kids who place in the top 6 in any event qualify to compete at the Regional Championships on July 1-3 in Chester, PA. And if a kid places in the top 6 at that meet, they qualify for the National Championship on July 30-August 6 in Greensboro, NC.

As we learn about any developmental meets we will post them to our calendar.

Our role as a club is to support our athletes throughout the year. For the summer competition season, we only provide a context for the team to compete – we cannot guarantee that a coach will be any specific meet, and practice sessions will be casual and scheduled based on coach availability. We welcome new members for the summer season and they can register here. Spring Track and Field participants do not need to register or pay an additional club fee. Parents are responsible for registering their own kids and paying fees for summer meets. ***The summer season and any practice sessions are open ONLY to very motivated kids who will be focused at practice. Please speak to a coach if you have questions about your child’s readiness.

Rachel Barger (Peyton’s mother) has volunteered to be a parent coordinator for the AAU meets. Please let her know if your child is planning to attend the District Qualifier meet on June 17-19. Rachel and Rob took Peyton to compete at the National Championships in Texas last summer, so they are now our resident experts on the whole experience. Email or text Rachel at rachelm_smith@hotmail.com, 609-304-6930.

Thank you!

Coach Craig

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