Michigan
District Annual Athletics Meeting Minutes
August 17, 2008
Meeting
Time:
4:00pm
Facilitator:
Darnell Hall (Chairperson)
Recorder:
Wanda Dixon / Karen Hall
Materials
to be
Reviewed
prior:
March 16, 2008 Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order at 4:07pm.
1. Opening Prayer given by Karen Hall
Motion was made to accept
the agenda with necessary corrections and additions. Motion was seconded and
approved.
2. Report of the Chairman – Darnell Hall - None
Report of USATF Chair – Jackie Devose – Not in attendance
Report of Registrar – Betty Robinson – No Report
Report of Secretary – Wanda Dixon – No Report
3. Old Business
·
Feedback on all of the invitational (Jets,
Midland, Capital City, Blazers, & Bibbs invitational
Detroit Jets Invitational– Ran well.
Midland Invitational ran well. It was stated that
there was some conversation of conducting one meet as opposed to two meets in
Midland.
Capital City ran well however they use pre-set heats
as oppose to open heats, which slows down the meet. It appeared that timing was
an issue due to them using a laser rather than camera.
Blazers went well however they need parent/volunteer
training to give proper instructions to athletes; need to include a map of the
area in the invitational package, reduce the parking in the area of long jump,
discussed roping the long jump area off due to the tents as well as parking.
Suggested putting signs up which shows parking areas and location of field event
areas.
Bibbs Invitational – Ran well except heat sheets
should not be used. S. Edwards commented that he was disappointed that his
relays were not allowed to run when he was sure that they were registered.
K. Hall (AAU)
suggested that there should be open heats for the invitationals. Heat sheets
slow down the meets. Going to online registration can work. (The point: Open
heats will allow meets to move faster especially with the 100 and 200 being the
largest running events
·
Feedback on the mandatory On-line Registration
D.
Hall (AAU)
stated that he appreciated everyone doing online registration. Did not expect
everyone to do it but it saved time for meet management. However, the district
will go to mandatory on-line registration.
F. Tate (SWIFT) stated that if seed times are submitted they
should have had preference in lanes when there are seed times put in there. We
would like to do heat sheets however it is difficult when you do not know who
will show up.
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that we know that can be a problem because people may not put the right
time in however we try to put kids in the right heats.
F. Tate (SWIFT)
stated that kids were in heats that should have been in a slower heat or faster
heat. It is not good for the kids to run in a heat that is slow if they are
good.
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that when we skip the regional meet and advance straight to the nationals
we will do a better job of using seed times and adjusting the heats.
D. Davis (Albion)
stated that communication is one of the most important things. But not to
communicate and have expectations is unfair to the meet management of that meet.
D.
Hall (AAU)
stated that the coach’s packets had paper work in them for JO registration.
K.
Hall (AAU)
stated that we are going to a paperless system and will continue using the
online registration process.
W.
Dixon (AAU/Golightly) stated that you should make sure you print out your form/receipt at the
end the of online registration process because that is your only proof of
registration.
D. Davis (Albion)
asked: For JO we had to do t-shirt orders on line. Why?
K.
Hall (AAU)
explained that the JO staff needed to get a round about number to know what to
order in all sizes.
·
Feedback on the Multi-Event meet and
suggestions for dates
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that Coach Skeete hosted the event for qualifying for the JO. The
problems were the high school state meet just ended and so many were not ready
to compete. Pole vault will be at the state meet next year (2009). However,
although this was done in Oxford this year W. Skeete did an excellent job
considering we were informed at the last minute that we had to host a qualifier
for multi-events. Right now the meet has been given to W. Skeet to host however
we have had other request to host a multi-event meet. It may possibly be
explored in allowing Robert Hollingsworth to host a multi-event meet due to R.
Hollingsworth indicating and suggesting that he wants to host a multi-event
meet. Once we talk to both Skeete and Hollingsworth, more information will
follow.
