A parent or a coach probably rooted a bit too hard for their kid or started trash talking a rival. Someone told them to cool it or to shut up and it escalated from there. Sadly, I have seen it before because some people need to crow loudly about how great their 8 year old future NFL superstar just whooped everyone good and the other kids should just quit and go home.
This is probably true. I've coached youth distance runners for years, been to both AAU and USATF National meets and have seen some parents crossing the line. Saw a parent at a meet running and jumping up and down because his 8 year old boy won his 1500 meter race. He was screaming, "Yeah that's right" while looking at the crowd. The celebration was excessive and other parents didn't seem to enjoy his celebration.
I have also seen parents go off on their 8 year old kids because they didn't perform well.. This is slickening but this is also a different topic.
As long as no one got hurt, the fight in the grand scheme of things is not that big of a deal. It is impossible to bring that many people together and not have an incident or two. The AAU and USATF JO meets are the largest track meets in the world; way bigger than the NCAA, WC and Olympics. It is almost impossible to understand the scale if you have never been affiliated with USA age group track. The problem nowadays is with the recent school shootings, any act of violence within a large group of people is going to get magnified.
A separate issue; someone asked which meet is the best. Most people who are affiliated with one will swear that one is the best. I have been affiliated with both; they are about equal but different. People will usually state which one is best based on the competition, but truthfully for your 10-year-old daughter, what you want is for her and her teammates to have a great experience. There is certainly pressure on the kids at these national meets, but at the same time, there is almost nothing a kid can experience that is more fun, memorable and meaningful than traveling far away from home, hanging out with their friends and having a common goal.
As long as no one got hurt, the fight in the grand scheme of things is not that big of a deal. It is impossible to bring that many people together and not have an incident or two.
People did get hurt in this incident. People went to the hospital, so yes, it is a big deal. Maybe not life threatening injuries but enough to go to the hospital.
It is possible to have that many people together and not have incidents like this. What kind of world do you live in? I think it is safe to say that I would never want you involved with or around kids in any type of activity.
Apparently during the fight somebody flashed a gun. Ive heard different stories from the few people I know were there. One person said shots were fired. Another person said the starting gun went off at the same time the fight started and people were confused. Either way it was chaos. Lots of scared kids
Just another reason the starting gun should be replaced with a tone like they have in swimming.
As long as no one got hurt, the fight in the grand scheme of things is not that big of a deal. It is impossible to bring that many people together and not have an incident or two.
People did get hurt in this incident. People went to the hospital, so yes, it is a big deal. Maybe not life threatening injuries but enough to go to the hospital.
It is possible to have that many people together and not have incidents like this. What kind of world do you live in? I think it is safe to say that I would never want you involved with or around kids in any type of activity.
Setting the bar pretty low there, TrackCoach. I've been coaching for 20 yrs and have been to countless meets with this many people and more, and also other big attendance events and have not experienced things like this. Not very comforting hearing someone with such an inane point of view may be dealing with people in a coaching position.
It is a big deal and is not a normal occurrence. In 30 years of track and field I've never been to a meet that was cancelled or even postponed because of a brawl. Let's not make it a point to excuse or normalize this kind of behavior.
This looks to already be affecting plans for next year, with AAU teams heading to USATF instead. Two days ago I was looking at hotel rooms and airbnbs for USATF JOs next year in Eugene. Loads of options. Looked again today and nearly every good option had been booked.
This looks to already be affecting plans for next year, with AAU teams heading to USATF instead. Two days ago I was looking at hotel rooms and airbnbs for USATF JOs next year in Eugene. Loads of options. Looked again today and nearly every good option had been booked.
What is a better meet for the kids... USATF JOs or this AAU JO meet (aside from this incident)? Is competition the same? Is one smoother than the other?
AAU is much much larger with easier means of qualifying. That can be a pro or a con for different people. Both move fairly smoothly although with AAUs larger numbers there is less margin for error and sometimes things can run way behind (although things can run behind at USATF too). Also, age groups are single year from 9-14 at AAU but two year groupings at USATF for all ages (9-10, 11-12, etc). That means better competition for the odd-number ages kids at USATF but at AAU better chances for medals and what they call “national” records (misleading, really just meet records).
Competition-wise, it’s a mixed bag for the sprints. They seem fairly even. For distance races, USATF traditionally is faster. There are always exceptions though (Athing Mu went the AAU route, for example).
There are also regional preferences, with more west coast clubs preferring USATF and east coast clubs preferring AAU it seems.
For me it’s an easy call, I have distance kids who want more competition and I want to deal with less of a sea of humanity, so we’ve gone the USATF route.
True. But really don't underestimate region of the competition. If aau is in fla, that's the best comp. Aau doesn't do west coast. Usatf in cali...always great. Usatf districts and regionals are run a shoestring sometimes with no clocks, worse than a small grade school meet. Why worse than aau ime. We have been to usatf with zero competitors in multiple age groups. Somehow when you get to nationals, usatf gets better. Ultimately they end up as superegionals, aau for east, usatf for west, with a bit of crossover.
This looks to already be affecting plans for next year, with AAU teams heading to USATF instead. Two days ago I was looking at hotel rooms and airbnbs for USATF JOs next year in Eugene. Loads of options. Looked again today and nearly every good option had been booked.
filed under: dubious claim
I wish. Just had to overpay for a refundable backup plan. Hoping blocks of rooms will open up but I’m doubtful given the Worlds experience.
As long as no one got hurt, the fight in the grand scheme of things is not that big of a deal. It is impossible to bring that many people together and not have an incident or two.
People did get hurt in this incident. People went to the hospital, so yes, it is a big deal. Maybe not life threatening injuries but enough to go to the hospital.
It is possible to have that many people together and not have incidents like this. What kind of world do you live in? I think it is safe to say that I would never want you involved with or around kids in any type of activity.
Apparently, I spoke without knowing the extent of the incident; I certainly was not aware of people going to the hospital. I have been to practically every type of large event you can imagine, concerts, festivals, protests, sporting events and numerous AAU and USATF JO meets and there is not a single event that is completely without incident. I have seen fights at youth events involving just 2 basketball or football teams. With all of that said again it appears there was more to the incident than I thought. Btw, the personal attack was unnecessary because I was not in any way condoning violence; the incident was simply a bigger deal than I realized.
People did get hurt in this incident. People went to the hospital, so yes, it is a big deal. Maybe not life threatening injuries but enough to go to the hospital.
It is possible to have that many people together and not have incidents like this. What kind of world do you live in? I think it is safe to say that I would never want you involved with or around kids in any type of activity.
Apparently, I spoke without knowing the extent of the incident; I certainly was not aware of people going to the hospital. I have been to practically every type of large event you can imagine, concerts, festivals, protests, sporting events and numerous AAU and USATF JO meets and there is not a single event that is completely without incident. I have seen fights at youth events involving just 2 basketball or football teams. With all of that said again it appears there was more to the incident than I thought. Btw, the personal attack was unnecessary because I was not in any way condoning violence; the incident was simply a bigger deal than I realized.
If you’ve never been to a single event where there isn’t an incident, then maybe you’re the problem since you’re the one common factor. Please for the sake of the children, stop going to stuff.