scrunners.com talks with SCTCCCA President Chris White prior to summer meetings this week. Stay tuned for updates from the meetings.
How has your summer been since the end of high school track and field season in South Carolina?
It's been a good mix of getting some stuff done at home and still working to get some track and XC stuff done. We've been working on Hall of Fame voting, putting together out new committees, and working on courses for Coaches Classic.
Do you plan to watch the Olympics? What sports?
Absolutely - everything I can find. So far I've been watching some swimming, biking, a little badminton, and some volleyball. My whole family loves to watch the Olympics.
What do you hope to achieve next week during the SCACA clinic and SCTCCCA meetings?
Our main goal is working to get feedback from the body regarding the 16-to-state format for track and field to give recommendations from our body to the HSL as they work through the details. Lots of proposals with small details regarding things like heats, flights for field events, and seeding procedures. We're hosting a session on hosting track meets for coaches to review some best practices that we want to share between coaches so those that are new to running off meets will have a good jumping off point.
Anything new within the SCTCCCA?
We'll be voting for two new vice presidents this week - 2A and 4A. We have three in the running so far for 2A, and one for 4A.
Do you have any proposals the association would like share more on prior to next week?
Along with the small detailed proposals about the state track format, we've got a proposal to keep the Regional and Elite format for the Coaches Classic meets that we used this year, and I'm proposing to add a pentathlon to the Coaches Classic Meet Regional and Elite meets so athletes would have an opportunity to try a multi-event while they are in high school without trying to add it to all track meets. We've got a proposal to re-evaluate how we determine All-State Athletes, another looking at the order of events, and another bringing back the idea of Indoor Track and Field- this is something we've passed in the future and brought to the executive committee, so I'm hoping we can add some discussion to see what we can do to increase the likeliness of it passing in the future.
Tell us about the SCTCCCA committees being created, what makes this unique and how is it going so far?
We've had a lot of volunteers so far, and I'm excited about that. The purpose of creating the committees is to try to find a low-risk way of getting more coaches involved. Right now, the main way to get involved is to run for a board position, and that can be intimidating as a time commitment, so sometimes coaches are hesitant. Adding the committees gives coaches a chance to get involved in a small piece of what we do that they might be passionate about, without having to commit to a year-long involvement. A side benefit is that adding these committees will greatly reduce the volume of work for the next president, so hopefully people will not be reluctant to run for leadership positions in the future.
What do you see as the biggest challenges going forward?
Not sure - everything seems to be going in a good direction, we just need to keep plugging!
What do you hope to see in the cross country and track and field South Carolina seasons in 2021-2022?
I'd really like to see a smooth transition to the 16-to-state in track format. There will be growing pains, but the HSL has been great in helping make it happen, now we as coaches need to communicate and pay attention so we know the process and we can manage those growing pains in the best interest of the sport.