·
Feedback on the Michigan District Championship
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that there needs to be a better system to communicate when the rainstorm
occurs. The state meet needs to start a little earlier. We may have to start
earlier for the running events. The year that we host Regionals, can we split
the days for the distance races? Adjust the schedule.
B.
Jiles (MCTC)
stated that the announcements/Sound system not working all over the track.
K. Hall (AAU)
responded that we are looking for another facility. We have out grown
Southfield. Southfield fired all their custodial staff 2 days prior to the meet.
We are looking at Farmington Harrison and North Farmington.
F. Tate (SWIFT)
stated that: Harrison High has good parking.
W. Dixon (AAU/Golightly)
stated that they have that second field as well that can be a warm up area
S. Edwards (Max Out)
stated that: hip numbers are needed for the primary athletes especially for
relays.
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that hip numbers at nationals were used. It is needed, especially with
the little ones due to them not remembering their lanes or heats
.
F. Tate (SWIFT)
asked: Can we switch around the distance events to give children a rest that are
sprinters?
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that the days were split because of rest needed between. Field events and
running events set times. The schedule of events needs to be looked at. Start
next year looking to move around distance events.
·
Feedback on the Junior Olympics
S. Edwards (Max Out)
stated: I bought two weekly passes; never got a card to be punched; bands were a
problem. They should use the same bands for fans and coaches if they are going
to do use the bands.
W.
Dixon (AAU/Golightly)
stated that they ran out of wrist bands the third day (7/28)
F. Tate (SWIFT)
stated that: I did not like to ruling on the mile relay. There were 8 heats and
the heat winners advanced; my team had the third fastest time over all the 8
heats; they took heat winners over fastest times.
B. Jiles (MCTC)
stated that for other events they did it correctly, 5 heats, 5 winners and next
3 fastest times.
D.
Hall (AAU) stated
that 4 relay teams for the Southfield Mustangs missed races. We were checking
kids to make sure they were in the correct event/heat; for inappropriate
clothing; kids were great, no incidents; just one kid had to be checked then he
was ok. Coaches need to get 2 way radios for meets to communicate with each
other for running events. We will fight to change the process of having kids sit
so long and never get a chance to warm up again before their events, this need
to change
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that it was unfair
that there are 8- 9 districts for Texas now; they had over 2000 athletes at the
JO, which was more than the host state of Michigan. We were only allowed to
advance 6 kids from the district; they were allowed 8 from their district meets,
which was unfair.
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that we had to turn
away 74 athletes from Florida for the JO, they were never registered and someone
took the money and ran; 2 teams from the state of Washington were turned away
because they missed the deadline; About 1200 athletes were turned away totally
D. McDowell (WAZA)
asked, do you think we (WAZA) were a part of the problem?
D. Hall (AAU)
answered no; you were
simply in that group of teams and athletes that called a day to late to ask to
be entered.
D. McDowell (WAZA)
stated that he appealed the decision at the Jo games. And wants it in writing.
D.
Hall (AAU)
stated, I saw another side of the JO. There was a complaint about running the
100 meter dash too fast; Kids not given enough time to warm up; We hydrated
every one (Officials, athletes and volunteers).
L. Hale (MC
Striders/Official) stated that the
announcements for events were not heard in the stadium, only in the warm up
area.
D. Hall (AAU)
stated, I asked that they
make the announcements; we tried to make sure that all questions were answered;
we’ve been hired to do it from now on however according to the assistant meet
director Chad Culver, he stated that the announcer calling the 1st
call for events was a courtesy. That is why the times are listed on the
schedule.
B. Jiles (MCTC)
asked, what was about the
bib and matching risk bands?
D. Hall (AAU)
answered, to make sure that
all kids were running in the right events and not able to switch numbers.
B.
Jiles (MCTC)
stated that when I picked up my package I was not told to match the bib with the
wristbands.
K. Hall (AAU)
explained that she and Roz
worked at the registration the entire week except for the times during the
running events. Each person that picked up a package received the same exact
speech about the matching numbers on the wristbands to the bib numbers.
B. Jiles (MCTC)
stated that Kristi did his package pick up and she did not explain that to him.
