....but don't athletes now "have a seat at the table"? You've got Spearman, Fleshman, Kynard, Michelle Carter......all now on the board. Is it a case of them being outnumbered, out voted, partisanship,??? What effect has Lannana had on all this, if any?
It would be a sea change for USATF to dedicate substantial resources to putting on a series of high-caliber meets. It seems like it was pulling teeth to get them involved in this winter’s ATL meets, and their sole existing non-championship meet (Oxy) seem to be more about posting qualifying times than competition or prize money (which is understandable—USATF’s mandate is medals, and creating a convenient domestic environment for potential team members to post qualifying times contributes to that).
What you describe above seems to me to be some ex-athletes having a seat at a table that is never going to feed the current athletes (not necessarily through any fault of those ex-athletes—that’s not necessarily what that organization’s mandate is).
What is the role of USATF? As NGB are they to put on summer youth meets, or provide 'professional' competitions on the track, field, roads and xc venues? Do the other NGBs established under the Ted Stephens Act have the same control from youth to Olympic contenders?
kmaclam wrote:
....but don't athletes now "have a seat at the table"? You've got Spearman, Fleshman, Kynard, Michelle Carter......all now on the board. Is it a case of them being outnumbered, out voted, partisanship,??? What effect has Lannana had on all this, if any?
The athletes now make up 1/3 of the 21-person board. Lauren and Michelle's terms have expired, and Erik is on the board as a coaches' rep, not an athlete, but I don't have the full list in front of me and USATF has not yet updated their website.
The athlete board reps include Wallace Spearmon, Ryan Wilson, Kendall Spencer, Amy Begley, Allen Johnson, Will Leer, and I apologize for the ones I am missing. If only election results or meeting minutes or anything else were published and easy to find.
The athletes voted for Mike as board chair. If the athletes had supported Vin, he would have been elected chair.
UVA wrote:
What is the role of USATF? As NGB are they to put on summer youth meets, or provide 'professional' competitions on the track, field, roads and xc venues? Do the other NGBs established under the Ted Stephens Act have the same control from youth to Olympic contenders?
It varies widely among the NGBs. Some are cradle to grave like us and some capture only a tiny fraction of their sport.
I think it is time for the grassroots elements of our sport to reevaluate whether or not being part of our NGB is the best place for us.
The USOPC does not want youth or masters or cross country or MUT. They want Olympic medals and they want money coming in. Everything else is a pain in the ass to them.
If the USOPC is going to demand that the NGBs be structured in a way that completely disenfranchises the grassroots elements of the NGBs, perhaps those elements would be better served elsewhere.
polevaultpower wrote:.
If the USOPC is going to demand that the NGBs be structured in a way that completely disenfranchises the grassroots elements of the NGBs, perhaps those elements would be better served elsewhere.
+1. Is USATF is going to be structured solely to be an Olympic medal factory, numerous aspects of the sport (including domestic pros who want to make a living) need to take their fate into their own hands and start doing more outside the aegis of USATF. Only caring about medals at one meet every year (or every four years) and structuring everything around that is no way to grow either the grassroots or the pro side of the sport.
Remember when Fleshman used to rail against the Board? Now that’s she’s part of the establishment I don’t hear anything
Hmm, is the AAU still around??
Becca, I see your tweet. Is there a story on this? When will the news release be posted, and when does conley's term begin?
flushed out wrote:
Remember when Fleshman used to rail against the Board? Now that’s she’s part of the establishment I don’t hear anything
Lauren's term expired in December and she chose not to run again.
Lauren spoke up for this article about Max's salary, and I heard rumblings that some of the board members were unhappy that she did so and made their feelings known to her.
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a32243052/usatf-releases-2018-tax-information/Towson exile wrote:
Becca, I see your tweet. Is there a story on this? When will the news release be posted, and when does conley's term begin?
I have no idea when USATF will announce it or when anyone will write about it. I'm working on writing something about the big picture of everything, but I don't know when that will be up.
hardset nipples wrote:
Hmm, is the AAU still around??
