First Meet of the Season

We got through it. It wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but it did happen. MANY thanks to all the parents, brothers and sisters who volunteered. This program depends on volunteers, and we have some of the best! The athletes had a fun time and ALOT of improvement was made, so in my mind it was a success.
I did learn many things that I want to change in the next meet (which is just around the corner).
Here they are:

*I will have a megaphone to make announcements with at the next meet. I had borrowed one from Parks and Rec, but it didn't work, and by the time I realized this it was too late to order one. I ordered one today for us to have in the future.

*We will number the events instead of attaching a time to them. Timing is too unpredictable, and kids need to know when to go where. When the kids arrive at the meet, their coach will write the numbers of the events they are in on their arms. The events will be announced 2 at a time (one first call and one final call), so the participants will know when to be where.

*We will give medals to the first person in each heat. In this first meet we only gave a medal to the first place in each event, and place ribbons in the heats. We found that many of the kids didn't understand what a heat is and why some got first place ribbons and no medal, while others got first place ribbons AND a medal. Hopefully this will be more encouraging to the athletes.

*I hope to have yummy, warm hot-dogs at the concession stand. Though our next meets won't be at night and likely won't be so cold, we will be there over lunchtime. Hopefully this will help keep tummies happier.

* We won't allow last-minute additions to races. Our team was innocent of this, but I did let the other team add SEVERAL kids to races on-the-spot. I let this happen b/c they were there with their money and forms. However, it slowed down the meet significantly. So, in the future, I will INSIST on ALL entries in advance so last-minute lane changes don't slow things down.

And a final note:
Some imperfections in the sport of track and field just come with natural human error. No one likes to see injustice, and we will do everything in our power to make sure the right athlete gets the right award. However, even at the highest levels of competition, discrepancies exist and mistakes are made. I encourage all parents who are able to volunteer as a timer at some point during the season. It can be a hard job to have. If you do see a problem, please don't hesitate to respectfully bring it to the attention of the officiators.
Please just always remember (and I have to remind myself of this often, because I am naturally very competitive when it comes to sports), that the main goal is for our young athletes to have a positive experience. If we are negative about the sport in any way, our children will mirror us. If we are positive, they will also be positive and the confidence and skill we hope for them will be achieved.