K.
Hall (AAU)
explained that Teams/Athletes could be DQ’ed because of the wristband and bib
number not matching.
D.
Hall (AAU)
suggested that Motor City TC needs to get together about who picks up their
packages. There were too many people picking up and not taking the whole package
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that Vernon, Ben,
Lynch, Demetrius and Brandon registered; there are too many people getting
registration information. You can either split the team and each person takes a
different name such as MC East, West etc.
B. Jiles (MCTC)
stated that we separated the little ones from the older ones
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that Southfield Mustangs athletes picked up all their information
individually. I am not sure if that is a good idea versus a bad idea because a
number of their athletes missed their races because when they pick it up
themselves, you have no way of knowing if the athletes are there or not.
ROZ (TDP)
stated
that coaches need to check their packages during package pick up; we can not
correct errors after pick up; next year you will not be allowed to go back and
make any changes.
F. Tate (SWIFT)
apologized for the embarrassment of the uniform issue. He recognized that the
uniform policy was enforced at the district level to prepare for the national
level.
L. Hale (MC
Striders / Official)
Overall, we received excellent feedback about the JO games. Some of the
officials did not get feed due to not being able to leave their field events.
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that at the
convention we will propose a change on the last day for the sprints. Although it
was a lot of work, we wanted to make sure the athletes were able to go to the
awards and make it back to the clerking tent for their next race.
W. Dixon (AAU)/Golightly) stated
that they put down a wood platform for one of the shot put rings which was
difficult for some of the athletes because they were not use to the surface.
D. Davis (Albion)
stated that it was also stated that it is unfair that someone comes from another
state and competes in our state for the districts especially when we are the
host state. Teams from outside Michigan should not be able to advance to the
nationals through Michigan District/State meet. They should have to still attend
regionals. This takes away from our own state athletes
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that I have watched
the numbers of athletes that compete in our state during an Olympic year. The
numbers are not usually that high. However the team or athlete has to receive
clearance from their district chair prior to competing in another district.
K. Glenn (SF
Mustangs)
asked, Will AAU contest hammer throw?
K. Hall (AAU):
The hammer throw is a USATF event not AAU
There was much discussion on out of state athletes
competing in Michigan District meet. They can if it is within their region. Can
they get times from our state meet and take them back to theirs to place in the
region? This will be taken to the national convention as an issue.
D. McDowell (WAZA) asked, Can you hop from district to district to qualify for
nationals/regional?
K. Hall (AAU)
answered no you can not. You can only compete in one district meet.
F. Tate (SWIFT)
stated that the: Primaries threw 4lbs at national and were throwing 6lbs at
District/State and invitationals
S. Edwards (Max Out)
stated that the last day a lot of records were broken at nationals. It would be
nice if a kid can run in the finals fresh. Running sprint races back to back
made multi sprinters tired.
D. Hall (AAU)
We made sure kids were taken to awards area and taken back to clerk area for
next event on golf cart so they would not be tired.
M. Bradley (TDP) We
will take the experience from the 2008 JO and use it to fix some problems.
K. Hall (AAU)
Sprinters on the last day was thought to be different because it was 1 heat per
age group. However they hoped that the coaches would choose one sprint instead
of all of the sprints considering the number of rounds. Well as you can see,
that does not happen. Usually you would see an athlete running the 100, 200,
400, 4x100 or a 4x400. Which is a lot.
W. Dixon (AAU/Golightly)
Volunteers (Parents or Coaches) need to make sure they are not at events their
child is participating in if they cannot handle being discrete. There was an
incident where an official accused the other officials crew of cheating.
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that the official has now been removed from officiating any AAU events.
Much discussion on relays. It was suggested to
combine relay teams from other teams to make elite team.
F. Tate (Swift)
How do we get the 15-18 year to participate? MITCA clinic – 800 coaches
participate. AAU should be at this clinic
S. Edwards (Max Out) questioned
the development of athletes; Are we moving with the times; Increase our
knowledge to better prepare our athletes
D. Hall (AAU)
Nike clinic was great; will not go to a Michigan clinic; Nike clinic certified
coaches Level 1, 2, & 3. The clinics are the key; what can I get out of the
Michigan Clinics because they are not open to new ideas or new methods.
