New USATF bylaws “permit an athlete (over 18) to be a member of any Association within 100 miles of his or her bona fide residence.” In other words, automatic transfers! No other masters trackster will have to go through what Linn Dunton, my wife Chris and I did this year — as detailed in my October entry titled “How San Diego USATF protected ‘the integrity of the sport.’ ” The newly passed bylaws (see the draft here) haven’t been posted yet, but all indications are that Regulation 4-B was approved at the Indianapolis annual meeting this month along with other proposals. 4-B cuts the red tape forever — putting the national office in charge of transfer requests instead of an ego-driven political system (detailed here) involving home and destination associations. Indy should be a rubber stamp, in fact. USATF’s Jill Geer also tells me that anyone can jump to any association — not just one within 100 miles of home. But I haven’t seen the final wording that allows this.
According to a summary of the bylaws changes — distributed before the USATF annual meeting — this is what Regulation 4-B was about:
This amendment allows athletes to be members of any Association within 100 miles
of their bona fide residences. This amendment is designed to reduce administrative
hassles and hearings arising from transfer requests, and to give athletes a
reasonable degree of freedom to represent their chosen clubs.
The six-member Laws & Legislation Task Force that devised the new bylaws was chaired by USATF President Stephanie Hightower and included at least one prominent masters athlete: M50 jumper Willie Banks, also a member of the USATF Board of Directors.
The reason behind our transfer request was simple:
San Diego-Imperial USATF has no masters track club, and offers no masters track meets. So we wanted to join a masters club in the next-door
Southern California Association — and have our USATF cards declare us members of that club, instead of our current “Unattached.”
So now what? How do you go about transferring to a neighbor association?
According to
USATF’s Andy Martin, who wrote me yesterday, “We are preparing a formal process to post on the website.”
But we know from Regulation 4-C in the proposed bylaws: “In order to transfer membership from one Association to another, an adult athlete age 19 years and older shall send a
request in writing or email to
membership@usatf.org.”
So stay tuned on what you need to include in this email request.
As a result of the Indy meeting, Linn, Chris and I have dropped our grievance against San Diego-Imperial USATF for denying us our transfer. We had submitted a bunch of paperwork –and a $100 filing fee — to Indy, requesting a hearing before the National Athletics Board of Review, or NABR — an ad hoc three-member group named to pass judgment on our request.
But here’s the really good news: We’re getting our $100 back!
Kimberly Sims, a legal assistant for Indy, wrote us last week: “We will . . . honor your request and return your filing fee, should you chose to withdraw the grievance.”
What does all this mean to folks outside our little spat?
Well, it could upset the apple cart when it comes to USATF team competition. Now that adults have the liberty to switch associations, they can change clubs as well. And clubs will either gain or lose potential scorers in national championships. This could be worth prize money in cross country and road racing, especially.
For more than a decade, however, various masters track clubs have gamed the system to gain high-scoring athletes — raiding clubs in other associations. When the home or destination association rejected an athlete’s transfer, some clubs just told the athlete to apply for USATF membership by snail mail — and put down a fake address in the destination association. Indy never checked.
Now this underground system of transfers can stop. Clubs can compete openly for athletes, and score honestly in nationals.
Does this raise the risk of “all-star” teams at masters nationals? Yeah. So what.
Indy still holds the trump card. Theoretically the national office could deny transfers between associations beyond the 100-mile limit, blocking such talent “raids.” But this is unlikely. The whole point of Regulation 4-B was to end the squabbles between associations over track talent. I doubt there will be huge floods of athletes between associations.
In any case, the issue is settled. Adults have the freedom to choose the club and association they want to belong to. Delegates to the Indy annual meeting sided with freedom.
Sounds like an American thing to do.
22 Responses
Ken,
Although you can now join any club that you want, that does not mean you can score for them, at least on the LDR side. Unless the rule below was changed at the Annual Meeting, and I am not aware of any changes, XC and roadies still have limitations as to who they can represent (at least in a scoring capacity). I believe Rule 4, Paragraph 2 is only about 2 or 3 years old.
