The participation Fee for Spring 2013 Track and Field is $150

(or $100 if you ran CC last fall).
Make checks out to Sparkman High School.

Why so much?
Track & Field is not the low budget sport it used to be.
Gone are the days when you just needed a flat surface to run on, a guy with a starter pistol and a handful of volunteers with stopwatches and clipboards.

A new priority has been put on having results published on line so they can be compare with other athletes, both statewide and nationally. This means that all results need to be certified and this means hiring officials to run each event at a meet and hiring companies with computerized “timing and results” equipment. To cover thee costs (and to raise money to allow their own teams to attend other meets) schools now charge $10 or more PER ATHLETE to enter a meet. To take a full track team to a High School Invitational Track Meet can now cost $300 to $500 just for the entry fee. That’s for ONE meet.
Track Teams simply don’t get that kind of money from the school system so the athletes are called upon to help cover the costs.
These fees also cover the cost of uniforms (official uniforms are an expense required by the state) and to help defer the coache’s expenses.

Sparkman HS Track started it’s own fund-raiser last year, the Sparkman Invitational Track Meet. This is a meet for local 4th & 5th grade students. This meet raised enough money that we should be able to hire buses to take our team to two of this years out of town meets.

Other costs you may have to run track.

Since we don’t have money for a “Team Bus” to every meet, athletes will have to secure there own transportation to the Track meets. This involves drives to Scottsboro, Huntsville, Madison and Cullman. There is also transportation and lodgeing to the State Meet in Gulf Shores … but that will be an expense incurred by only those who qualify at the local district meet. That would be a GOOD expense to have to face!

Good running shoes (known as spikes) are also recomended. We can not underscore enough, the safety factor of getting shoes that are properly fitted to the athlete’s foot and designed to take the pounding of a race. Spikes are shoes that are not just specially design for T&F but you can get shoes designed for your particular events. These shoes are incrediby light, almost giving one the feeling of being barefoot. They have actual metal spikes on the bottom (quarter inch “pyramid” spikes are the type the AHSAA require) that give the athlete traction on the rubberized surface most tracks have these days.
We are fortunate to have two very good sports stores in Huntsville that can give you an accurate shoe fitting and provide the exact shoe your event might need. These are Fleet Feet and First Place Athletics.
I have had experience with First Place Athletics and can say that they will give you a discount if you will tell them that these shoes are for a local high school athlete.

– Sparkman athletes will also have the opportunity to purchase spirit wear and warm-ups.
We would like to make a concerted effort appear as “professional” as the well funded teams we compete agianst. A uniformed look goes a long way towards this end.

A note on the need for warm-up suits.
If you have not run track before, you may not be aware of just how cold a track meet in March can get. Even on sunny days, meets starting at 9am can be very chilly and then at sunset, get cold again in a hurry. There also tends to be very little shelter in these stadiums from the brisk spring winds we get and this can make it quit bitterly cold high up in the stands. Extra coats and blankets are advised.

Here are the spirit wear items that are available for purchase –

Backpack with Sparkman Logo – $23
Track SPorts Bag with Shoe Pocket – $23
Men’s Warm-Up Jacket W/Logo – $38
Men’s Warm-Up
Ladies’s Warm-Up Jacket W/Logo – $38
Ladies’s Warm-Up Pants – $29

Also available are Sparkman Track “Hoodies”. These are quite warm.
Checks should be made out to “DIAMOND PRO SPORTS” and orders MUST be turned in by Feb. 21st!

You can get Information on ordering these items from Lori Underwood.
lunderwood@wildwoodelectronics.com
256-337-six eight 90