All athletes MUST be in the care of an adult who is present at the ground the whole time the child is there. We are not a child minding service, a parent is required to be present because:

• The evening’s events can finish early.

• Their child may become sick or receive an injury.

• They provide assistance with the running of competition nights.

• Events may be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

As a major objective of Little Athletics is to encourage personal improvement, the performance of every athlete is measured in every event. We need about 120 parents each competition night to help with jobs such as timekeeping, measuring, recording and assisting age managers.

The contribution of parents is required and essential to successfully running competition nights.

To ensure the workload is spread evenly, it is a condition of registration that ONE parent from each family be available to assist.

• Parents of Tiny Tots are required to assist with that group’s activities whenever their child is in attendance.

• Parents who wish to be an integral part of conducting Friday night competition can nominate as an age manager/starter.

• Other parents are asked to avail themselves every competition night as an assistant to an age manager.

A roster has been formulated for the entire season’s set up, BBQ help and pack away duties, so that these duties are not always left to the same people. Age managers need approximately one assistant for every five athletes. If sufficient helpers cannot be found because parents are absent, the age manager can request that the group be reduced in size. In these circumstances, the children without parents in attendance cannot compete further that evening.

Their parents will be contacted to collect their children. Should there be a recurrence, parents will be required to demonstrate why their children should be allowed to compete further. To avoid this situation, we ask parents to consider these responsibilities before registration. If parents have too many commitments on Friday nights, we can provide details of alternative athletics venues / times which may be more suitable.