Athletics Program
1. DATE: FRIDAY & SATURDAY: 16 & 17 MARCH 2018.
2. VENUE: Lewisam Primary School
3. AGE GROUPS: 10-13 years
Category Age Group Year Of Birth
Primary Youth 13 Born in 2005 (13 years of age in the year of 1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2018)
Primary Youth 13 LSEN Born in 2005/6 (12/13 years of age in the year of 1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2018)
Primary Youth 12 Born in 2006 (12 years of age in the year of 1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2018)
Sub Primary Youth 11 Born in 2007 (11 years of age in the year of 1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2018)
Sub Primary Youth 10 Born in 2008 (10 years of age in the year of 1 Jan 2018 – 31 Dec 2018)
Technical Officials
The names of Technical Officials should be filled in on the accompanying form and send back by the specific date.
Registration Of Teams (Please note the Date of Registration & Proceedings)
The General Manager/Delegate must report for REGISTRATION of their teams on
Thursday, 15 March 2018 between 09:30 and 15:00 at Lewisam School.
Scrutiny and Age Verification will be done at this meeting – Bring the File with Athletes Info with you! Verification of Team Entries and Withdrawals will be dealt with, as well as all checks!! (Withdrawals and replacements can be done during this time).
Participating Teams & Maximum Number Of Athletes Allowed
SASA will provide the competition numbers and pins. Numbers must be pinned (according to the IAAF rules) at the front and back of the competition vest. In the case of High Jump an athlete can have only one number at the front. Separate numbers will be provided for relays – four numbers per team.
Logistics
Accommodation, Transport, Clothing and Food for the event is to be taken care off by each school. Schools are requested to bring their own TENTS or CAZEBO’s. Tap water is considered unsafe to drink, please bring enough for drinking purposes.
Entrance Fees For Spectators
• Adults – $ 3.00 per person
• Learners – $ 1.50 per learner
• Vehicles – $ 2.00 per vehicle
Team Entries
Closing Date: Wednesday, 07 March 2018 – 24:00
Names of athletes must be entered in alphabetical order in the space provided on the entry form. Complete entries on the official entry form and email to Me. Bright Chivandikire.
Ensure that a copy of the entry form is forwarded to Mr. Peter James at
pjames@gmail.com
Best Time/Distance/Height recorded by the athlete for the 2017/18 season must be entered in the appropriate block which will also serve as indicator in which heat the athlete will participate in. (Lane draw purposes).
Penalties will be charged on late registration and submission of names, as decided at the 2018 SDA Annual General Meeting. The penalty for late registration of teams are
$50 per day and/or part thereof.
Direct All Entries To: Primary Schools Track & Field
Bright Chivandikire and Peter James
Mr Bright Chivandikire
Email: chivandikirebc@gmail.com
Cell: 0772301919
Mr Peter James
E-Mail: pjames@gmail.com
Cell: 0772215198
Please verify your submission after you have forwarded it to the above!
Verification Of Birth
Original birth certifcate, or Copy thereof certified by a Commissioner of Oaths OR
Passport or Copy thereof certified by a Commissioner of Oaths.
After the photo has been attached to the Certificate, a school stamp should overlap the photo and birth certificate signed by the Principal / Commissioner of Oaths. Learners from Private Schools, home schooling or independent schools must conform to the same standards. Scanned documents will be allowed.
The Team Manager of each school must have a list of all Athletes with the relevant information stating the Number on the Birth Certificate of each athlete. The list must be verified and duly approved and signed-off by the Provincial Structure. All Team Managers must, however, verify their athletes who finish among the top 3 (three) in an event, before the medals are awarded. Athletes will be disqualified if this arrangement is not adhered to by the Manager/School. Schools will be held responsible if an athlete is entered in the wrong age division.
Meeting For Team Managers And Officials
A meeting for Team Managers and Technical Officials will be held on Thursday, 15 March 2018 at the registration venue between 15:00 and 17:00. Only withdrawals (accompanied by a medical certificate) will be allowed at this meeting (Replacement or changes will be allowed with the Deadline at 15:00). It is of vital importance that all General Managers and Officials attend these meetings. Team Managers and Assistants as well as Technical Officials attending the various meetings should make use of private transport and attend the meetings as required – They should not depend on the Team Bus for transport.
Officials must be dressed in Black Bottoms & White Tops for officiating. If sponsored Tops are provided the officials must be dressed in the provided shirts. All Officials are requested to report 60 minutes prior to the start of the meeting on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Medals And Trophies
Championship Medals will be awarded to the first three (3) athletes in the finals. A Trophy will be awarded to the Best Performer in every section as indicated – Track Girls, Track Boys, Field Girls and Field Boys.
