Hill City-University Summer Children’s section

Register online for Children’s athletics (2024-25)

Information for the 2023-2024 children’s athletics season:

Welcome

To a friendly, family orientated athletics club for children in Dunedin. Our over-riding passion and purpose is to share our passion for athletics to the next generation.

Ultimately, our vision is to foster our club members to be the best that they can be. We structure our training to support having fun and participation whilst learning essential skills that are the foundation for many other sports. We hold no Club Championships, rather we base our recognition on attendance, participation and achievement across the athletics season, across all disciplines.

Athletics is a sport that develops a sense of competition, resilience, to get up and try again as well, it builds confidence within a team environment.

Our club is run by volunteers and our coaches are mostly current young athletes, typically who have been athletes from a young age at our club and have commonly and successfully competed at a National level.

So, if you want your children to have fun, make new friends, learn how to run faster, jump and throw further, then come and join our family orientated children’s athletic club.

Joining Up

To find out about Hill City-University summer children’s athletics, come to our training evenings on Tuesdays from 5:30-7:45pm.

We offer competitive and non-competitive options and to join in the fun, register online, or at one of our registration days, and get your club uniform (only required for competitive athletes).

Registration is Tuesday 19^th and 26^th September 2023, 6pm to 7pm, at our Club rooms, Logan Park Drive, Opposite the Caledonian.

Coaching and Training

Training and coaching is held for children every Tuesday evening; for those aged between 4 and 9 5.30pm to 6.45pm and for 10-14’s, 6.30pm to 7:45pm at Hill City–University clubrooms, Logan Park.

Our first coaching and training session for the 2023-24 season is on Tuesday 10 October, 2023.

For Health and Safety we require that all parents or an assigned caregiver remain present whilst their children train or compete. Each training we require some parents to assist our coaches train the children. On a club night we typically start with a warm-up, jogging around the field outside the clubrooms and doing stretching exercises. For 4-9’s this starts at 5.30pm sharp and 10-14’s, 6.30pm After the warm-up the children will be taken across the road for training. Training is typically no longer than an hour. For the under 5’s and non-competitive 6’s it is typically around 30–45 minutes. Each week, 6 to 9 competitive athletes spend 20 minutes practicing each of 3 different disciplines according to a weekly roster, while the 10 to 14’s have two 30-minute sessions.

There is training for relays, sprints, middle distance, high jump, long jump, discus, shot put and hurdles.

For older children that want to develop their athletic skills, we facilitate joining junior develop squads. These squads are managed separately by experienced coaches, numbers are limited and if you think you may be interested in these please talk to our Convenor John Hollows training nights.

If the weather is bad, cancellations will posted on our Facebook page.

Competitions

Interclub track and field competition is held on most Saturdays (9:00am-midday) at the Caledonian over the summer season. Attendance at interclub competitions is encouraged but entirely voluntary. At the interclub competitions children get an opportunity to showcase the skills learnt at club nights.

Competition times and dates are published in the Otago Daily Times Sports Draw Section under Athletics in Thursday’s paper and on our Facebook page. Look for Hill City-University Children’s Section or Otago Children’s. We have provided the draft schedule below

The club provides singlet on loan to all athletes involved in interclub competition; athletes are required to wear their own black shorts to complete the club uniform. If your child wants to wear anything that shows under their singlet it must be either plain black, or plain white.

The age for the season is set at the age on 31 December 2023. Age on this day determines athlete’s grade for the whole season.

Competitions through the season include:

Children Ribbon Day – Have a Go, no registration required, Saturday 14th October 2023
To Be Confirmed Country Meet (Alexandra) – 18th November 2024
Paape Cup/Highland Games: A one-day event on Saturday 9th December 2023 10am to 4pm. A fun opportunity to try some events associated with Scotland! This has been recently changes to a non-selection event to encourage all competitive and non-competitive athletes to participate.
SBS Mini Multis (mini pentathlon): A two-day competition: Saturday 2nd (pm) and Sunday 3rd December (am). Individual athletes can enter up to 4 events and we will enter as many teams as possible in club relay teams.
Colgate Games: South Island Colgate Games will take place in Dunedin from 12-14 January 2024. As in years past we expect to have a large team participating and competing in this well-established festival of sport.
Country Meet (Wanaka) – 27th January 2024
Otago Championships: This is a weekend competition held at the Caledonian Ground: 23th (11 – 5pm) and 24^th March 2024 (1 – 4pm).

All interclub competitions at the weekend during the season are included in the registration fee.

There are entry fees for the Colgate Games. If you would like more information about any of these please talk to a member of the committee.

Contacts

Email hillcitychildrens@gmail.com

The fees include club and controlling organization memberships (Athletics Otago and Athletics New Zealand) for all athletes. For competing athletes, there is free loan of a club singlet, eligibility to compete at interclub competitions and the Colgate Games.

All fees are paid by when registering online at:

Online payment for Children’s Athletics

Competitive Athlete – 6yrs and under (Tuesday club nights and eligible for all competitions)	$93.00
Competitive Athlete – 7yrs to 14yrs (Tuesday club nights and eligible for all competitions)	$102.00
Non Competitive Club Athlete – 7 to 14yrs (Tuesday club nights only)	$81.00
Non-Competitive Club Athlete – 7 to 14yrs (Tuesday club nights only)	$67.00

Race numbers will be issued for all athletes at the first interclub competition in 2023.

No refunds will be given after the third week of the season to any members.

