Youth Programs
Spring/Summer Track and Field
WTC’s spring/summer track and field program is open to boys and girls, ages 8-14, and, like all our club’s offerings, has no tryouts or cuts. It is held Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm, from the end of April through June. (Youth interested in competing through August may continue as part of our “dare to dream” travel team.)
The first two weeks of the program offer instruction and training in the basic skills of track and field, and are followed by 8 weeks of developmental meets, at which kids compete against others of of the same sex and near in age. (There are three age groups: 8-10, 11-12, and 13-14; which one a child falls into is determined by his or her age as of December 31 of the current year.) Meets include the following events: 100, 200, 400, 800, mile, hurdles, long jump, shot put, turbo javelin and high jump. Participants choose the events and the meets in which they they wish to compete, and ribbons are awarded to all competitors.
An ice cream party/awards night is held at the conclusion of the program (traditionally in the cafeteria of Waltham High School) at which gold, silver and bronze certificates are awarded based on the number of personal records (PRs) each child has achieved over the course of the season.
Since the program attracts more than 300 kids each year, it cannot be run without the assistance of many volunteers. Hence, parents of participants MUST commit to join one of the following:
- the volunteer coaching staff,
- the meet support staff,
- the meet result committee,
- the first aid staff,
- the concessions comittee,
- the award’s night committee,
- or the WTC Board of Directors.
For more information about this commitment see our commitment contract. To see photos taken at the kick-off of our latest season visit this page at Wicked Local.
Fall Cross Country
WTC’s fall cross country program is open to boys and girls, ages 8-14, and again, has no cuts or tryouts. It is held five nights per week from late August through late November; participants choose which nights they want to attend, but are expected to come to at least two practices per week.
The program offers training and racing on grass fields and wooded trails.
Boys and girls who are also on their middle schools’ cross country teams may train with those teams until the scholastic season concludes and then join our program (though they are welcome to practice and compete with WTC on days they do not do so with their schools’ teams). Accordingly, new members are still being accepted for the fall 2011 season.
Winter Conditioning and Track and Field
WTC’s winter conditioning and winter track and field programs are open to boys and girls ages 8-14, and again, have no cuts or tryouts, but are limited (on a first-come, first-served basis) to 100 participants. Both are held Sunday through Wednesday evenings, conditioning in December, and track and field in January and February.
Please note that 2011-2012 winter program details and registration forms will be posted in late November 2011 and no registrations will be accepted until that time.
