Outdoor Track & Field

Spring into Track & Field

The MYA Spring Developmental Track & Field Program gives elementary and middle school students in Memphis and the surrounding areas the opportunity to enhance their personal fitness, foster their athletic aspirations, and just have some fun running, throwing, and jumping around.

Spring Track & Field Program

The MYA Spring Developmental Track & Field Program runs from March to May. The season consists of four to five regular season meets and one championship meet.

Track events include the following races:

100-meter hurdles (MS only)
100-meter dash
200-meter dash
400-meter dash
800 meters
1600 meters
3200 meters (MS only at select meets)
4x100/4x400 relays -alternating each meet

Field events include:

Long jump
High jump
Shot put

“Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it’s all about.”

– PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian, University of Texas Track & Field/Cross Country Coach

How Our Track & Field Programs Work

Memphis Youth Athletics serves as the meet director and the facilitator during this developmental track season. We don’t hold practices for this developmental program, nor do we train athletes during this part of the season.

However, if your school doesn’t have a track or running program and you’d like one, we’re happy to help get you started. Whether your school has a program or not, you’re homeschooled, or you just love to run—everyone is welcome!

Participation

Athletes may compete with a school-based team or “unattached” to any school.

School-based teams are typically school clubs supported by parents and parent-teacher-student organizations (PTSOs).

School-based teams will require a volunteer coach. Coaches can include:

PE teachers
Parent coaches
Volunteers at their school or in the community

During the first developmental season meet, athletes are randomly assigned to heats for any events they have entered or registered for. At subsequent meets — including the championship meet — athletes are seeded, meaning they’re assigned to heats in their events based on their previous times.

Regardless of an athlete’s ability, experience with the sport, or performance in a previous meet, we’ll find a competitive heat for them. Depending on the number of athletes per event, these races could be mixed (boys and girls) or single-gender.

Gate Fee Link

Elementary & Middle School Programs

The MYA Outdoor Track & Field Developmental Program is open to all public school, private school, and home school athletes in:

Elementary school (grades 3, 4, and 5)
Middle school (grades 6, 7, and 8)

We realize that certain school districts have different grade designations for middle school and elementary school. However, we need to adhere to one standard for level competition and organizing meets.

So, for example, if your fifth-grader is in middle school at their school, they’ll still compete in the elementary school age bracket in our track-and-field program. If your ninth-grader is in middle school at their school, they’ll unfortunately be too old to participate in this program (but they can certainly participate in the MYA Fall High School Cross Country and Team 901 programs).

To learn more about each track-and-field program, please follow the links below.