I spent 8 LONG hours at a high school track meet—ask me anything

I have 3 kids that play competitive soccer and run club track. I'm happy with all day on the fields or all day at the track. Its like going to the lake but without the water. We take our canopy and coolers, hammocks if we have a spot for them. Eat snacks and sandwiches in the heat and local steaks, burgers or something on the way home. The 8 hours at the meet are talking, playing games, playing on phones, reading, cheering for friends, speculating what is wrong with pole vaulters, etc. Enjoying the slow moments of life isn't a bad thing.

We don't make many of the kids school meets but when they run into the evening, as they often do, we can catch the end after work.

I understand hating the inefficiencies of a poorly run meet - which is most of them, but I've learned to just roll with it and make the most of another great day where the kids are outside, being active and not stuck in front of a tv.

Like watching the grass grow wrote:

Basketball is the best kid sport to watch though.

The hoodlum culture associated with it is less desirable, however.

TF is the mostest massiveness growth sport in America.

Welcome to the world of high school coaching!!

Space Ghost wrote:

If I was in charge of a big high school meet, I'd do these things:

4. Two-mile sections slower than 10:30 for boys or 12:30 for girls will be huge in my meet. 40 athletes. Maybe 50. Maybe more. Self-timed. I think the slow kids would have more fun racing a huge field--no gaps. Who cares if they are in lane 3 the whole time? Who cares if it kept them from breaking 13 minutes for 2 miles? Coaches count the laps, too.

I don't know when they changed to heats, but I was in the big ten when they still had one heat of the 3000m

You had to start a little fast for the first 75 meters, but other than that I ran it like any other 3000m. Nick Willis had to trip a guy on the curve to get a restart one year I was there because he missed the gun. But even with 40 guys on the track, you figure there still won't be more than a guy or two every second and your in lane one or two after the first lap.

If it were up to me, there would never be more than two heats (one boy, one girls) of any high school race. Lapping guys in the 1600m wasn't fun, so at most make them run in lane 3.

HRE wrote:

are your kids good? wrote:

Why do you have to watch all the other races?

Maybe you don't. But what if he has more than one kid running? Or what if his kid is running, say the mile, which comes early in meets around here, and also a leg of the 4 x 8 or 4 x 4, which is at the end? He still could leave and come back I suppose, but often there's not many other places to go.

I'd probably just sit and work on something else. I spent last Saturday working on a grant proposal. If I'd been at a track meet, I would have just done the same project while sitting at the track. Dunno, "I can't find any task with which to keep myself occupied" just seems like the exact opposite problem that most of us have. Eight hours of dead time almost seems like a luxury.

Like watching the grass grow wrote:

Concessions were terrible and typical. Gummy Fruit Snacks, Gatorade, piles of pizza boxes with lukewarm pizza, and various Halloween type candies.

A food truck at these events might make a pretty penny come to think of it.

+1

Yes on food truck and they should sell beer to help support the endless charities that hit me up at these events.

Way to support the sport

Back in the day we didn't have steenkin' heats. Coaches put their best runners in race. Meets were rarely more than 3 way - and you hauled ass.

Now regional or state meets had heats, but not the conference ones. And back then usually two heats max as I recall.

Track and field in one of the largest participatory high school sports. Many teams are very large in order to fill out all of the events. At many meets there are different levels (frosh, soph, novice, and varsity). Also most schools have no cut policy as well. At large meets it is necessary that this proper meet management. Dead time is when nothing is happening between races or events. But proper personnel makes sure that that doesn't happen. It takes experience people who are used to together to get that done. Sometimes it's not present at all.

This past weekend I went to an indoor meet in Staten Island, N.Y. The facility was a beautiful track center, perhaps two years old. About 240 teams participated. On Saturday they ran the boys events while the next day the girls competed. On Saturday there were 36 races in the 800. On the infield the sprinters and the hurdlers competed while others circled the oval. Following those events there were 89 separate races in the 200 meters. The meet had kicked off at 8:40 AM with one 2 mile race. Then it was the 800 and 200 for more than the next 3 hours. There was barely a pause in the action. Races were started while others were finishing. Yes, there were some glitches but all in all meet management did a great job!

The stands were filled and spectators lined up along the track. A large event board gave all of the times immediately after each race. Yes, there were some glitches. One of my runners was in the 16th section of the 200 and they kept beaming up the results of the 6th section but eventually I was able to find out his official F.A.T. time. There was also ample parking. One had to hike a bit but it was there and free.

