Schools Officials Deny Young Athletes the Opportunity to Compete

[TheEd]

An email from a discerning parent lamenting his view on UK schools athletics

Last Saturday, 12 June, my son, Scott, took part in the Berkshire Schools Athletics Championships in Reading. In fact he won his race, the boys under 15 800 metres in 2m 06.9s becoming the Berkshire boys Under 15 800m champion, ranking him 29th in the country in his age group for the event. No small achievement for a 14 year old. His time was just over 2 seconds inside the qualification standard for the All England Schools Athletics Championships. On the day over 60 athletes achieved the qualifying standard in their various disciplines for the All England Schools Athletics Championships.

Despite achieving the standard set, only 35 athletes from Berkshire have been selected to compete at the All England Schools Champs. Why is this you may ask? Surely if an athlete makes the grade they have the right to compete at the highest level? Not so it seems. Has this been devastating for my son. You bet it has. He has aked the question "What more do I have to do? I have qualified and I am the champ? They even gave me a gold medal."

My understanding is the officials just can’t (or don’t want to) do the hard work and deal with the numbers. Instead of arranging an event that allows ALL athletes who qualify the right to compete, the numbers are restricted which means officials take the easy option of reusing last year’s program without having to work out a program that would allow entry to all who qualify. This begs the question – “Do the officials exist to serve the athletes or do the athletes exist to serve the officials?” I believe the answer is patently obvious.

But it’s even worse than this. One level down, at the Bracknell Forest Schools championships, he was only permitted to enter one event. As he is ranked 31st in the country in his age group for the 1500m he would have liked to compete in that event as well, but was restricted to a single entry for similar reasons. How many potential Ovetts, Coe's, Crams and the like are being denied the opportunity of developing?

Is it any wonder then that Athletics in the UK is a Cinderella sport when the athletes with potential and who have qualified are denied the right, nay disqualified, from competing against their peers . How then can we honestly hope that while the current system exists, Britain’s performance in 2012, 2016, 2020 and beyond will ever be anything but mediocre.

How many times have we heard Steve Cram and Brendan Foster commentating on TV, lamenting the dearth of British athletics talent especially in the middle distances. Well their questions have now been answered. There is a bottleneck and it needs unblocking.

In the majority of cases the first time a young person has contact with organised athletics is at school. When that system takes opportunity away from those same young people they will go elsewhere and find a sport where they have an equal opportunity. Is it any wonder then that my son is now secretly considering taking up another sport? Well why wouldn’t he when the sport he plays and has become a county champion in says that he is good enough to make the grade set , be called a champion but not good enough to be selected. I cant help but think that about 30 other top Berkshire based athletes who qualified are thinking the same about now. If this is happening in Berkshire how many others athletes have been similarly affected in the other 82 counties (you do the arithmetic).

It is without any doubt that officials should exist to serve the athletes. At this point in time it is clear that the officials believe otherwise. Is this an open accusation as to the intent, ability and capacity of the current athletics officials? It undoubtedly is, and it will stand as a damning indictment until all athletes who make the qualification standard are selected and given equal right and opportunity to compete. Only then will athletics be able to claim its place as a truly great British sport.

[johndhalsted]

Dear Mr Halstead,

I am replying to the E mail the way forwarded to me in my capacity as the unpaid volunteer who organised the English Schools Track and Field Championships.

The ESAA T&F championships are organised for the 44 counties in England who enter teams. There is no system of qualifying standards for entry to the ESAA T&F as there are so many performance variables in terms of weather and facility standards. ESAA would not be able to cater for more than a certain number of participants because we cater for 97 different athletic event over the three age group [Junior/Intermediate and Senior - Boys and Girls]

Because of the different school population sizes the 44 counties are split into three broad groups which we label A, B & C.and depending on their size, depends on the number of entries that county can enter into the T&F. For example A Counties [13] can enter 60 athletes, B counties [16] can enter 35 and C counties [15] can enter 25. This therefore restricts to overall total to 1715 entries. The county numbers were reduced some time ago as the logistics were becoming unmanageable.

