Transcript Presentation by Athletics - (100) - Sport and Recreation South Africa

ATHLETICS
STRUCTURE OF ASA
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ASA consists of 17 provincial members
and several associate members.
The associate members include SASA and
USSA-Athletics.
The associate members have voting
powers at General and Council meetings of
ASA.
A representative of USSA-Athletics sits on
the board of ASA.
THERE ARE 17 ASA PROVINCES
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Athletics North West Cape
Athletics Griqualand West
Athletics North West North
Athletics Central North West
Limpopo Athletics
Mpumalanga Athletics
Athletics Guateng North
Central Gauteng Athletics
Athletics Vaal Triangle
Athletics Free State
KwaZulu Natal Athletics
Border Athletics
Eastern Province Athletics
Athletics Transkei
Athletics South Western Districts
Boland Athletics
Western Province Athletics
PROVINCIAL MEMBERS
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These
are
run
along
a
similar
organisational line to ASA, with the
members being the clubs within that
province.
The decision making power within the
provinces is the General Meeting of the
clubs.
Because of the recent turmoil within ASA,
several of the provinces are being
administered by interim structures, due to
resignations and removal of certain
officials
SCHOOLS ATHLETICS
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Schools Athletics falls under SASA, which is an
Associate Member of ASA.
Schools Athletics nominally falls under Athletics
South Africa, but does not consult with ASA on
technical and organisational matters.
The situation within the provinces depends on the
province. There are currently three different
situations:
• The ASA province and school sport within the province
work closely together (in some cases the ASA province is
effectively run by schools athletics).
• The ASA province and school sport do not co-operate at
all.
• The two organisations operate separately but have joint
championships.
COMPETITION OPPORTUNITIES
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Track & Field
• Primary Schools
• High Schools
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Cross Country
PRIMARY SCHOOLS
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ASA does not deal with competitions for these
ages. They are dealt with solely by the schools.
Some provinces do cater for events for those
ages.
The Schools have provincial and national
championships.
The IAAF does not recognise specialised
competitions for these ages – they have
developed a Kids Athletics programme.
The IAAF development structure is based on a
progression from 6 years-senior level, where the
children at the lower ages take part in team
competitions where they have to take part in
several events and learn several skills. From
there they progress to more focused combined
events and then to specialised skills by the age of
16.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO
Current SA structure:
 Requires developed facilities.
 Requires funding to bus and
accommodate children at the facility.
 Places undue stress on the child, who is
taking part in as an individual.
 Requires early specialisation.
 If the child (or parent/teacher) chooses
the wrong event so early they are lost to
the sport.
IAAF PROGRAMME
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Only requires an equipment pack – about
R5000 – and an open field or hall.
Children
learn
skills
in
a
team
environment where they are exposed to
several events develop skills at the same
rate as their physical development.
When the child does specialise later they
have learnt basic skills in all events and
can translate those into their specialist
event.
The child’s talent can be identified from
the range of activities they do.
COACHES AND TECHNICAL
OFFICIALS STRUCTURES
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These structures in Athletics collapsed several
years ago and are not functional.
There is no national syllabus or qualification
structure.
There are many courses put on in provinces
and regions, but they do not carry any national
endorsement. Many schools (and ASA) officials
are not using the current IAAF Rule Book.
This is a major priority. The national office is
working on a proposal for the upgrading of the
skills of current officials and training new ones.
Once the structure is finalised, training courses
and programmes will be rolled out.
HIGH SCHOOLS
This is where there is duplication:
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ASA holds a national Youth (u18 – 16, 17 years)
and Junior (u20 – 18, 19 years) Championships.
These are a prelude to the World Championships
(Youth and Junior are held in alternate years).
SASA
holds
a
national
High
Schools
Championships. The age groups are u15, u17 and
u19. These are not international age groups.
However, the athletes who participate at the
Youth and Junior Championships are often also in
the High Schools Championships.
PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
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In the provinces, there are qualification rounds.
As pointed out before, in some cases these are
with the provinces, in some cases they are
different.
The biggest issue is that the schools boundaries
do not equate to the ASA boundaries and in same
cases there is a need for an additional provincial
schools championships to select the provincial
schools team (eg in the Western Cape, the three
ASA province have championships and then they
have a separate Western Cape Championships –
adding extra cost of transport, accommodation,
etc and also overstretching the athletes).
CROSS COUNTRY
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There is a similar situation with cross country.
However, with cross country in most ASA provinces there is
little co-operation between ASA structures and the school
structures. (There are some notable exceptions).
In many cases the children run during the week at the
schools and on the weekend at the ASA province’s event.
This means that most athletes are over racing.
There are separate national ASA and Schools
Championships. This duplication makes little sense, as
there are no international competitions below the ages 1619.
There should be one championship for cross country, with
the younger ages being schools competitions and the old
ages being ASA competitions (in order to go forward to the
world championships).
LEAGUES
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There are currently no schools league
structures. The focus of schools track &
field and cross country is to qualify for
the next knockout phase, not interschools competition.
Athletics is also a team sport, but
schools tend to focus on individual
performances and medals tables at the
national championships.
2012 FIXTURES
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The fixtures for 2012 still need to be
finalised.
It would be ideal to have one
national junior and one national
cross country championship, but if
SRSA continues to fund separate
schools championships then it is
unlikely that the schools will agree to
this.
POSTSCRIPT
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South African Athletics is healthy for the
ages 14-17.
The biggest challenge is in the ages 1822. The numbers competing are low.
This happens because the schools athletics
structure
don’t
have
long-term
development as their focus.
The duplication in structures is also
confusing to athletes who don’t realise
that the sport continues after school.