Spring Track & Field Program Overview:
Ages: 1st Grade and Up
2024 Program: March 16th to May 18th
Spring Track & Field is a wonderful way to challenge kids with a wide variety of movement and skill development, while also engaging in fun, healthy competition. We begin every season by teaching the kids a little about every event, helping them find the ones they enjoy most, while encouraging them to work at the events that chellenge them to learn new skills. By the end of the season, every kid will have had opportunities to practice running events (sprinting, hurdling and long distance), throwing events (shot put, discus and javelin), and jumping events (long jump and high jump).
We begin the season with two practice sessions per week, on Saturday mornings, and Wednesday evenings. The tentative plan is to meet from 11:00am to noon on Saturdays, and from 6:00 to 7:00pm on Wednesdays, but all days and times are subject to change based on facility availability.
When competition meets begin (tentatively the 4th Saturday) we will cease having practices on Saturdays, we will add an hour to the Wednesday sessions, and we will add an optional "special" practice session on most Monday nights. The Monday night special sessions will be one hour, and focused on specific event areas. Kids will be eligible to particpate in those sessions if they try that event area at a meet. The Monday sessions will be held at a different locations depending on the event area.
We will not always have a Saturday meet, and when there is no meet, we take the weekend off.
***We want all of the kids to participate in the meets. However, if your child is not interested in competing, they are welcome to continue attending the Wednesday evening practice sessions. Once the meet schedule begins, the Monday sessions will only be for kids who are attending meets. Please honor this policy, as it is very important that we have some focused practice sessions to help the kids prepare for competition.
***SPECIAL DISCOUNTED OPTION for kids who are currently participating on their middle school track and field teams: see the payment section below to register for the MEET ONLY option at a special membership fee of $75. This option is being provided for kids who really like the sport and want to participate in more fun meets on weekends.
Locations:
We will be meeting at Cooper River Park for most sessions, and we may host some sessions at Rutgers-Camden University and a local high school.
Fees:
Full Spring Track & Field Program (practices and meets): $175
Middle-School Meet Only Option (must be participating on school track and field team): $75
Competition/Meets:
Meets are really fun, and we encourage the kids to participate in as many as possible, while trying different events. Please note that track meets are long - on average a meet will last 3-4 hours, but you can arrive late or leave early, depending the on the events your child wishes to do.
Families are responsible for their own transportation to all meets. Meets tend to get scheduled in early spring, but in general we will attend meets on a few Saturday mornings and possibly on a weekday evening. The majority of our meets are in South Jersey (Medford is the furthest), and we may also have a meet or two in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Our Approach and Philosophy:
The goal of the spring season is to have fun learning about and practicing multiple events, while learning to compete in the fun meets we attend. The focus is on healthy, natural physical development. Based on the American Development Model, we are committed to a modern, science-based approach to supporting kids in the development of life-long health and well-being. and we do not promote or support heavy, specialized training for high level competition. For our more motivated club members, we will prepare for the USATF and/or AAU Junior Olympic competitions, but we ask parents to be mindful that the United States Olympic Committee and USA Track and Field believe that kids should only be participating in the Junior Olympics when they are personally motivated to do so, with fun, and simply enjoying the experience of learning to compete as priorities.
If you would prefer to pay for your registration by Venmo, simply fill out the form and submit without entering payment information. If you have any difficulty submitting this form, please email craig@southjerseytfc.com.