Clarence Little Athletics Centre

FIRST CLAC MEET TODAY Thursday 21st October AT 3PM (Tiny Tots 4pm) Clarence High Oval.

We need VOLUNTEERS FOR SET UP FROM 2PM PLEASE!!

REMEMBER TO WEAR A FACEMASK & CHECK IN with our QR CODE Use the sanitiser supplied regularly please. Athletes under 12 do not need a mask and other athletes can remove theirs when competing.

Uniform sales and trial sign in from 2pm in the changerooms. Uniform sales are EFTPOS only and will be open until 4pm.

Masking tape and pens to write your athletes full name and age group eg: U6 – U15 will be available in the undercover area, please help yourself or arrange prior at home to save time if you can.

New athletes require proof of age (birth certificate as soon as possible once registered). Remit this in the changerooms please.

We need VOLUNTEERS FOR SET UP FROM 2PM PLEASE!! If you’ve not helped before this is the perfect time to turn up and learn the ropes

Age Group Co Ordinators from last season and anyone who may be interested for this season please meet UPSTAIRS in the tower at 2.45pm for a briefing.

Athletes meet with our Senior Athletes in the middle of the Oval at 3pm for warm up. A quick chat with parents will happen in the undercover area at this time.

CANTEEN will be open and a BBQ sizzling from 3.30pm (a volunteer to help cook at this time would be appreciated).

Below is our Program grid 2 for todays meet.

Tiny Tots please meet Chris at 4pm on the lower grass area (near jump pits)

WALKS PROGRAM TODAY – Will Robertson (ex CLAC & current OVA athlete) has kindly once again offered to help our athletes new to walks this afternoon with some instruction / training prior to and during our walks program (end of the Meet for U9-U15). Will is the State LATas and CLAC Record holder for U14 & U15 Walk and National Champion for U17 5000m Walk. He also represented Australia at the Oceania Championships in 2019!! We are very lucky to have his expertise and thank him greatly for volunteering his time. Listen for the announcement on where / when to meet up with Will if your athlete is interested.

Volunteers to help pack up at the end of the Meet is appreciated.

We look forward to seeing our returning athletes superstars and meeting lots of new additions!

GO CLAC!

Angelene Arnold

Sorry CLACers – the decision has been made to cancel tonight’s meet (Friday 15th October).

We’re as disappointed as you & your athletes are however it’s not just the rain making it uncomfortable for everyone that we have to think about. There are safety issues for planned events such as hurdles, high jump etc, plus slippery conditions can also affect throwing events (circle conditions) and it may be possible that the Council will close the infield therefore only track events could proceed in any case. We will endeavour to postpone this meet to another time if possible.

Thank you for your understanding

A big THANK YOU to our current Committee members for their tireless preseason work to ensure Season 21/22 is better than ever……. here they are, and their roles, so you can put a face to the names and say ‘Hi’ at our Meets 🙂

If you can spare some time to help make our Centre great, please get in contact with us. There are many roles to fill and as you can see most of our Committee fill more than one role right now. There are also Sub Committees that needs members too including Senior Athlete Group, Relay Championships, CLAC Centre Championships, Canteen Casual, Training Casual and End of Year Presentations. Please consider putting your hand up for something, simply email us. Thank you!

Please take the time to read all of this information so you are well equipped to start the season. For our returning families you may know most of this but it’s a good refresher so please read.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

We pay respect to the traditional and original owners of this land the muwinina people, – to pay respect to those that have passed before us and to acknowledge today’s Tasmanian Aboriginal people who are the custodians of this land.

WELCOME TO CLAC

Welcome to Clarence Little Athletics Centre (CLAC) for our 2022/23 season!  Little Athletics welcomes children from 5 to 14 (Tiny Tots 3-4yrs). We look forward to seeing our returning superstar athletes and are excited to meet our new families.  Some we may have met at the LATAS Come and Try Day, which was a huge success with over 200 children attending. Remember you are welcome to ‘Come and Try’ Little Athletics at Clarence twice before you register to make sure you and your kids are going to love it. Just come and ‘sign in’ for your trial at the changeroom area.  For all other families and after your trials, registrations must be completed and paid following the link on our website ($110 for the season October 2021 to March 2022).  We take a short break for Christmas but continue through the entire School Holidays.  If, however, you have holiday plans you can simply take time off athletics to suit your family’s needs.  No need to advise us if you’re not attending etc, this is an individual sport so your athletes can do as much or as little as they like, or you can fit in 😊However please be advised to compete in Championships there are restrictions in regards to event numbers etc.  More info on that later.

To become familiar with Little Athletics events please see our website RESOURCES tab for information on what we offer for each age group and some training/competition guidelines.  The Events we offer are sprints, middle and long distance running, race walks, hurdles, long jump, triple jump, high jump, javelin (turbo javelin / vortex), discus and shot put.

