Little Athletics for Seniors?

[Chunderboy]

Hi guys, I'm wondering if anyone has anything to do with an athletics club and could tell me what to expect by signing up?

I've always had a natural ability to sprint, from prep through to grade 12 I've been the fastest in my area, made it to the school boy states trials in years 11 and 12, but I've never actually trained for it or followed through on it at all, I was always happy enough to just get fit playing footy then show up on the day.

But after leaving school and starting uni I haven't really been doing any sport so I've decided that it's finally time to do something about athletics and see what happens (I'm not expecting any great performances or anything, I'm very realistic about it) First training is tonight so I'm hoping someone could tell me how clubs like this are run so I know what to expect, my main concern is that being 20 and just starting will be strange because they're more aimed at younger kids, so I will either train with a heap of <15 year olds, or train by myself.

Also what is the competition like for my age? Is there much participation at all?

Really anything would be great, just so I don't show up and have it be completely new to me

 

[paul09]

By 'little aths for seniors' you mean just senior interclub aths?

If you've found a training group then you've already done probably the hardest part. Sign up with whatever club your training buddies are in and begin competing(well, track season is pretty much finished now, cross country season about to start). Not sure whereabouts you are but I'm in Vic eastern region and there's quite a lot of competitors over a wide range of ability levels. Basically the races are organised by ability, and there are plenty of 'noobs' there so you'll be fine, also a lot of the time people will compete in events that aren't their main event just for points or whatever, so it works out well in that you can always race with people around your skill level no matter how good or bad you are. For example in the 100m often the first heat will be under 11sec and then the final heat will be like 16+sec. So there's heaps of competitors and it's never hard to find a place where you can fit in.

Training groups I think vary a lot depending on the club/area/etc, but my club for example has multiple training groups and age isn't really a factor, it's more just ability based and what events you want to focus on. When I was 20 there were a couple 15 year olds training in my group, because they were as quick as us haha, and also sometimes had guys in their late 20's jump in with us if they wanted to do a more speed-endurance based session (I trained for middle distance, primarily 800m)

 

[Chunderboy]

Cheers for the reply Paul, I wasn't entirely sure what sort of club I was asking about, I was hoping someone could explain that to me, and you've done that so thanks.

I'm in Townsville and it sounds as though it's a pretty different set up from their to here. We have only 2 or 3 clubs, and I don't think a lot of inter-club competition, and the season has just started. I've gone down to the one closest to my uni, and like I was expecting it doesn't have a any participants my age, all around 14-16, and a couple of the parents of those kids. They do have a carnival around once a month though, in Bowen, Mackay, Longreach, Emerald, few in Townsville. So I think I should be fine, so long as I have someone to pick out my form to improve I can train anywhere, and the competition will be the same as at any other club in the area anyway.

I'll stick it out a few weeks and see how I feel, but I think it should be alright, fitness was my main goal anyway and I get that anywhere. Thanks again Paul