Took 4.5yo daughter to first meet yesterday @ US Indoor Nats. Here's what happened:

Positive Contribution wrote:

Was expecting you to say something along the lines of Salazar shoving her out of the way so Hasay or Centro could go cool down after a race.

Pleasantly surprised.

Hah, so was I. I can't imagine athletes in just about any other sport being so approachable (not that I have lots of experience in trying to get pics or autographs with athletes - but this def set a great tone for future meets).

Two Minute Thousand wrote:

Next year take her to the NB Grand Prix at the Reggie Lewis Ctr. It's a great meet, and they fill the spaces between the Pro races with high school races, including relays. Professionally, It's the usual rabbited setup, but Toni Reavis does a great job announcing, and really gets the crowd--which usually includes a lot of high school kids--worked up. Glad you both enjoyed the Nationals!

Will definitely take her to NB next year. I've gone with my wife for the past 6 years or so, but time to start bringing the kiddo along. I wish there were more meets and a longer season to enjoy with her. May try Penn Relays with her next (though obviously couldn't hang out there all day).

They did an Elite Athlete Meet and Greet the night before the Camel City Elite races at the JDL track in North Carolina. It was really a great idea because kids could come and meet the athletes, get autographs, and learn a little of the personalities. Then the next day, people had a vested interest in the races. People were cheering for those they liked from the meet and greet. The people at JDL do a very good job with stuff like this and USATF could set something similar up.

They were also letting people who donated a certain amount to the crowd funding for the elite race prize money to go on the infield for those races. What a cool experience and nice little reward for giving to the sport.

Well done! Hopefully your little one will be signing autographs and sharing the excitement with other kids in the future.

His daughter is smarter than the average American.

It completely makes sense that a kid would get it, there's something going on all the time.

Track and field has been described as hard to televise because it is like a 3 ring circus with multiple things going on at the same time in different areas.

Kids are fast.

Now, imagine her at a baseball game for 3 hours and all that watching and waiting for something to happen. And between innings breaks?

Or a 17 inning 1-0, game, lol. The Dad would reallly be regretting the decision then.

Great story!

Great post, OP. When I watch track or XC with my daughter, we always pick someone to root for based on their singlet. "I'm rooting for green." "We'll I'm rooting for black and my girl is going to win." It's simple and fun. And let's face it -- a come from behind kick to win is probably the most exciting thing for a kid of any age. We haven't hit a live meet yet but we're close to NYC so maybe an indoor meet next year or something at Randalls Island this summer.

A Duck wrote:

His daughter is smarter than the average American.

It completely makes sense that a kid would get it, there's something going on all the time.

Track and field has been described as hard to televise because it is like a 3 ring circus with multiple things going on at the same time in different areas.

Kids are fast.

Now, imagine her at a baseball game for 3 hours and all that watching and waiting for something to happen. And between innings breaks?

Or a 17 inning 1-0, game, lol. The Dad would reallly be regretting the decision then.

Great story!

Re: Baseball... Very true. We went to a mets game last season. Didn't hold her attention at all. Of course it probably didn't help that we were fairly far from the action and there's rarely baseball on our TV at home. She liked the food at the stadium, but that was about the limit.

My daughter and I sat through many a track and xc meet watching her older brother run. During the xc meets we'd have a blast running from one area to another trying to get a glimpse of her brother. During the track meets, we'd always pick out "one to watch" based on their stride and technique and then root for them. Definitely easier and more fun for kids than many other spectator sports!

runnermama wrote:

My daughter and I sat through many a track and xc meet watching her older brother run. During the xc meets we'd have a blast running from one area to another trying to get a glimpse of her brother. During the track meets, we'd always pick out "one to watch" based on their stride and technique and then root for them. Definitely easier and more fun for kids than many other spectator sports!

This is why I think Pro XC could be "sold" as a spectator sport. Loop courses with spectators running around are great.

Europe gets spectators at XC Meets- then, they can get to the athletes.

If you live in Massachusetts, I think there will probably be at least a couple of opportunities. The Adrian Martinez Classic (http://www.martinezclassic.com/) is a great event. I've never been to the New Balance mini-meets, but that could be fun for a little kid - though I don't know if they have the high jump with a stick. I'm also curious about the Boston Track Classic in June...that looks promising.

Trackorama,

Cool that you had a fun father-daughter time with your daughter, and perhaps this will be the thing that gets her stoked about track and field. However, do know that at age 4, they don't necessarily remember things that they did later on. I took my now 14-year-old son to a Monster Truck show when he was about your daughter's age, and he seemed to like it then...talked about it the next day, etc., but today he doesn't remember it at all.

So, keep taking her if she continues to like it and someday she will say, "I had been going to track meets with my dad for as long as I can rememner." Just know that she likely won't remember this one...not consciously anyway.

