Everything Track and Field presents this article to show you the structure of a very popular and successful Track and Field Club located in Southern New England.

The Quincy Track Club has had great success over the years, from their former athletes and their continuous huge membership. Their organization and planning skills are a big key to their success. Perhaps these ideas can help your track team in succeeding, too.

Philosophy
A grass roots instruction to a wide range of abilities & ages (5-14 year olds).

Program
May, June, July (1st Day in August) 250-450 youth annually.

Practice Suggestions
- Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are open to all. They don't have to come every night but we suggest Monday thru Wednesday for 8 years old and under.
- Tuesday and Thursdays are suggested for 9 - 14 years old.
- Families can attend together to blend the program with other sports.

The Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday practices begin with team meeting and announcements, athletes get broken up into 4 groups (by age): 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-14. They stretch, do calisthenics, drills and jog a 400 (lap). After a water break they then head to opposite ends of the facility. Ages 5-6-7-8 go to one end, and ages 9-10-11-14 go to the other.

Monday and Tuesdays we do 8x100m curve sprints walking across the field for recovery.

Wednesday all age groups do 3 x 300m with 5 minutes rest. We have another break and then split into field event activities. We try to set up as many stations as space allows, plus we set up a shuttle hurdle relay area on the track (for ages 8-14) as well as on grass (for ages 5-6-7) with banana steps training hurdles.

Thursday is Track & Field University Day

Program for ages 8 and under:
Includes: A rotation through 6 stations, with 10 minutes at each station.
Stations include: Long jump, softball throw, Turbo Javelin, Banana Step Training Hurdles, High Jump and Standing Broad Jump.

Program for ages 9 and up:
Includes: lecture, workout, speed/agility training and occasionally a guest speaker.

Lectures include:
Sports Medicine, Basic Anatomy & Physiology, Diet/Nutrition, Sportsmanship/Team-Building and the History of the Club.

Fridays are a series of meets we call "Bring-a-friend" meets
Members can bring guests (although guests are welcome at any activities).

Events include: hurdles, 100, 200, 400, 800, mile, long jump, high jump, softball throw, shot-put, discus, standing broad jump and turbo javelin.

Staff
Along with the 3 head coaches (Geoff Hennessy, Kirk Vaughn, and Dave Allen), High school athletes staff all work groups and activities. We DO NOT let the parents coach. We do however allow parents of the 5-6 year olds be at arms length for support at their stations. Any physically or mentally challenged children are given a "shadow" or 1:1 staff if required to help that child complete their activities. Our staff includes 25 high school or college athletes and 2 mentally challenged Special Olympians, plus 1 administrative person to handle paperwork. All staff is given a small stipend and a couple of t-shirts.

Practice Times
Practices run from 6:15pm to 7:30pm. We try to have a break-up meeting as well at the end of each practice night.

1. Sign-ups
We hold three sign-up meetings in April.

2. Fee
We charge $40 pre-registration and $50 after the program begins. We constantly reinforce the fact that it's never too late to join, and that guests may want to sign-up. Also disadvantaged families can work out a finance plan or in-kind services if they cannot afford the program. There is no residency requirement.

3. Rewards
We use a point system for each practice, meet, out-of-town competition, camp, clinic, fundraising activity or National championship. Athletes earning 25 points are eligible to attend the banquet. The banquet is held at the end of September or the 1st week in October in a large function hall. Roughly 60% of all registrants from a particular spring will earn the banquet. Attendees receive a sweatshirt and trophy and a team picture. We hold one meet at summers end called the Frank Kelly Memorial Meet named after the club's founder. We give ribbons to all and set up heats according to ability. We set up the meet with the longest event first and the shortest last, the philosophy being that kids will often choose the first activity presented. This may get kids introduced to distance running and the heats of the 100 won't have too many competitors.

4. Fundraising
We hold a jog-a-thon and staff water stations for the Boston Corporate challenge. The only other monies coming in are the registration fees, entry fee at the Kelly meet and parents buying their banquet tickets.

5. History
Two kids have made the Olympics:
- Karen Cashman (Short track speed skating, bronze medal at Lillehammer)
- Kate O'Neill (10,000 meters in track and field, Greece).

Two have made the NFL, three have been in Sports Illustrated "Faces in the Crowd" and numerous athletes have been Boston Globe All Scholastics (54), and NCAA and NAIA all-Americans (28).

Coaching Tips for Track & Field Events

1. Hurdles
We use 6" and 12" banana steps as well as metal & wood solid hurdles, training hurdles and adjustable Plyo hurdles. With some tweaking we are able to set up distances to create the three-step patterning as well as proper lead-leg, trail-leg and arm action. Other possible hurdle objects include pizza boxes, cones & tape and foam squares.

Learn more in the Hurdles Training Zone!

2. Shuttle Hurdle Relays (Revered as one of the "funnest" drills by the Quincy kids!)
We set up two or more lanes of training hurdles with spaces in between. Runners are broken up into teams. Each kid runs over 3 to 6 hurdles, tags a cone and then runs back between the hurdles (in an open lane) to tag the next athlete. The first team with everyone sitting down is the winner. Kids will do this to exhaustion and then want to do it again! We keep hurdles low (20-22") and spaced so that they can run between with some sort of rhythm. We are able to incorporate large numbers of kids in a spirited and team oriented competition. "Coaches" will sometimes have to make "trades" to make teams fair, but its fun, and fun to watch. A great way to spot athleticism, and teach kids a sense of accomplishment.

Shuttle Hurdle Relays

3. Long Jump
A fun activity we do nightly is long jump derby. We use a foam rubber practice hurdle and lay it down in front of the pit in the sand. The athlete runs down the runway and long jumps over the foam hurdle. After every athlete clears it we move it out, maybe a foot at a time, sometimes more. If the athlete lands with his feet on the hurdle he is eliminated. We continue until there is a winner. We have also used cardboard boxes, pillows and other soft objects.

4. High Jump
We often use an elastic foam crossbar instead of a real bar for safety and confidence. We can break up the three-pad set into two stations for 5-7s one pad and 2 pads for 8-14. Safety is paramount. If you don't have real high jump pits DO NOT use anything else.

Learn more in the High Jump Training Zone!

Quincy High Jumper soaring over the Elastic Foam Crossbar

5. Javelin
We now exclusively use turbo javelins in 300, 400 and 500-gram weights. It should be noted that younger athletes do well even with the 500 gm "Long Tom" because the size forces the athlete to keep his wrist straight and proper.

Learn more in the Javelin Training Zone!

6. Shotput
We have 4lb, 6lb and 4Kg shot puts and also use soft indoor shot puts, since they are excellent and safe alternatives to metal implements for the younger athletes.

Learn more in the Shot Put Training Zone!

7. Discus
We use rubber discus. (We discourage metal-rimmed implements in general practices and never without a net due to the young ages of our team members).

Learn more in the Discus Training Zone!

To organize your team, Everything Track and Field recommends these great books and videos:

Track & Field Coach's Survival Guide Book
How to Coach and Organize a Successful Track & Field Program Video
How to Plan Track & Field Practices Video
Coaching Track & Field Successfully Book