Anatomy of a debacle: NSG indifference to sked concerns
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In August 2008 — a year ahead of the National Senior Games — Dr. David Janson of Ohio, an M55 sprinter, began writing to NSG officials about the 2009 meet schedule, seeking info for travel planning. Later, he became concerned about the crowding of sprint events. After several exchanges, he got this reply from someone writing under the address intern@2009seniorgames.org, who wrote on September 30, 2008: “The 2009 Senior Games Track and Field competition is following the format of most all masters and Senior Games Track and Field meets. Once the 2009 Senior Games participant numbers for each event are decided by April or May the event time formats will be set in place. The Competition Manager will then make an evaluation to determine that the safety and well-being of all participants will not be at risk because competition be run too close after. These participants will be allowed sufficient rest in between competition.” We know how that turned out. Badly. Rest was promised but not provided.
This was the note David sent to NSG on September 18, 2008:
To: NSGA
Cc: Mike Daniels; Sonny Morris T Collins; Zupp, John D.; terry foody; robert jones; Maggie Smith; Lisa Coors; Joshua Freytag; Janet Janson; Bob Roncker; Bruce Smith; mslemons@fuse.net; Dr. David Janson
Subject: Re: www.nsga.com – Track ScheduleThank you for posting the Track and Field schedule for the 2009 Senior Games. I reviewed it and was dismayed to see that there are no built-in days of rest for the sprinters as there was when Louisville hosted these games. In fact, your schedule reveals that a worse case scenario has someone who is entered in the 400 meters and 200 meters for Track and Field running as many as 9 sprints in three days (includes the relay) if all of the preliminary races are needed – impossible and dangerous!
The organizers of the Beijing Olympics would never contemplate such an impossible schedule for the most elite athletes in the world. Why has such a schedule been developed for senior athletes? A review of this summer’s venue for the Olympic sprinters reveals that these much younger and more durable athletes were afforded multiple days of rest between prelims and finals for their respective events. No one who understands what is required of a sprinter would ever attempt such an impossible schedule for participating sprinters. Were they to see this schedule and understand its implications for senior athletes, I question whether your sponsors would approve of it.
As it happens, I know that many of the senior athletes with which I compete are no longer capable of training on the track on back to back days.
In fact, my personal surgeon and physical therapist have finally helped me to understand that I can no longer include back to back training days as part of my track regimen. They recognize that senior sprinters need more time to recover between intense speed work on the track.
I implore you to reconsider this schedule and redesign one that provides some rest between the sprint events – particularly the 200 and 400 meters. If necessary, I can have the orthopedic doctors and therapists in this area send you their thoughts on your schedule. In the meantime, I hope for a positive response. Thank you for looking into my request.
This note came in reply on September 25, 2008:
From: NSGA To: Dr. David Janson and Janet Janson
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 7:05 PM
Subject: RE: www.nsga.com – Track Schedule
Dear Senior Athlete,
Thank you for your feedback regarding our competition schedule. Please allow a few words of explanation: Our master schedule was created over a period of 8 months with input from numerous parties including NSGA officials, competition managers, national governing bodies, organizers of previous National Senior Games and the owners of facilities we will rent for the games.
While we acknowledge your personal disappointment with some of the details, we are asking you to understand that the schedule is the outcome of months of deliberation trying to balance multiple stakeholders in 25 sports with the realities of facility rental, staffing, support services, conflicting events etc.
We hope to welcome you at the Games next year, even if some of the circumstances appear not to be 100% in line with your personal preferences. We are working hard to make the 2009 National Senior Games the best ever and to provide our competitors with excellent conditions to achieve their athletic goals.
Thanks, Bethany Krogman
Assistant Manager of National Games & Athlete Relations
National Senior Games Association
225.766.6800 ext. 14 225.766.9115 (fax)
bkrogman@nsga.com www.nsga.com
So what’s the point of all this?
These are smoking guns — proof that higher-ups in the NSGA knew about real problems in the sprint schedule but did nothing to alleviate them. As more information continues to dribble out, we’ll learn more about NSG indifference on health issues.
And what became of David Janson?
He ended up in a Stanford emergency room.
Says David: “I am not done with NSG by a long shot.”
12 Responses
I don’t go to many Senior games because they are nothing like the USATF events. The competition is much lower, the organization and running of the meet doesn’t compare to a USATF event and you get athletes there of a much lower ability. It’s been that way for a generation so athletes should have realized it by now and stay away if they need more than is offered. As Masters athletes we need to take responsability for the decisions we make. I didn’t go to the two WAVA championships in Puerto Rico because I knew they would be abominations. They were. I didn’t go to the USATF nationals in Baton Rouge or Charlotte because I knew it would be too hot and abismal. I was stupid enough to go to Orlando. I learned my lesson. How come the USATF didn’t learn their lesson from the Orlando and Baton Rouge heat and humidity and not hold a meet at the same time of the year in Charlotte? Someone is not paying attention.
If you like heat and humidity, you’ll love Sacramento in 2010 (nationals) and 2011 (worlds).
In Lahti, I spoke to John McCasey, a bigwig in the Sacto organization, and urged him to schedule as many events as possible in the evening, when it’s bearable.