If one wants a sport that is available to all kids it's not always going to run smooth. All spectators would love to see their kids in early events, but it's impossible to do for obvious reason. The sport is for the kids. There are invitational meets with hand picked fields which don't take more than 4 or 5 hours but don't we want all of our kids able to take part?

Coach J46 wrote:

If one wants a sport that is available to all kids it's not always going to run smooth. All spectators would love to see their kids in early events, but it's impossible to do for obvious reason. The sport is for the kids. There are invitational meets with hand picked fields which don't take more than 4 or 5 hours but don't we want all of our kids able to take part?

I'm just not sure why a meet needs to be so gigantic. If you're looking for participation rather than elite competition, do you really need to bring hundreds of teams together from a wide geographic area? If I'm going to run a 2:05 800m, I could have more than enough competition at a small meet at my local university's indoor facility with 3-5 area teams.

Just seems to me that the sport would be more enjoyable with a larger number of smaller meets. Elite meets can pull from a wide geographic area and keep fields reasonable through high standards. Participation-focussed meets can keep field sizes reasonable by pulling from a smaller geographic area.

are your kids good? wrote:

HRE wrote:

Yes, great performances are always very entertaining. But they rarely come in the 4th heat of the 800 or the 6th heat of the hurdles. Even if his kids are turning in great performances he still needs to spend a lot of time watching far from great ones.

Why do you have to watch all the other races?

I don't show up until my kid is running, for the most part. I'd like to support all of the kids, but time is stretched pretty thin at this point in life. Maybe I'll volunteer when i'm retired.

sounds like a swim meet, swimmers are always in the pool, dead time is next to nothing....heck they start many races before the simmers in the prior race are even out of the pool....the next swimmers just dive over them from the blocks....if there are 85 races, with countless heats, a 30 second dead time between races can add up to hours

rojo wrote:

Like watching the grass grow wrote:

I loved running track in my time. Watching my kids now is terrible. This sport needs to be updated. Even baseball was able to limit crotch adjusting to move things along. Any ideas?

My wife recently gave birth. Many family members have been like, "Robert, you were a runner, I bet you are hoping he's a runner." I'm like, "I hope not. Sport is way too boring and long. I hope he's good at soccer or baseball or something"

If you are a suburban, white, and not a giant then don't fall for the siren song of basketball. Huge waste of time when they get to 9th grade and get cut or worse, ride the pine of an below average high school team. Getting run out of the gym by the urban teams.

All meets should limit entries to 5 per school for 200M events and below. Unlimited entries for 400M and on up. That way, the slow sprinters who are on the team might develop into 400M runners. It's brutal watching endless heats of the 100M and 200M.

I don't know how it is everywhere in the country, but the reason indoor track takes so long in Utah is because there are very few facilities to host a meet. There aren't opportunities for your young kids to run at a dual or a tri, so you end with over a 1000 kids at a meet. When the track only has 4 lanes, that takes awhile.

As meet directors, we make efforts to shorten the meet, but you can only put so many kids in heats. You can take blocks away after the first few heats of the 200, but when you have 46 heats of girls and 57 heats of boys, it takes time. You think 8 hours is bad, try 21 hours for a two day meet.

Track meets are incredibly popular in the and the sport keeps growing and growing and growing. Just proves that 5-time Draft Dodger, Donald Trump, is wrong about American not being the Greatest Country in the WORLD!

My HS girl is fortunate enough to run most meets at the NY Armory, and as far as I can tell they do a fantastic job. Yes, some meets have a ton of kids, but the organizers keep it moving incredibly well - never any dead time at all - and I've actually found it quite enjoyable to watch all the action. That being said, I try to arrive for her race and don't stay for all the speed relays at the end. Most importantly, it's been a real thrill for my daughter and she's had a blast. She's just a freshman, so she may get sick of it, but so far so good.

I ran back in the day in HS, and our meets were at the County Center in White Plains or at West Point. I don't recall all the details, but these meets now seem much better run. How is the NY Armory regarded as a venue nationally? Obviously Millrose Games are there, so can't be all bad, but wondering if the sentiment is pro or con? I remember Millrose at the Garden - now *that* was cool!

Like watching the grass grow wrote:

I loved running track in my time. Watching my kids now is terrible. This sport needs to be updated. Even baseball was able to limit crotch adjusting to move things along. Any ideas?

It seems like the amount of downtime between heats / events is a huge culprit. Granted, it's been 7 years since I suffered through a HS meet, but I just don't understand why it takes several minutes to sort out FAT between every race. This even occurs at the college/elite/professional level. Since all the data/photos/video is stored electronically, can't you be sorting that out after the next heat takes off (particularly in a distance race)?