ESAA has NO input into the selection by each county. Although ESAA publish a list of National Standards [usually for the top 6-8 performances in an event] and Entry Standards these are only advisory. I would stress that they are not Qualifying standards. Each county will select their team on the basis of what they consider to be the athletes who will achieve the best performances for them relative to the other entrants from their county and the other 43 counties. This in itself is no easy task, especially when in track events qualification criteria to subsequent rounds can be severe.

The logistical problem I have is that a county could enter three athletes on any one event, but each athlete can enter only one event. Therefore there could be a possible entry of [3 x 44] i.e.132 in any one event. Of course this does not happen but the entry numbers vary between low 'teens' and upper '40's' The maximum number I have had to deal with is 84 entries in one track event. The actual timetable cannot be constructed until the actual entry numbers are known and then some field events will have to be time tabled in Pools and a Final and track events into a combination of heats, 2nd rounds, semi final and final.

You mentioned that in your E mail that 60 athletes had achieved the 'qualifying' standard. This is incorrect as there are no 'qualifying' standards. It is probably that 60 Entry Standard performances were achieved.
Berkshire are a 'B' county and can therefore only enter 35 athletes for the ESAA T&F. The Berkshire selection committee would therefore have to balance each athletes performance within the national perspective and select what they consider to be their strongest team on that basis. There are obviously more popular events in terms of the number of participants and therefore athletes who only just achieve an entry standard may be discounted within the overall national picture.

I can fully understand the concerns of individual athletes who feel that there performances justify selection and I am fully aware as an ex County Secretary what problems this can bring. I once had the situation [albeit some time ago] where 81 athletes achieved National Standard performances at my county championships and we could only select 70 athletes. Eleven of the athletes were totally dismayed at not being selected for the championships when they knew that if they had been competing in one of the neighbouring counties they would have been certain of selection.

In conclusion ESAA has no input or influence with any county selection but just provides the opportunity for 1715 to compete in a national championships.

Yours in athletics,

Laurie Alcock
ESAA Track and Field Secretary.

[johndhalsted]

Laurie,

This is not just about my son. This is about the almost 2500 athletes across England who have been similarly affected.

The ESAA sets the standards (advisory or otherwise). Stick to them or dont have any whatsoever! Stating that there is no "qualifying standard" is semantics on your part. In addition your argument about the variables etc etc just doesnt hold water. Athletes accept that it is only really possible to achieve "the standard", or qualification, on a day when all the variables are right. A standard is a standard is a standard. There can be no "advisory" about it. Your current "advisory" system is all akin to "Indian Giving". If they dont qualify they dont qualify. But if they do qualify the ESAA is oblidged to give them an opportunity to compete at the next level.

If UKA can arrange a similar event which allows ALL across Britain who qualify to compete, then why cant ESAA? Have you asked UKA how they do this, even asked them for help? The number of events and potential number of athletes should be a cause for celebration not a reason to deny athletes opportunity.

The logistics have become unmanagable because you cant see the forest for the trees. Have you considered an interim filtering event for each of North of England, East of England, West of England and South of England where at least the winners (champions) from each county, and possibly 1 or 2 others who meet the "qualification standard" compete for a place in the ESAA Champs? Only those who meet a strict qualification criteria go through, much in the same was as selection for the Olympics.

You say that there are potentially 132 athletes for each event. Yes there are. But have you confirmed this? 132 is a worst case scenario. The best case scenario is there may only be 1 and the likely case 44. So eliminate the guess work and plan for what you know.

You say you are restricted to 1715 entries. At the stroke of a pen you have dashed the hopes, dreams and aspirations of 2500 young people across England (if not more). The current system is broke. It needs fixing, and fixing fast. To claim "I'm only a volunteer" also does not hold water. Being paid or a volunteer is irrelevant. You accepted the role...........
Have you reviewed the systems from other countries? Do they have a quota system? I think not. How is England ever going to compete on the international stage if its champions are "cut off at the knees" (sic) before they've had a chance to get there?

Schools are about education. Education is about equipping our young people both academically and physically. At this point in time denying them opportunity, for whatever reason, flies in the face of the objectives of the principles of education.

You say the ESAA has no input into the selection from each county. I disagree. The quota system the ESAA employs forces each county to choose. So yes you do have a real effect on the county selection process. There is no getting away from this.

To deny an athlete opportunity is bad. But to deny them opportunity when they have won their county championshp and/or achieved the standard is unforgiveable.

John Halsted.