John assured me that they’d be looking into this. But in coming months, I’ll focus more on the Sacto schedule and start a campaign to have the bulk of the events take place in the morning and after 7 p.m.
Trust me. Sacramento in July is brutal.
It is hot in Sac in July…but humidity is more like a desert.
I feel compelled to reply to the comments from Anonymous. First of all, local senior games meets are not meant to be a USATF regional meet, and most members of my club expect a difference. Some have FAT, most do not. What they provide, however, is a venue for competition and an opportunity to meet new runners and bring them into the Masters ranks. The State Senior Games meets are run with a lot of volunteers and on tight budgets, so we appreciate having them and attend as many as possible in our area. USATF masters meets are few and far between, so local Senior Games and other all comers meets offer an excellent opportunity to find out ‘where you are’ training-wise and just compete.
I found competition at the National Senior Games as intense as any National Masters Championship meet, and in some cases, deeper in entries. True, I think we need to influence changing the tight event schedule, especially for sprinters, and get USATF sanctioning onto their agenda as a requirement in the future.
I also completely disagree with your assessment of the WAVA/WMA meet in Puerto Rico. The one in 2003, although not as well attended by European competitors as others, was a success and I recall it overall a very enjoyable experience. For those of us who attended, what other WMA meet provided police escorts for the competitor buses? We felt like Olympians.
I live in the Sacramento area. It is NOT humid here, folks! The heat index combines air temp and relative humidity in order to determine the perceived equivalent temperature. More humidity means less evaporation of sweat, so the heat is removed from your body at a lower rate. Locations like Baton Rouge, Charlotte, and Orlando are much more humid, therefore they have a much higher heat index than Sacramento when all cities have identical air temps. Once again….Sacramento is NOT humid.
I remember Puerto Rico….yeah, those police escorts were fun! My girlfriend arrived a day after me and we both boarded the bus to the stadium and started driving. After about a block, I said, “wait til you see what happens”…and then suddenly two police motorcycles pulled right in front of our bus and escorted us the 30 minute ride to Carolina and the stadium…..where they dropped us off and left. I got a kick out of it. And also, I thought the competition and atmosphere in Puerto Rico was fantastic!
I also participated in the 2009 National Senior Games. After reviewing the sprint schedule it became obvious that I would have to re-evaluate the events I would enter. I qualified for the 100m, 200m and the long jump but scheduling forced me to choose to participate in only the 100m and the 4 x 100m relay. I came into the meet with a tender hamstring, so the decision for me was easy.
One thing I have noticed is that many masters athletes overestimate their ability to participate in multiple events. We are mature enough to realize we can’t and more importantly shouldn’t do things that much younger athletes would not dare attempt. I realize that at many meets we can and do successfully handle multiple events. At the National level this strategy may be unwise.
I compete to win, so for me it was more important to perform well in one than to perform below my standards in multiple events. We should use the elite athletes as examples. At the national level pick one or two events and focus on those. Final word, compete at the national level to win-compete at the local level to have fun!
Sacramento humidity and extreme-temp chart is here:
http://www.cityrating.com/cityweather.asp?city=Sacramento
On average, Sacto in July (the month of nationals and worlds) has 22 days with temps over 90 degrees.
Humidity there isn’t as bad as Orlando or Charlotte, but the nearby river provides moisture nevertheless.
The 2003 WMA championships in Puerto Rico were superb. Also keep in mind that the meet had been moved on very short notice from Kuala Lumpur due to the civil strife there. Many USATF officals (Bob Sager and Gerry Bookin-Weiner come to mind) and other top notch officials from around the world chipped in and ran the meet, resulting in superior officiating. Excellent, air conditioned support facilities, fine competition area, good organization, precise scheduling, and tremendous support–we had 8 certified officals running the shot put and a dozen or so well trained and uniformed high school aged kids assisting with implement returns, water, and errand running. We were marched out to the venue right on time, marched back, led to a staging area for pictures and to await the medal ceremony–which followed vey quickly after the event ended–and then we were presented with our medals in a dignified almost Olympic style fashion. Speaking from personal experience in the M50 shotput, the meet was not even close to being an abomination as suggested by anonymous–who did not even attend the competition. I cherish the memories of that meet in all respects, and do not wish to have the meet, the LOC, or the officals tarnished unfairly.
The comment about Puerto Rico (WAVA-2003) brought back memories of a track and field meet pounded by Tropical Storm Claudette. However, this was caused by Mother Nature, unlike the NSG fiasco which was strictly a persons-made disaster.
If you ever wondered what competing in a near hurricane is like, check out my WAVA-2003 travel-log and photos at:
http://masterstrack.com/blog/003125.html#more
Another Sacramento area resident here…Humid?
Ken put down the pipe….
Dave,
Ask some of those who competed in the decathlon in Miyazaki. Typhoon Ed hit Japan with a vengeance and they did not delay any of the events. At the start of the 100, you could not see the finish line. In the shot, you couldn’t get your shot put dry so you had to gauge your throw by when you thought it would slip out of your hand. Several throws were measured under 2 meters….funny but true. And in the high jump, the water was so deep, many competitors left the ground and their lead leg would slip out from under them and they landed on the a—, right on the runway. 40-50 mph winds almost two days straight but to this day, the Miyazaki Worlds are far above any masters meet I have ever encountered.
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