RULE 4
ELIGIBILITY FOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
1. In all USATF Team Championships, whether National, Regional or Association,
only teams consisting of duly accredited representatives of a member club shall
be eligible to win such team Championship. In Regional Championships, the
team Championship may be contested on the basis of Association teams instead
of club teams, at the option of the Games Committee.
2. In Long Distance Running, an athlete who is a non-resident member of an
Association is eligible to compete for a team in that Association only if the athlete:
(a) resides in an adjoining Association and the Association of residence does
not offer the program, or
(b) neither the Association of residence nor any Association adjoining the
Association of residence offers the program, or
(c) has historical membership based upon Association residency (at least 3
continuous USATF membership years) in a club and is eligible to compete
for that club.
I have no horse in this race – but look at the results of the National Club Championship X-C – and the 7th place So Cal Women’s team W 40-49
Their 1 and 3rd place finisher – one is from Maine and the other from Arizona. Maine is not contiguous to California – last time I looked at a map of the US, the adjoining association to Maine is NE – which certainly has plenty of X-C and Road Racing -and the individual in question from Maine- ran “unattached” at the NE X-C Championship.
My question is about So. Cal – not about the individuals in question – how the heck does So Cal continue to recruit non association members who then turn up and run for that club?
If the rules for LDR have not changed – …..
Maybe they do not like the people in NE.
I get tired of all the accusations about my club without people first having the facts. Our athlete from Maine was alowed to race for us because Maine has no women’s Cross Country program and New England had no women’s teams in their Cross Country Championships only un attached individuals- since New England is the only Association that ad joins Maine she is elidgible under the exception.They did not count our 7th place finisher because she did not meet the LDR exception–USATF employs the same rules on us that they use for everyone else–so please before some of you start snipping-know that we always follow the rules–which I have studied and know very well–Mark Cleary
I love it when the answers come out. In my business (healthcare) people are always wondering how we are doing certain things. I can relate to Mark on that. Great answer Mark. Bubba
Mary I am sorry that you get annoyed by accusations about So Cal – but maybe it is because So Cal seems to have numerous athletes from time to time who live far distant from So Cal. If this had been a one time thing it is most likely I would not have made the comment that has annoyed you. But – there is a long history of recruiting by So Cal of out of state athletes.
I made the comment because of the discussion this blog article about changing the rules for changing associations and the response about the difference for LDR and X-C. Frankly I am all for masters having the right to join whatever club suits them. However some have taken exception to this when prize money is involved.
Yes Bubba – people have lots of questions about healthcare. They have the right to ask questions and the right to responses that do not show irritation and suggest that they are just plain stupid for daring to ask a question.
Absolutely ! It’s a big deal in XC. XC tends to be more team-oriented than Track.
The fact that some people/some teams, Mark, So Cal TC, look for loopholes in the rules to take competitive advantages ARE THE REASON why these rules have to be restrictive, causing problems for people like Ken. Who cares about Team Championships? Mark, So Cal TC and the other teams who are trying to compete against them, that’s who. From what I see, Mark needs to show team championships to his sponsor to get the money. Its always about the money.
The USATF is charged with the responsibility to make a level playing field, as compared to an altered one. If you look at the list of athletes competing under the name of So Cal TC (publicly available at: http://www.socaltrackclub.com/roster.html ), you will see athletes from Mississippi, Florida, Maine, Illinois, New Mexico, Southwest Texas, Wisconsin . . . I didn’t work that hard to search all the names. And these are not your backyard average jolly joggers. These are some of the top athletes in their age group and discipline in the world. The point is, this behavior, which most people would consider recruiting, is not in the spirit of any rule or regulation USATF might have. USATF makes up rules to try to keep up with the way people try to sneak around what already exists. Mark, this is why you always get those annoying questions.
Do not misinterpret all this discussion in regards to Ken’s wishing to join the Southern California Striders, a completely different team from Mark’s. The Striders are a team based on long term friendships rather than necessarily high level performers. I don’t think they have been a serious contender for a National team title in years–that’s certainly not their goal in having a team. The Striders have never recruited out of their area though they have a long history of including friends from neighboring San Diego. Two previous club presidents live in the San Diego Association. Some Striders might also come from Nevada, Central California and Pacific Association–neighboring associations who all show up at the same Southern California area meets and hang out with their old friends. The Southern California Association has had a strong Masters program for decades, while those neighbors do not.
