ATHLETICS JARGON BUSTER
Athletics jargon is explained below, with links to other useful sites for further details.
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Athletics Weekly
Weekly magazine with all the latest results and stories from the world of athletics. Available online, in the post, or the local WH Smith if you are really lucky to catch one of the few copies they stock.
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English Schools/English Schools Standard
Each year the best secondary school aged athletes (Year 8 and above) who attend school in England are invited to compete by their counties to this showcase event, said to the 4th largest annual athletics competition in the world. In order to stand a chance of being considered for selection you generally have to hit the English Schools qualifying target for your event and agegroup. See the following link for further information about the English Schools qualifying standard and for details about the event:http://www.esaa.net/v2/2013/tf/currentstands.php
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Grades 1 - 4 and AW (Athletics Weekly)
Graded performances are measured from Grade 4 up to Grade 1, and will be amongst the best performances in the UK in the year. The Wessex league also publishes these gradings after meetings. For some athletes who nearly made grade 4, you will sometimes see AW behind their name , which means they may be lucky enough to have their name published in Athletics Weekly together with the graded athletes.
To find out if you have a graded performance follow this link to the England Athletics site, which will direct you to 'Graded Performances' in a PDF document: http://www.englandathletics.org/page.asp?section=1600§ionTitle=AAA+Standards+Scheme
For Athletics Weekly: http:/www.athleticsweekly.com/news
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Open Meetings
Are meetings you can attend without being selected, but still compete wearing your WADAC vest. As a club we really encourage you to enter as many Opens as you can, especially as a way of improving performances without the pressure of a league match level competition. The local clubs running these Opens always make huge efforts to welcome visitors and provide a friendly atmosphere to compete in. Open meetings are also a great way of trying out different events. Each club will advertise Open Meetings on the following link:http://www.openmeetings.co.uk/find-an-open-meet.php. Also by looking up Results on Power of 10, you will find competitions listed, which are yet to occur.
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Personal Best (PB)
Is what we all aspire to do in achieving the best performance ever in our events. PBs are official when measured by qualified officials at competitions. Therefore PBs at most school events, and training sessions, do not count - sorry! Do not despair - hopefully that PB is round the corner at the next competition!
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Power of 10
On this site you will see performances and rankings for all UK based Track and Field athletes starting with Under 13 athletes and moving to older age groups. Statistics span across all events, to include competition results and even venues of forthcoming meetings. It is important you register with this site to see all of your own performances on: www.thepowerof10.info. Once you reach a certain standard Power of 10 will automatically update your results onto their site.
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Wessex League
Local track and field league for juniors, which meets about 4 times a year during the Spring and summer. Generally a good entry level league for newer athletes, or for existing members to try out new events.