Trial period

If you are unsure about joining, the first Saturday meeting is a non-competition ‘Ribbon Day’ and generally the next Saturday morning competition can be tried on a 1-day registration at no charge. This year this is October 14^th 9am to 12pm.

We allow athletes to come to the first 2 training nights free before having to decide whether they wish to pursue athletics.

Parent Help

We are an organisation run by volunteers, without parent help, we cannot function. Hill City-University is duty club at the shot put each Saturday and on competition day several helpers are required. No specific skills are needed, and training is given on the day.

Help is also expected of parents on Tuesday evening training nights. An outline of some of the roles is set out below for further information.

Tuesday night

Parent supervisors for all age groups (at least two for each age supervisors) are required to assist coaches.

We are always happy for parents to get involved with coaching. Perhaps you are an ex-athlete, perhaps you just want to be part of the child’s learning. We provide training for those that want it, otherwise we ask that if you are available you help the coaches on training nights by supervising the children.

Coaches for blocks, sprints, middle distance, relays, hurdles, walk, long jump, high jump, discus, shot put, and administration are always welcome.

Saturday mornings

Shot put assistants, and if required, finish line assistants, help with other events.

Other positions

Organising committee (the more the merrier) and team managers (Colgate Games)

If you are keen to be involved, we would love to hear from you! It does not matter if you don’t have experience in coaching, there are many different ways that you can help the club while supporting your own children and others. We can help fit you into a role and support you as you become more familiar with the club and activities.

Courses for Parents

We encourage all parents to get involved in the smooth running of their children’s athletic programme. To improve your skills when assisting at various disciplines, courses are held through the year and are extremely worthwhile. To register or make enquiries, contact Athletics Otago:
Email athleticsotago@xtra.co.nz
Website athleticsotago.co.nz

The Run, Jump, Throw course is an ideal introduction for parents who would like to know more about what their children are doing. No previous skills or experience necessary to participate in these courses. Contact Karen for details on the next available course.

Discipline

The purpose of Tuesday evening is to provide a friendly and fun environment for coaching and training. It can be very difficult for the parents who are coaching and helping, to deal with the misbehaviour of children who are not their own.

If children misbehaves, they will be warned. If bad behavior persists after a warning, the parents/caregiver will be advised, and will be expected to help – usually by assisting with the activities involving their child until the problem is resolved.

The disciplinary steps are:

Warning
Parents/caregiver advised
Suspension from training for one week
Asked to leave the club – no refunds

Health and Wellbeing of Your Children

Please also note that at no time on Tuesday evenings and/or competition days are we actively babysitting / supervising your children. You are required to be present or have an assigned caregiver present. This is particularly important from a Health and Safety perspective as accidents do occur (although rarely) and occasionally training is abandoned due to bad weather.

Childrens Athletics Programme 2023-2024

We split our training times to accommodate the ages of our club members

Under 6 – Get Set Go : 5.30pm to 6:45pm (or whenever they run out of steam!)

Age grade 6-9: 5.30pm to 6.45pm

Age grade 10 -14: 6.30pm to 7:45pm

Otago Childrens Athletics Programme 2023-2024

October	Saturday	14	Ribbon Day (end School Holidays)	Caledonian	9-12
	Saturday	21	7-14’s	Caledonian	9-12
	Saturday	28	7-14’s	Caledonian	9-12
November	Saturday	4	7-14’s	Caledonian	9-12
	Saturday	11	7-12’s 12-14’s	Caledonian Caledonian	10-12 1-4
	Saturday	18	7-14’s	Alexandra	TBC
	Saturday	25	7-12’s 12-14’s	Caledonian Caledonian	10-12 1-4
December	Saturday Sunday	2 3	Mini-multis Mini-multis	Caledonian Caledonian	pm am
	Saturday	9	Paape Games	Caledonian	9-12
	Saturday	16	Coaching clinic for Colgate Games	Caledonian	9-12
January	Friday	12	7-14’s	Caledonian	9-5
	Saturday	13	7-14’s	Caledonian	9-5
	Sunday	14	7-14’s	Caledonian	9-5
	Saturday	27	7-12’s Country Meet	Wanaka	TBC
February	Thursday	1	7-12’s Twilight Meet	Caledonian	Evening
March	Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday Saturday Sunday	10 17 24 2 16 23 24	7-12’s 12-14’s 7-14’s 7-14’s 7-14’s 7-14’s 7-14’s Otago Champs 7-14’s Otago Champs	Caledonian Caledonian Caledonian Caledonian Caledonian Caledonian Caledonian Caledonian	9-12 1-4 TBC 9-12 9-12 9-12 11-5 1-4

(Guide only – subject to change)

Field Programme A				Field Programme B
Grade	Event	Event		Grade	Event	Event
7	Kit/Vortex	Shot Put		7	Long Jump	Discus
8	Long Jump	Discus		8	Kit/Vortex	Shot Put
9	Shot Put	HJ/Vortex		9	Discus	Long Jump
10	Long Jump	Discus		10	High Jump	Shot Put
11	High Jump	Discus		11	Long Jump	Shot Put
12	Shot Put	Long Jump		12	Discus	High Jump
13	Discus	High Jump		13	Shot Put	Long Jump
14	Long Jump	Shot Put		14	Discus	High Jump

	Track A		Track B		Track C
7,8,9	60m & 80m		100m & Track Relay		200m & Kit Relay
10-14	100m/1500m/Relay		200m/800m/Relay		Hurdles/400m/Relay
10-14	Race Walk on Alternate Interclub weeks