A great information session from the FACA Clinic specifically in regards to high school athletes and teams competing in indoor track & field meets with the opening of the Alachua County Sports & Event Center. Definitely a must-watch for coaches that could not attend as well as coaches sharing with their athletic directors as there are a lot of questions and unknowns venturing into participation and organizing for indoor track meets.
The session included three important speakers providing a lot of valuable information for coaches, athletes, and parents in regards to how to follow the rules to participate in such events between RADD Sports Track & Field director Scott Peters, FHSAA track administrator Ed Thompson, and FACA track & field chair as well as Hagerty High School AD and track coach Jay Getty.
One of the biggest takeaways from the session was that high school teams can organize to compete officially representing their high schools in the meets held at the Alachua County Sports Center. While indoor track is not an officially sanctioned and regulated sport by FHSAA, it is recognized as a club sport where coaches and athletes from a school can form a team through their school administration similar to other sports not offered in the past or currently by FHSAA conducted a championship series.
A coach can form a bonafide indoor track team at high school separate from your outdoor track and cross country teams, but there needs to be a clear separation in terms of the roster, schedule, etc as if you were forming an entirely new sports offering at your school.
It is similar to other sports that might not be offered by the FHSAA as a state championship series and official season that can organize at the school level to compete in events as their high school (Examples of sports in the past such as girls wrestling and beach volleyball recently).
One of the biggest motivations for more coaches and high schools to organize to have an official indoor track team, register and participate in meets representing their high school at the Alachua County Sports & Events Center rather than going club (separate name/org from school) or unattached athlete route is that if there is data and a trend showing more high schools organizing indoor track teams would help the FHSAA justify organizing to host an official indoor state championship and make the indoor track as an official sport with a season recognized by the state association in the future.