Mitcham Little Athletics Club

More things you should know about or get involved in:

Region Little Athletics Championship

Every athlete in the U9-15 age groups are entitled to compete in the Region Championships. A child can only enter up to four events. There is no Nunawading Little Athletics on the Saturday for any age group. 1st and 2nd in each event automatically qualify for the State Championships. Additional places to complete the field come from the next best results. Nunawading usually gets quite a few athletes progressing to State. Check at the Mitcham Desk to find out when entries close. The Mitcham Newsletter and the NunaRun will also provide details. It is usually in December, but it is best to get your entry in before Nunawading breaks up for XMAS. Entry forms will be available from the Mitcham desk and NLAC.

We only had a few Mitcham athletes compete at the Region Championships. We will need to get all U9--U15 competing next year. Natalie Laurie, Ryan Smith and Alex Magree all progressed to the State Championships. Well done. Full results from the State Championships available from the VLAA web site on the 'Other Links' page.

State Track and Field Championships

March 4 & 5 saw our Mitcham athletes go to Bendigo for the State Championships. Natalie Laurie, Ryan Smith and Alex Magree all competed. Natalie picked up Gold in the U15G Walk. All results are available on the VLAA. web site.

State Multis:

Only one Mitcham Little Ath competed at Multis in Moe. Natalie Laurie did very well to confound the critics by coming 8th in the U15G. She came 4th overall in Discus and 5th in the 800m.

Australian All Schools Championships--Sydney 2005

Natalie Laurie picked up 2 Bronze Medals in the U15 and U17 3km Walk events.

Athletics Victoria Vic Open Championships 16-18 Feb 2005

Natalie Laurie competed in the Athletics Victoria Victorian Open Championships at the 'G'. She came 10th overall and 7th Victorian home. An excellent result and PB and was only lapped by the place-getters just the once. The event was won by Natalie Saville, the Australian Commonwealth Games representative in the 20km Walk. First Victorian home was Kellie Wapshott, an Australian representative in the 2006 World Cup and still the current holder of the U15G VLAA 1500m Walk record.

VLAA Junior Development Squad--JDS

The Junior Development Squad is a Victorian Little Athletics initiative aimed at U12-15 age groups. Athletes can qualify at Region, State and NLAC competitions by achieving the qualifying standards. Contact an NLAC Committee Member or the VLAA web site for more info. Mitcham has athletes qualified for this squad. Coaching is done by senior coaches and is quite worthwhile.

NLAC Unforms:

For Relays, State, State Multi, and Cross Country events, Nunawading Athletes must wear the Nunawading uniform, not Mitchams. Any advertising mateirals must be covered by black tape. Nunawading has a new T-Shirt which must be worn from October 2006.

Athletics Nunawading

Athletes Nunawading is the seniors club that trains at the BSAT track. Seniors competition is usually at the Box Hill track from 1pm Saturday afternoons for U14 upwards. The Athletes can choose what events they enter and only have to be there for those.

Some Nunawading little athletes are already competing for the senior club. See the Green Handbook for more info and contacts. If you want to know who is competing for Seniors, find out at the Mitcham Desk.

AGM and Trophies

Mitcham LAC has a combination AGM and Trophy night after the last competition day of the season. Children challenge themselves to achieve their personal bests through training and attendance.

Trophies:

Trophies are available to children based on their results recorded over the season:

Who compete more than about half of the season
For attaining their own personal bests--we have Gold, Silver and Bronze level achievement
Who are best and runner up in their age group (boys and girls separately)
Overall club champion

We also have a number of other trophies/ awards available for specific achievements as per the AGM minutes info.

Throughout the season, children can also get NLAC achievement ribbons based on achieving set performance levels as per the Centre's published standards in the 'Green Book'.

Australian Little Athletics Championship:

Selection in this team is open to all Under 13 Little Athletes, provided they make the State Little Athletics Championship in March in at least one event. Selection is based on the athlete's ability to be competitive in more than one event, so being the best in Victoria in an event does not mean selection. You can find out more about this event by downloading the selection policy on the VLAA website.

Nunawading Athletes who have made the team recently are:

2005:

Regan Lamble (Vermont Club) was selected in the 2005 Team that competed in Hobart.

2004:

Natalie Laurie (Mitcham club) and Jordan Holdsworth (Vermont club) were selected in the 2004 Victorian Team of 22 (11 boys and 11 girls) to compete in the Australian Little Athletics Championships at the Olympic Games track in Homebush, Sydney. The Victorian team won the Championship for the first time in 18 years. They also won the Team Handicap Trophy - the first time ever that a Team has won both trophies.

2003:

Chris Brennan (Burwood Heights Club) was selected in the 2003 Team that competed on the Gold Coast.