At our Resources tab there is also information about how to achieve the various achievement badges you may see on display on other athletes tops.  These refer to personal achievements and qualification standards. Our athletes love achieving these goals throughout their season and wear these badges with much pride. 

We are all about PERSONAL BEST (PBs) performances at CLAC and you’ll hear “PB” a lot throughout our season.  We simply want your athlete to be THEIR best and will celebrate their successes with them, whether that means they are smashing Centre or State Records or achieving their own PB, we love it!

Athletes compete with their own age group and CLAC runs on a 3 week program rotation. This means your athlete will be competing in different events over a 3 week period.  Each week will consist of around 4-5 events depending on age group.  For example, week one MAY be a sprint and hurdles on the track, then long jump and discus. The next week MAY be middle distance and walks on the track, then high jump and javelin etc.

RETURNING FAMILIES – WE WOULD LOVE TO SECURE OUR AGE GROUP CO ORDINATORS EARLY FOR AN ORGANISED START TO OUR SEASON. IF YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP OUT – OR BUDDY UP WITH SOMEONE TO HELP – PLEASE CONTACT US ASAP – clarence@taslittleathletics.com.au

REGISTRATIONS AND TICKET TO PLAY VOUCHERS

 If you are eligible, please obtain your Ticket to Play Voucher BEFORE you register and contact the Little Athletics Tasmania Office about how to use the voucher. Once registered you will receive a name badge to attach to your CLAC singlet / Polo, which is a compulsory part of our uniform. Name badges are normally distributed around week 3 of the season if you have registered early, they take at least 2 weeks after the registration is paid to arrive, minus any printing hiccups.

TINY TOTS (3&4yrs)

At CLAC we have a Tiny Tots program mainly to help with younger siblings onsite.  This will run on Saturdays from 10am for around 45 minutes.  Tiny Tots must have turned 3 and must be registered. You can do this online. Places are limited so please register early, $45 for the season.  Tiny Tots will receive a name badge once registered but do not have to wear a uniform, however most love to!  Please see our RESOURCES tab on our website for more information on Tiny Tots. If you would like to help out, please let us know, we’d love to have you!  A Working with Vulnerable People Card is required for co-ordinators.  Tiny Tots season will start at our twilight meet on Show Day Holiday 21^st October at 4pm.

COVID 19 SAFETY

PLEASE ENSURE YOU CHECK IN WITH THE CHECK IN TAS APP IMMEDIATELY UPON ARRIVAL. Hand sanitiser is also available at several locations including the announcer tower and our canteen.  Please adhere to social distancing rules and follow our Covid Guidelines at all times. If you, or anyone in your family is feeling unwell please STAY HOME.

SEASON START

Our Season Calendar is now on our website under the CALENDAR tab and includes local meets (CLAC at Clarence High) and State Events (Domain, St Leonards, Launceston and Dial Park, Penguin)  Our season will start with our first Meet being held at the Domain Athletics Centre on Friday 15^th October,  5.15pm warm up for a 5.30pm start, due to the unavailability of our facilities at Clarence High and our keenness to get our season underway! Unfortunately, there will be NO TINY TOTS at this meet due to time constraints. 

We are anticipating that all future Meets will be at Clarence High School, the first being a twilight on Show Day Thursday 21^st October at 3pm warm up for 3.15pm start, Tiny Tots are welcome and expected to start at 4pm.    We will then commence with our normal Saturday morning Meets on Saturday 30^th October at Clarence High, 8.15am warm up for an 8.30am start.  Tea/Coffee will be ready to go to help you get started!

SET UP /PACK UP / CANTEEN

Registered families will be rostered on to help set up and pack up during our season.  This roster will be published within a fortnight of our commencement.  If you can not fulfill this role, please swap with another family.  If you do not know anyone else please contact us via messenger or email clarence@taslittleathletics.com.au. This is a simple role that requires you to come along at 7.30am to help set up our sites and stay after the meet to pack away.  You will usually be called upon just once during the season, so please turn up when it’s your turn, please don’t leave it up to our committee members who do set up / pack up every single meet.  Many hands make light work and if we don’t have help to set up, we will start late, forcing delays throughout our meet and finish late.  If you’re a morning person, simply come along and help, we’d love to see you!  We can direct you where needed.  Early help in the Canteen is also appreciated.

REGISTRATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

When registering with Little Athletics, you have agreed to the Terms and Conditions which includes all athletes must have a parent or guardian on site AT ALL TIMES.  If an athlete is found to be without a parent or guardian they will be instructed to sit aside until someone is present for them.  If you have accepted responsibility of another child, please ensure you are available to help at their events as well as your own children’s.  Please be fair, and do not accept responsibility of over 5 children as this will stretch our volunteer resources to the limit and without parent/adult help we can not run events.  We understand many of you have more than one child and will support you as you float between helping out at other age group if events clash, please just advise the Age Group Coordinator (AGC) that you won’t be present due to the clash and arrange a safe meeting place for your unaccompanied child to return to you on completion of their event.  It is not the responsibility of AGCs or Committee members to retrieve your child from the trees, basketball courts or other areas of the School area.  Due to our adherence to Council rules and respect for the neighbours, our speaker system is not too loud, therefore, to avoid missing your event being announced please stay close to our building area when not competing.  It is your responsibility to listen out and promptly marshal. Events will not be re-run and if you are late to a field event you may slot in at the stage the event is at (eg: at the height the high jump is at)

ON THE DAY

At 8.30am we will announce our first events of the day.  Please listen out carefully for your (your child/children’s) age group/s so you know where you are starting.  If the call is for a field event; long, triple or high jump, javelin, discus or shotput please assemble in our undercover area near the canteen to meet your Age Group Co Ordinator who will take your group to your event site.  Please do not take yourself to the site before being ticked off the list with your Age Group Co Ordinator.  If you are called for a Track event you will marshal at the track.  You will be advised of where abouts in regards to track events by our announcer for the first few weeks, the athletes become experts at this we promise!

Our Meets do not run on a timeline as such, we have an outline of a program we wish to run to for time efficiency however this does not / can not always run as planned. Eg: hurdles will not be run if the ground is too wet or the wind too strong etc.  Please do not ask what time your favourite event will be held as things may change and you could miss it completely. 

We encourage all our athletes to simply have a go at all the events offered. Many of our CLAC stars have started out being very nervous at trying a new event and ended up with a real, unknown talent, so please encourage your athletes to try everything, it also means you have less waiting time between events.  Little Athletics is an environment where we all help each other to achieve an efficient and successful Meet for all the athletes involved.  Therefore we would love you to be a part of the entire morning (or twilight) and help out at events even if you’re athlete’s not competing.  That way we get through our program quickly.  We try to avoid long waits between events for every age group, however this can not always be feasible due to many reasons including site and equipment availability. Please be patient and enjoy the Little Athletic environment while you wait.

We are all about FAMILY, FUN and FITNESS and if you’re unsure where you need to be, what’s going on etc please simply ask at our announcer tower, track tent or canteen and we’d be happy to help you out.

We encourage you to bring along a picnic rug, tent, camp chairs etc and find yourself a family spot along our 100m track area.  This can be a great ‘meeting’ place for kids after their events and saves them from wandering all over Clarence High.  We have a canteen that can help you out with coffee, breakfast/lunch ( egg & bacon rolls, bbq etc), drinks and snacks but feel free to pack your own.

A notice board is situated on the inside of our covered area near the Canteen. This will be regularly updated with Program details and upcoming State Events and Local Events.  Keep an eye on this for any questions you may have.  We also celebrate our athletes here too.

TRAINING

This season we have been lucky enough to have two volunteers to help co ordinate Training for CLAC.  Training will commence at Clarence High on Tuesday 26^th October for U6 to U10 athletes and Tuesday 2^nd November for U11 – U15 athletes.  Training for U6 – U10 will be with Dan from 3.30pm – 4.30pm and U11 – U15 with Dana from 4.30pm – 5.30pm.  We request that you DO NOT leave your athlete at Training unattended.  Due to the numbers at our Centre we do need volunteer help at Training.  Even if it’s simply raking a pit or collecting a javelin please put your hand up to help.  This ensures all the athletes receive lots of time to learn, rather than wait in line.  It’s up to all of us to ensure your athlete has the best experience.   We understand that your individual athlete may want to train in one particular event, however our training is run to a predetermined schedule that we will adhere to (subject to weather).  All events will be included but not each week.   We are looking to secure some ‘experts’ from time to time also to help our CLAC athletes.

SAFETY can be a huge concern at Training. Please be sure you have an eye on your child at all times and adhere our normal safety measures while at CLAC.  Eg: please do not randomly throw a discus / javelin etc, do not help yourself to the equipment.  If Training becomes chaotic, it will be cancelled.  Please also take note of the age groups stated.  Younger athletes cannot train with the older athletes.  This is a safety risk and is not appropriate as the event requirements differ (eg: spikes, blocks, equipment weights, flop techniques etc)

UNIFORM

At CLAC we are very proud of our athletes and we want to ensure they are comfortable and confident in their uniform.  Last season we unveiled a brand new uniform which looks super slick on the track!  The CLAC uniform consists of a choice of Singlet or Polo Top, sold on site at the Centre, with black shorts, not sold at the Centre (any kind above the knee, however if competing at State Events the shorts must be plain black with no logos etc) and some sturdy running shoes. That is our compulsory uniform however we have lots of accessories that the athletes love available for purchase at our Centre Meets.  CLAC Hoodies, Bucket Hats and Caps are also available for purchase and this season we are introducing CLAC socks!! Get excited!! A full Uniform list will be uploaded soon – keep a watch on Facebook and our website. U11 and up are permitted to wear track and jump spikes however on the track you must then use the starting blocks provided, not available for sale at the Centre. If you wear spikes please take them off after your race / event as these can be a safety hazard if you are wearing them around others (also don’t wear them on concrete as this quickly wears your spikes down and costs your parents money!!) 