Yes, and they have been expanding their offerings from youth-only into the open and masters age divisions as well.
I'm sure they would be thrilled if the grassroots portion of the sport (which is the bulk of USATF's membership) cut ties with USATF and threw their lot in with AAU.
But my opinion on AAU at this exact moment in time is that they are largely a garbage organization who cares about money a lot more than athlete safety, and I mean that both on how they have handled the pandemic and how they have (not) handled predatory coaches.
What is the best path forward for grassroots athletes in this sport? I don't know. But I think now is the time to seriously have discussions about that and consider options.
USATF's delegates have to decide again in December how they want to vote on the same issues. The USOPC is going to tell us we have to vote against what is best for grassroots track and field.
We could vote no and watch the USOPC decertify the NGB, which hurts the elite athletes.
We could vote no and watch the board just pass everything as emergency legislation and keep repeating this destructive cycle every year and never get anything done.
We could vote yes and let the board do whatever they want for the rest of our NGB's existence, and have no recourse if they decide to continue to make it harder and harder to exist and make the sport happen at the local level.
As long as the USOPC is determined to pursue the path they have, there is no good path forward, because they _want_ the board to disenfranchise us.
Grassroots track and field has no obligations to the USOPC. We don't have to stay in this abusive relationship.
But I don't want to see our sport jump from one abusive relationship to another. All paths need to be explored.
polevaultpower wrote:
hardset nipples wrote:
Hmm, is the AAU still around??
Yes, and they have been expanding their offerings from youth-only into the open and masters age divisions as well.
I'm sure they would be thrilled if the grassroots portion of the sport (which is the bulk of USATF's membership) cut ties with USATF and threw their lot in with AAU.
But my opinion on AAU at this exact moment in time is that they are largely a garbage organization who cares about money a lot more than athlete safety, and I mean that both on how they have handled the pandemic and how they have (not) handled predatory coaches.
Just knowing what the AAU has enabled with high school age basketball is enough to give full pause. LaVar Ball considered himself too clean to associate with AAU.
polevaultpower wrote:
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a32243052/usatf-releases-2018-tax-information/
“If you want to crown them, then crown their a$$, but they are who we thought they were. And we let them off the hook.”
polevaultpower wrote:
https://www.usatf.org/news/2021/usatf-board-elects-new-officers-welcomes-new-board
Thx for the update.
flushed out wrote:
Remember when Fleshman used to rail against the Board? Now that’s she’s part of the establishment I don’t hear anything
Lananna is part of the establishment too. He hasn't done anything to help with the biggest issues we face.
Thanks for the update. Of the 7 athlete reps plus an alternate, having four be from sprints/hurdles, one from throws, and two from distance* seems in line with this board's characterization of USATF's relative interest in sprints vs. distance.
* I couldn't figure out how to classify Nicole Leach. I assume her range was commented on at the time, but I wasn't following the sport then. How strange/impressive is it for a 400H national runner-up to also win national (indoor) titles in the mile and 3K?
JamesD2 wrote:
* I couldn't figure out how to classify Nicole Leach. I assume her range was commented on at the time, but I wasn't following the sport then. How strange/impressive is it for a 400H national runner-up to also win national (indoor) titles in the mile and 3K?
Say what?
Ghost of McEnroe wrote:
JamesD2 wrote:
* I couldn't figure out how to classify Nicole Leach. I assume her range was commented on at the time, but I wasn't following the sport then. How strange/impressive is it for a 400H national runner-up to also win national (indoor) titles in the mile and 3K?
Say what?
My bad (and I think the USATF release's poor grammar). I read a clause in the release as referring entirely to Leach when part referred to her and part to Will Leer. It said, "...Nicole Leach, a former 400m hurdler and 2014 USATF Indoor Champion in the mile and 3,000m, ... (Will Leer)" which looks like everything between the commas refers to Leach.
I thought that was an impressive combination of events. Guess not.