This manual was written to pass along the critical knowledge on how to conduct an efficient, well-run, and hopefully short track meet. All club representatives to the YMCA Youth Track conference expressed a desire to have recorded those sometimes magic or mystical "tricks" or processes used by certain clubs to run a part or all of their meets well: Filmore's finish line efficiency was almost unbelievable, Santa Paula was a master at the awards table, Oxnard had always run the field events well. Each club seemed to have at least one area they knew and ran well. At the same time, each had areas it wanted to improve on. A team effort was started to produce this manual.
The 1988 season had also, as most before, provided some bad experiences with exceptionally long track meet days. In its annual review of the past season, most felt that a long meet day was one of the biggest negative factors about the program and one which warranted some attention. The causes were speculated about as were the possible remedies. The one cause which seemed easiest to remedy was one of knowledge about how to prepare for and run a track meet and a second reason to produce this manual was rec-ognized.
One of the first problems was to decide what type service the manual ought to provide: a step-by-step set of instructions for each of the meet workers or a generalized set of instructions for Meet Directors and Board level volunteers. What evolved was actually a combination. The sections on Early Season Preparation, Staffing, and Meet Management are directed at the club's board and Meet Director. They contain general descriptions of the tasks a club must do to prepare for a home track meet and leave a wide latitude as to how the tasks get done.
The "How to" sections on each of the areas in the actual running of the meet are directed at the specific meet officials who will work those areas. These sections contain the "step-by-step" instructions on how to run that part of the meet. The "How to" sections may be copied as-is and given to those officials/workers as a training measure.
By the way, it is NOT the intent of this manual to tell or dictate to any the way to run a meet. There must always be room for innovation and new ways to do the old better. Also, future rule changes may dictate the methods/processes described as inadequate. I hope that the future members of the conference will see fit to keep this manual updated.
Very few individuals will find it necessary to read this manual cover-to-cover in one sitting. The sections are independent enough that even those with little experience in the running of a track meet can benefit by reading them separately as interest in a particular part of the meet develops. New clubs to the conference and new members to the old clubs should find all of the information useful.
CREDITS: Even though I took the role of writing and compiling this manual, it must be stressed that this was a team effort. As I produced each section, all clubs were given draft copies to edit and contribute comments on. All of the suggestions were incor-porated to produce the best possible product.
Some clubs and individuals contributed specific parts of this
manual and their efforts were invaluable:
John Distad from Camarillo wrote the Shot Put section.
Larry Olsen from Oxnard contributed the High Jump chapter.
Pat Cunningham from Santa Paula wrote the Awards section.
Special help was also received from other sources:
John Correa and the Ventura team provided a tremendous effort in
editing the draft and providing very useful suggestions on improving
the manual's organization and content.
Bill Muir, also from Newbury Park, in editing to add the quality
detail throughout. Bill also designed the cover and got the type
setting done.
Meredith Burton from the YMCA in coordinating the printing and
distribution of the manual.
I sincerely hope that the members of the nine clubs in the Ventura County Conference read and find the information in this manual useful. Suggestions for corrections or improvements should be brought to the monthly YMCA Youth Track Conference meetings.
January 1989 Bob Hamic, Newbury Park Track Club
Since the original issue of this manual, new clubs are joining the
league and new leaders are evident at some of the old clubs. A
re-issue of this manual was approved by the Conference and I took
this opportunity to revise the manual for the changes that have taken
place since 1989:
- References to the YMCA have been dropped. The Conference is now
independent.
- The Triple Jump has been dropped as an event (Chapter 13).
- A complete rule book has been written and adopted by the conference
so the TAC rules formerly included as guidelines have been dropped.
Since the Conference rules are now organized in a new rule book so
that all rules which apply to a given subject can be found, specific
restatement in this manual has been eliminated.
- Rule changes, especially in the High Jump have been
incorporated.
November 1993 Bob Hamic