I also expected a bad story, particularly given the child's age. Thanks to the OP for a great post. The kid is lucky to have you for a Dad. Praise also for our fine athletes: they train and race hard, and they are good enough to give a kid a special experience. Such conduct by MLB, NBA, or NFL players after a game is unimaginable to e. Well done by all.

So excited to hear this story that I thought I would share mine on this meet .

I have 7 children and after a recent bitter divorce I have the my kids w me and the youngest 2 with me 24/7 . We run and ride, hike and explore, all the time and are big track fans cheering often for their older brother (D1 in his college races) from afar. Or going to big brother and sisters races in high school !

But this meet was special to my kids

On Sunday it was just the little ones and myself , so I put on any coverage I could find as we were preparing for our weekend activities of a fun run in the snow and sledding. I found the replay of Sunday action on the computer hoping to see the running events but it ended up being hours of field events only.

First up was the 35 lb wt through (which I personally love to watch). In about 2 min both my kids (5 yr old girl, and 7 yr old boy ) were glued to the stream and watching intently we laughed and sighed, cheered and moaned, as they threw, and a champion was crowned! . And so I thought off to our plans ….. but no ! They wouldn't have it , from one event to the next they were enamored , picking their favorite to win , from the race walk, to pole vault, shot put, tipple jump, 60 heats, 60 hurdles heats, etc ….

Well hours turned to minutes as we were glued to the computer ! I tried many times to sneak fast forward to the distance clashes I so anticipated seeing , but I stood no chance, they had the mouse and were determined to watch every hop, skip, jump, and throw that was covered , In fact when I would turn my back they would skip back to watch their favorite parts HAHAHA

5 hours later (which seemed like a moment ) when the coverage ended they asked to watch it again !

I think this is a great testimony to the greatness of our sport ! And i'm so thankful they see the just how amazing it is !!!

thanks for the inspiration of your wonderful meet so i could share ours !

glad to hear it!

Trackorama wrote:

I had wanted to bring along my daughter for a while, but of course wanted her first track meet to be a positive experience (not something I pushed on her). She wasn't very excited to come along as she explained "watching people run won't be exciting". I'm super pumped that she actually loved the experience and can't wait to come along again (we're based in NYC, but I'd consider flying with her out to watch Pre in a few months).

The events at the Armory are also great. I took my two 9-year-olds and almost 5-year-old to the Armory Invitation in January. We only went for the broadcast portion which lasted from 4:30 to 6:30. They were all also into the pole vault, and were very into Levins beating Rupp and doubling in the mile and two-mile. They were also into an argument one of the high school coaches sitting near us was making about a relay DQ because of a botched hand-off. All of this without any snacks. The only downside was the youngest was a bit freaked out by the starter's pistol.

It really is a great sport that kids can appreciate if you give them a little context.

Thanks for sharing! I was at the Armory Invitational by myself (and also went to Millrose by myself). Next time I'll definitely bring the little one along. Out of curiosity, have have you taking them to Coogan's after any of the meets? In 2014 after after Millrose (which I went to by myself), my wife and daughter met up at Coogan's and got a seat in the back/right side of the restaurant as everyone went to the bar area. About 20 mins after we got seated that area filled up with all the pro's and familys. Will Leer was a table over from us and Jordan Hasay was a few tables over.

Side note - it was interesting to see all the teenage fangirls (and boys) interact with Jordan. My wife even saw some girls follow her into the bathroom and supposedly wait outside the stall she was using! But the whole time my wife said she had a smile on her face and never tried to ignore anyone.

Moneytalks wrote:

Awesome story! ROJO, the only way non runners are EVER going to take notice of track and field outside the Olympics is to allow many more sponsorships on the singlets and allow betting. Can't rely on the shoe companies only. Look how many sponsors are at the X-games and all over their apparel. Hell, I watch fishing and hunting on tv, two of the most boring things to watch! Know why it's on tv?...those guys promote the snot out of like 10 products at once! Watching USATF on tv you see the same three nike commercials over and over! They could even partner with the big cereal companies and bring back...."did you eat your wheaties?" All these athletes are so healthy looking. I am sure big food companies would gladly use them as spoke-persons for their products.

Yo this guy is right

Thanks for a great post.

Track really has a lot going for it and one of its strengths is that the athletes are mostly decent people and accessible to fans. It may never have the mass following of the NBA, etc., but it's good to get the word out about this.

Trackorama wrote:

Thanks for sharing! I was at the Armory Invitational by myself (and also went to Millrose by myself). Next time I'll definitely bring the little one along. Out of curiosity, have have you taking them to Coogan's after any of the meets? In 2014 after after Millrose (which I went to by myself), my wife and daughter met up at Coogan's and got a seat in the back/right side of the restaurant as everyone went to the bar area. About 20 mins after we got seated that area filled up with all the pro's and familys. Will Leer was a table over from us and Jordan Hasay was a few tables over.

We hightailed it back downtown after the meet, but Coogan's is a great idea for next year. That's another nice aspect about pro track, the fact that the athletes are only stars in a very narrow universe and you get to see them out and about a lot.