Question 2: The historical background of athletics
In order to find the origins of the Athletics we would have to go very far back in history because Athletics is one of the world’s oldest sporting events. In fact, Olympic Games as we know it today developed from the ancient track and field events that very being held in Ancient Greece. However, some historians trace the origins of the Athletics back to 10th or even 9th century BC (Choi and Min, 2017).
Naul et al (2017) state that in the year 776 BC in the ancient Olympia in Greece the first Olympic Games were held and during that games, only one, to use modern day terminology, track and field event was held and that was the stadium footrace and the winner of that events and the first ever Olympic winner was Koroibos. Athletics or rather some of the aspects of athletics were present at the Panhellenic Games that were held in Greece and from there the ideas and the main concepts of the Athletics spread to Italy around the year 200 BC. The track and field unit incorporates competition on an individual and team basis. Track and field is one of the world’s oldest sporting activities. The events are depicted in ancient Egyptian art. The first organized track and field meet was in 776 BC. These were called the Olympic Games. At that time, the Olympics consisted of the pentathlon, which included discus, the javelin, foot racing, long jumping and wrestling. The first modern track and field meet occurred in 1837 at Eton College in England (Ryan, 2016). Today the Olympics consists of a multitude of sports of which track and field remains the centerpiece. There are numerous events in track and field. In our unit, we will cover: sprints, distance, shot put, long jump, triple jump and relays.
During the next several centuries Athletics developed in slow steps. However, during the Middle Ages the new wave of the track and field development began. During that time track and field developed in the Northern part of Europe. Track and field as we know it today began developing in the 19th century when first competitions in track and field took places. In that time, those track and field competitions primary were organized by educational institutions, sport clubs and some military organizations. The events organized by these institutions were actually the one that included the hurdle races (Martinez et al., 2017).
During this period, first national athletics associations have been established and shortly after that first national competitions took place (Choi and Min, 2017). Among the first associations who organized such competitions was Amateur Athletic Association of England who in 1880 organized the annual AAA Championship. Even before England, the New York Athletic Club from the United States organized the first USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship back in 1876. As track and field was developing in big steps during that time, there was one common problem that all athletes shared (Choi and Min, 2017). During that time, all athletes were considered to be amateurs and because of the known rule that the amateur athletes could not receive training money, money prizes or sponsorship deals that was ever growing issues among the athletes. The charges that some athlete might be a professional eventually lead to stripping of the victories that that athlete had in previous period.
Zvapano (2017) states that one of the biggest milestone for the development of the Athletics came back in 1896 at the Summer Olympic Games. In those Games in Athens, track and field together with a marathon comprised the majority of the sporting events at that Games. Besides that, those Games are also important because they for the first time introduced the metric measurement that was used in the track and field competitions. During the next couple of decades the development of the track and field, or rather, the athletics in general, put the Athletics on the path of becoming the most important aspect of the Olympic Games for every games in the future.
After the 1896 Olympics, the popularity of athletics, or rather, a revival of athletic competition, took place around the world. National athletics federations from 17 countries got together to form an international governing body and in 1912, the International Amateur Athletic Federation was born. For many years, the pinnacle of athletics competition was the Summer Olympics (Ryan, 2016). But in the 1970s, more world championships in various events began to take place, helping to maintain interest in track and field every year.
In 1912, the second milestone in the development of the Athletics occurred when the International Amateur Athletic Federation or IAAF was founded and as such it became the international governing body for track and field. The officials of the IAAF of that time emphasized the importance of the amateurism for the athletics and it became of the basic principle on which IAAF will continue to operate. Up until the early 1920’s, track and field was only a male sport. Women became part of the athletics only after women’s sport movement organized Women’s World Games back in 1921. However, women for the first time participated in track and field competitions at the Olympic Games back in 1928 Summer Olympic Games (Ryan, 2016).
After athletics gained more media coverage and since it became appealing for big companies the amateur statues of the athletes was dropped in favor of the professionalism. Officially, in 1982, International Amateur Athletic Federation abandoned the notion of amateurism and it became the organization of professional athletes (Martinez et al., 2017). Following that, the next year marked the first year in which the first IAAF World Championship in Athletics was held and from that moment, the popularity of athletics and athletes continued to grow and today they are among the most respected athletes in any sport.
By 2011, nearly 50 outdoor and 25 indoor events fall under the IAAF’s authority and rules. Some events, such as the 50-meter sprint, are no longer part of major athletic competitions, but remain part of school programs. Some events have been modified through the years and races of many varying distances are contested every year. In addition to the 26.2 miles of the marathon, there is a 13.1-mile half-marathon. There are men’s and women’s competitions in almost every event. Men, however, can compete in the 10-event decathlon, while women have the seven-event heptathlon (Choi and Min, 2017).
