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USATF JUNIOR ELITE TRACK & FIELD CAMPS

Jr. Elite Track & Field Camps have been held at the U.S. Olympic Training Centers continuously 1978-2004, under the sponsorship of the AAU/TAC/USATF and the USOC.  Jackie Joyner, then a high school sophomore, attended the first camp.  Since the initiation of the Camps, approximately 75% of all U.S. women track & field Olympians have participated in the Jr. Elite Camps.  Many of the nation's finest current track & field coaches also have received much inspiration and learning by attending the camps with their high school or AAU/TAC/USATF club athletes.  The purpose of the Camps is to inspire and aid the development of elite high school T&F athletes, through their coaches, toward international and Olympic levels.

The USA Jr. Elite Track & Field Camps will NOT be held in 2007. 

In late summer 2006, a proposal was submitted to the USATF/USOC through the USATF High Performance Division (Brooks Johnson, chair; Sue Humphrey, our representative to the Division) to hold the USATF Jr Elite Camps in conjunction with USA Open camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Chula Vista, California in summer 2007.  These camps would have been held at no cost to the USATF or USOC, only requiring access to the USOTC facilities.  Despite regular inquiries, no formal response was ever received.  Finally we've had to forego plans for 2007 camps.

If approved, significantly upgraded (over 2004 & 2005) USA Open Track & Field Camps would have been held with upgraded USATF Jr Elite Men's & Women's Camps (e.g., free to qualifying athletes and their coaches, combined women's and men's camps, the most qualified clinicians among elite USA men's and women's coaches, even greater emphasis on scientific analysis, etc.).

After 26 years of operating highly successful Jr Elite camps and more recently the Open camps, and with almost unanimous support from athletes, coaches, and other USATF volunteer officials, we're disappointed that the USATF High Performance Division would not approve the camps, or at least respond to our proposal.  We'll try again with the Jr Elite and Open camps in 2008.  If not approved by the Division in 2008, we'll plan to run the camps outside of the USATF/USOC in 2009.