WHATS YOUR NAME?
I like my NICKNAME AND I GO BY ALBERTO PHILLIPS ALSO
Whats your name JUST CURIOUS?
Let anyone join any club no matter where they live. Some just want the club uniform and to belong to a team. It is great to run with your team cheering for you even if they don’t know your name but you wear the same uniform. Also the social aspect is appealing. Let them wear the uniforms, belong to a team but when it comes to championships and team titles, only athletes who live in the club’s association or within 100 miles of an adjoining one can score/count for their club. That seems fair for all. Then no more heavy recruiting out of area athletes to win a title with massive numbers or top athletes which could/does help to get sponsorships. Maybe it would spark more local interest and participation and cooperation.
Just an idea…probably an old one but thought I would throw it out again for consideration.
I am in the Central Association and have no club affiliation. I want to move to the Pacific Association to run for a club I have joined. I was told the Central Association must make the change to my association, but the person in charge of Central just blows me off and ignores my request.
I plan to not renew my current membership at the end of the year, and send a new membership request to Pacific. Will this work?
“But we know from Regulation 4-C in the proposed bylaws: “In order to transfer membership from one Association to another, an adult athlete age 19 years and older shall send a request in writing or email to membership@usatf.org.””
I also tried this since I was being ignored by my association, and got no respose from them either.
Here’s a thought ! It’s very simple.
1) Let USATF members run for whatever club they want in the USA.
2) Do away with club scoring at Nationals. It has done nothing except cause grief since it’s inception.
DAMMMMMMMM GOOOOODDDD IDEA
Teams ARE the reason for running xc. My team rarely puts together a team for the USA xc, so I run alone in that one and it feels really weird. The club race is vastly more fun. I’ll never be a contender for an overall win and I think for the “rest” of us, the team aspect is what brings us back year after year. For us mid-packers, the only reason we’d even consider running is “for the team” – certainly we aren’t going to bother for individual glory! 😉
Take away the team aspect of xc and what’s the point? I’d bet you’d see a huge drop in participation. Maybe the “elites” will show up – but the rest of the participants wouldn’t bother.
I joined my team 7 years ago after my own team disbanded. I petitioned to join an neighboring association’s team (which was granted). I am very close to my teammates and even train with a few of them who live a few miles from me – across the border. THEY are the reason I race xc – injured or even out of shape – I love being part of that group.
I do think that Mark does go out of his way to find those very talented athletes who live in areas not well served by teams – Maine, Mississippi, etc. He is within the rules (and he knows it). I don’t see the appeal of being on that kind of team, especially one so far away from one’s home so you don’t even know them, but apparently some do.
I agree. Keep scoring for XC. Lose it for track. Track is not really a team sport, XC is.
Why do they have different rules for xc and track? If you score and win a team title in both? The youth track rules are very strict for joining a team. Why not have seperate track and field championships like the big boys/girls do. The national champs (no scoring) and then the club champs? What are those rules for competing on a club team and scoring? As it is now, no matter what my association has I can join another team, anywhere in the USA and score points for it in masters track but not xc? It may come down to $$, they gave out $$ at the xc club champs,right? Where do I sign up to vote to change the rules? Does anyone listen? Does anyone even care???
I think it should not make a difference where you leave and what association you join.majority of us are in the sport b/c we love it. When politics are involve everyone wants to sound off whether in a positive or negative way.
As far as Mark and SoCal goes which I’m not a fan of his club but do respect him and his athletes. If I was to start a club,I would figure out how to beat them. As far as the rules goes,he has to be within them otherwise it would been on this site. He has a winning formula.I don’t blame Mark for sound off like he did. Its up to other clubs to figure out how to beat SoCal. Anything is possible. All you have to do is believe in your fellow member and train hard and smart.
Pray that everyone has bless holiday season and if we all pray about it change will happen for the positive.
Meant to say it should not matter where someone live folks. Forgot to hit spell check 🙂
For the record: I officially became a member of the Southern California Striders about 11 p.m. Jan. 8, 2010.
USATF’s Andy Martin sent me this note:
“Your member profile has been updated to reflect your Association as Southern California and your club affiliation with Southern California Striders”
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