A limited amount of uniform will be available to purchase with cash or EFTPOS at our first meet at the Domain on Friday 15^th October at the end of the 100m track and from then from the change room area at local CLAC meets for the first 4 weeks, after this time you must ask at the Canteen……. If anyone is able to help out with this task please just turn up!

CANTEEN

Our Canteen will be open for the duration of our Meets.  We can help you out with Tea/Coffee, cold drinks, icypoles and snacks.  We also serve Toasted Sandwiches, Egg and Bacon Rolls and often have a BBQ on rotation.  If you are able to help out to either cook or serve, we’d love to see you, simple come and say ‘Hi’. Unfortunately, we are unable to have children in the canteen kitchen.  We can take cash or EFTPOS (EFTPOS minimum purchase $5).

We thank our sponsors: Coles, and the Tasmanian Government. 

If you would like to sponsor CLAC please get in touch clarence@taslittleathletics.com.au.

Hopefully we’ve answered all the tough questions.  Keep an eye on our website and Facebook for updates.  We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Regards,

Chris Kennedy                                                Angelene Arnold

Acting President                                             Vice President

THANK YOU to everyone who came along to our Presentation Day! It was a great celebration of a sensational Season for CLAC.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has volunteered in any way, you’ve helped to make this Season run like clockwork. We hope our AGCs and Volunteers enjoy their thank you chocolates.

A massive thank you to Jazlyn who was the back bone of the Canteen with Dana this season. Jaz is one amazing young lady, who shows true commitment and maturity beyond her years (she’s nearly 18). She has been an outstanding volunteer, always there before anyone else and ready with a smile, not bad for a teenager for early Saturday morning every.single.week – anyone looking to employ a young person, she’s an absolute super star (we can put you in contact!)

Our Presentation Day was about giving back to those who make our Centre so amazing…….FREE sausages, cordial and ice cream was the order of the day with some fun, games, trophies and medallions thrown in too!

Over the 20/21 Season our talented CLAC athletes achieved a total of 2,348 PBs!! This makes our hearts sing as THIS is what CLAC is all about – being YOUR best! We have watched athletes improve out of sight this year and are extremely excited to see what our next season brings.

Our PB Trophy Award Winners were:

U6B Lachlan Butters U6G Teal Marshall

U7B Fraser Dykes U7G Kate Taylor

U8B Owen Fox U8G Grace Wood

U9B Heath Mullarvey U9G Equal: Ruth Archer / Bethany Scharvi

U10B Equal Lucas Pizzoni / Tai Tran-Lou U10G Olivia Jackman

U11B Mitchell Henley U11G Paige Nowland

U12B Oliver Prebble U12G Miranda Gillie

U13B Nicholas Chivers U13G Ashlee Kennedy

U14B James Lyden U14G Tash Williams

U15B Sean Store

Congratulations to Ashlee Kennedy U13G for the highest number of PBs for the entire Centre this Season (30)

All athletes received a well earned medallion to commemorate the season and the U13s received a plaque with their photo on it as a special thank you for their commitment to our Centre.

If you couldn’t make it to Presentation day, your trophy / medallion can be collected by prior arrangement via a letterbox pick up or from Chris at New Town. All others not collected by 31st March will be packed away for next season.

Angelene Arnold

Committee

PRESENTATION DAY Saturday 13th March 9am – 11am

As another exciting season comes to an end, we’d like to celebrate with our athletes and parent/guardians who have been our support system to help make CLAC such a huge success.

Please join us tomorrow for our Presentation Day, where we will celebrate all athletes from Tiny Tots to U15s with new records, outstanding PBs, Coles Gift Vouchers and welcome new committee members who have volunteered to come onboard for next season and thank those involved this season.

End of Season Trophies will also be awarded to each age group.

Of course there will also be LOTS OF FUN, GAMES and a Free Sausage, Cordial and Ice Cream for the athletes.

AND our new ROO FRIENDS will be coming along to say ‘HI’.

Athletes please wear your CLAC uniform.

Tiny Tots welcome.

U13 athletes please wear your warm up tops and be ready to help out.

See you all there!