All races are started by the firing of a gun by an official at the starting line. For races up to and including one lap of an outdoor track, the runners must stay for the entire distance within lanes marked on the track. There may be six to eight lanes, with each lane usually measuring 1.2 m (4 ft) in width. The winner in each race is the runner whose torso first breaks the vertical plane of the finish line. Races are timed either by mechanical watches or by more sophisticated, electronic photo-timers that can measure finishes to the hundredth of a second. Sometimes, owing to the number of contestants in a competition, qualifying rounds, or heats, are held to narrow the contestants down to the fastest runners (Zvapano, 2017).
Athletes in the field events also have qualifying rounds. In the horizontal jumps and throws athletes are allowed three preliminary attempts if the field numbers more than eight participants. Then the best performers are allowed three more attempts. In the vertical jumps the high jump — and pole vault — the participants are allowed to continue until they have three successive failures. If two or more contestants tie, the competitor with the fewest failures at the last height cleared is the winner; if still tied, the total number of failures is the deciding factor; if a tie remains, the total number of jumps is considered. Scoring differs according to the meet. Many national competitions are scored on the basis of 10 points for first place, 8 for second, on down to 1 point for sixth. In international meets, the scoring is 5 for first place, 3 for second, 2 for third, and 1 for fourth. The team with the highest total wins.
For road races, cross-country meets, and walking competitions, the winner is given 1 point, the second-place finisher 2 points, and so on; the finish positions are totaled, and the team with the lowest score is the winner.
Athletics in Zimbabwe
The then Rhodesia Olympic Committee was formed in 1934. It reflected the racial policies of a colonial government with no participation of the majority black people in its structures and teams. Due to pressure from the International Community, Rhodesia was banned from the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1970. For the period 1972 to 1979, the Rhodesia Olympic Committee was suspended from the International Olympic Committee. After independence in 1980, the Rhodesia Olympic Committee suspension was lifted. In the same year, its name was changed to Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC) to reflect the new political dispensation (Zvapano, 2017).
In 1982, The Government of Zimbabwe applied and was granted authority by the IOC to dissolve the ZOC Board and appoint the Tommy Sithole led executive to address the racial representation in the national associations (Martinez et al., 2017). ZOC marked its re-entry into the Olympic Family by participating in the Moscow Games where it won its first Olympic Gold medal in women’s field hockey. It has since participated in all subsequent Olympic Games, winning its first individual gold medal in swimming (Kirsty Coventry) at Athens 2004. In other international competitions, the Government appointed ZOC as its organizing agent for the All-Africa Games and Commonwealth Games. Zimbabwe’s inaugural representation in the All-Africa Games was in Nairobi, Kenya (1987) and has participated in all other continental Games since. It successfully hosted the 1995 All-Africa Games in Harare. ZOC also participated in all Commonwealth Games except the Edinburgh Games where the Government withdrew the team’s participation in protest to New Zealand playing rugby against South Africa.
Zvapano (2017) states that In 1998, ZOC conducted its first elections since the Government appointed committee. All but one of the serving members of the appointed Committee were retained during the elections. The second elections were held in 2001. This marked the setting up of a permanent office for the ZOC. It followed in early 2002 with the appointment of the three full time staff. In the same year, the first strategic plan for ZOC was formulated resulting in a systematic growth strategy for the organization. In line with its strategic plan and to enhance its delivery to affiliates, the ZOC General Assembly abolished the post of assistant secretary general and created an additional executive board member post. In 2003, the Athletes Commission was formed with its Chairman being co-opted on to the Executive Board. Two additional fulltime staff were recruited in 2004.
At the 2005 elections, the ZOC General Assembly made significant amendments to the constitution that resulted in:
The appointment of a full-time CEO taking over the role of an elected Secretary General.
The expansion of the ZOC Board to include the Chair of the Athletes’ commission.
The increase of women’s representation on the elected Board to a minimum of three.
The increase in the number of ordinary elected board members from six to seven.
References
Ryan, C., 2016. The Revival and Modernization of the Olympic Games. History, 297(01), p.01.
Choi, Y.J. and Min, D.S., 2017. The Infusion of Art in the Olympic Movement: A Case Study of the Seoul Olympic Museum of Art. Journal of Sport and Leisure Studies, 67, pp.87-96.
Naul, R., Binder, D., Rychtecky, A. and Culpan, I. eds., 2017. Olympic education: an international review. Taylor & Francis.
Martínez, I.P., Prendes, J.J.A., Sithole, F., Utaumire, Y., Masocha, V. and Díaz, A.Q., 2017. TALENTS IDENTIFICATION PROJECT FOR SPORTS IN ZIMBABWE: ANALYSIS OF PRELIMINARY RESULTS. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 9(4), p.291.
Zvapano, K., 2017. Challenges in the management of sport in unversities in Zimbabwe (Doctoral dissertation).
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