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that overall received excellent reviews on the JO games. A lot of JO
games top organizers are not familiar with how track and field is run. What you
saw at the JO was Michigan track and field making it happen. You all have to
look at all sides and not just assume that the JO staff are just being cold
hearted. Coach O is an excellent Meet Director. However, he was given the old
plan and pretty much had to follow it. I can guarantee that you will see a
change.
D. Hall (AAU)
stated that we have been asked to join the national staff for the JO games and
we attribute a lot of that to putting ourselves in places to make sure the
issues that could have occurred at the JO games did not happen.
4. New Business
·
Agenda Items for the National Convention in
October
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that this year we were asked for agenda items for the convention, which
is a first. Usually when we arrive to the convention, the agenda is set. We
attribute that to how far Michigan has come.
a.
The registration process – the entire
system. Have the two systems linked together or have the AAU numbers in for the
JO registration.
b.
F. Tate (SWIFT)
Top eight times for the eight heats to advance.
c.
S. Edwards (Max Out)
Wrist bands and registration, Change the last day for the sprints
d.
Set of instructions on for the coaches on how
to use the coach o system but needs to be clear
·
Host site for Regionals (Open discussion)
Michigan will host 2009 AAU regionals
Need location looking at Harrison High School in Farmington
If you have a suggestion please forward them to us
Need good parking
·
Cross-Country & Bid for Dates –
D. Hall (AAU)
Coach Skeete was appointed vice-chair due to Betteye being ill. Betteye is still
the Chair of cross-country. She has not been removed. Skeete was asked to host
the cross-country meet due to concerns from the national office.
B. Robinson (AAU)
stated that do not have a problem with Coach Skeete being vice chair or hosting
the meet with him. She would like to meet with him first.
K. Hall (AAU)
stated that Cross Country is going back to sub-divisions. The explanation from
the national office will be included in the minutes concerning distances, medal
distribution etc for the district championship.(See
information below)
5. Summary of Decisions/Action Items
K. Hall will submit items above to the National
office for the agenda at the convention.
6. Announcements/Acknowledgements
Kendall Biasen (Swift) should be placed on the Michigan Website for receiving the Joe Farrell award.
USATF
Regional will be in West Virginia July 9 -12, 2009
USATF
Youth Outdoor Track and Field National Champ. June 30-July 5 at EMU.
7. Next Meeting: November 16, 2008 before the holiday
D. Davis (Albion)
moved that the meeting be adjourned and B. Robinson (AAU)
second the motion
Meeting adjourned at 6:41 p.m.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Taken from the email sent by Tony Stanley – AAU National Office)
2008
Cross Country National Championship
Decatur,
AL
December
6, 2008
Age
Divisions:
Primary
Boys and Girls
Born 2000 & After
2,000m (2K)
Bantam
Boys and Girls
Born 1999 & 1998
3,000m (3K)
Midget
Boys and Girls
Born 1997 & 1996
3,000m (3K)
Youth
Boys and Girls
Born 1995 & 1994
4,000m (4K)
Intermediate
Boys and Girls
Born 1993 & 1992
5,000m (5K)
Young
Men and Women
Born 1991 & 1990
5,000m (5K)
Awards:
(This is how awards will be given at the National Championship)
AAU
National Championship medals will be awarded to the first twenty-five (25)
individual places based on year of birth for the Bantam, Midget & Youth
divisions. Only the top 25 finishers in the Primary, Intermediate and
Young Men/Women divisions will receive AAU National Championship medals.
Twenty-six (26) place and after in each race will receive ribbons. In addition,
a team plaque will be presented to the 1st place team in each age
division, and AAU National Championship medals will be presented to each member
of the top three teams. All-American patches will be awarded to the 1st
place finisher and the 1st place team in each age division.