Youth Athletics Committee Planning Meeting

Join The Meeting (on Zoom)

Track and Field Season:
Key National Meets to be hosted by USATF in 2025 include:

• USATF Youth National Championships will be hosted by New York at Icahn Stadium June 24-29, 2025.
• USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships will be host by North Carolina at North Carolina A&T July 22-27, 2025.

 
During the Zoom call we will go over current USATF Indiana Junior Olympic meet plans. Current thoughts:

• The Association meet will be the weekend of June 13-15 or June 20-22.
  • The specific weekend and days (Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday) will be a topic for the call.
  • June 13-15 is earlier than normal and may be too close to the IHSAA State Meet for some.
  • June 20-22 overlaps with several of the “shoe meet” (Nike, etc.) invitationals and is the weekend before the USATF Youth National meet.
  • The location is currently TBD as we coordinate with possible facilities. Wabash is the current leading candidate.
• We are looking at options for hosting a Combined Events meet like the one we conducted in 2023. Most likely this would again be a one-day event, so no Heptathlon or Decathlon. We are considering offering the Pentathlon to the older youth age groups and expand participation to Open and Masters athletes. This would not be a formal part of the Junior Olympic series but would be consider the USATF Indiana Combined Events Championship.
  • Timing options include:
    •  An early June Friday date in partnership with a Saturday youth meet. This was the approach in 2023.
    • Host the event on the Friday before the Association Junior Olympic meet.
• Region 7, Junior Olympic meet will be hosted in Illinois in 2025. The location and dates have not been locked in but most likely the meet with be July 10-14, 2025 at Proviso East High School outside Chicago. If you get a chance, look at the facility on Google Earth. Any high school coach would be jealous.

 
Rule Changes:

• Boys 13-14 100m High Hurdles. These will be moving from 33” to 36”. This brings them in line with Middle School hurdle heights.
• Boys and Girls 9-10 Javelin. A new 250g Javelin has been developed like the Aero Javelin used by the 11-12 age group. This javelin provides a more representative throwing and flight experience over the Turbo Javelin. Depending on the experience in 2025 and 2026 it may be adopted for the 8&U age group. Under the 2025 rules we have to option to use the Turbo or new Aero 250g Javelin. For the Association JO meet we will use the new Aero Javelin and provide these implements at the Association meet. 

 
Paralympics:
The National track and field and cross country Paralympics programs have officially been integrated into USATF. The association will be looking for ways to grow these events in Indiana. We encourage all meet managers to include Paralympic events in their meets. The Association Junior Olympics will include several Paralympic events, and we will be looking for opportunities for additional meets.
 
Cross Country:
2025 will be an interesting year for Youth cross country. Indiana will be host to the Association and Region 7 Junior Olympic meets. We will continue to expand the Grand Prix series with several new location expressing interest in hosting events. The big news is that USATF will be hosting the World Cross Country Championship in Tallahassee, Florida on January 10, 2026. There are plans to host the 2025 USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on the same course on January 11, 2026. I realize this creates all sorts on challenges for our Athletes and Coaches. We can discuss these during the Zoom call or send me your thoughts by email.

New/Other Business:
Open discussion about other items.