Becky Sisley of Oregon knows a thing or three about track. First, she’s a world-class masters jumper and thrower herself. Second, she’s a world-class meet organizer, with experience that includes the Hayward Masters Classic. So she was the ideal person to write a meet manual for USATF Masters Track & Field. The timing couldn’t be better, given the debacle of the Armory spiking its 2007 indoor nationals and such.

The USATF Masters site had reserved a spot for the meet manual for months, but it’s only just been uploaded.
Here’s the preface to Becky’s dissertation:
PREFACE – ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When this project was started I had no idea what the end product would be. The Masters Track & Field (MTF) Meet Management Manual evolved day by day once the process was underway. I was fortunate to be able to draw upon my experience serving on the Hayward Classic Committee many years and being the Meet Director on two occasions. My years as Masters Regional Coordinator
and member of the MTF Games Committee also enhanced my exposure to other aspects of meet management. A number of the exhibits included within this Meet Manual are resources I developed prior to this project.
From my past administrative positions, I learned that a timeline is an effective tool to organize all that needs to be done to complete a complex task. Once this chronological listing was started, the need to elaborate about selected tasks became apparent. The idea for checklists came from a review of the Meet Manual that George Kleeman edited for USATF Pacific. I wish to thank Kleeman for allowing me to use information from his equipment lists and to adapt his officials’ organization chart.
Additionally, I was able to draw some insights from meet manual materials that were passed on to me by former MTF Chair, Ken Weinbel, which included an outline of major areas prepared by Dave Clingan.
Focusing on something so intently makes it easy to not see the forest for the trees, and thus make obvious omissions. I definitely needed new eyes to read my drafts, plus there were some segments which I needed the expertise of others. There was an extended group of reviewers whom I praise for taking the time to carefully read through the Meet Manual when it neared final completion.
Special thanks go to Mark Cleary, Jim Flanik, Rex Harvey, Frank Lulich, Mike Olson, Sandy Pashkin, and Jerry Wojcik. There was also one long-time friend and former English teacher who provided suggestions and technical editing assistance right from the very beginning and throughout the processes.
I thank Karen Meats, for her support, good ideas, and for reviewing the working
drafts on several occasions.
The other area needing assistance was in the preparation of documents that could be placed on the web. Mike Olson gave helpful advice when I was creating the Official Organization Figures. Angela Egremont, from the National Masters News (NMN) office, provided formatting assistance and Dave Wilkins was instrumental in solving some computer tech issues related to preparation of some exhibits.
Suzy Hess, MTF Vice-Chair, National Masters News Publisher, and the member of the USATF MTF Executive Committee who asked me to take on this project, was always ready to provide assistance and respond to my concerns. Suzy’s support and positive encouragement were truly appreciated, and I thank her so much! From the USATF National Office, Keith Lively and Andy Martin provided
sound advice in getting the MTF Meet Management Manual in the proper shape to be placed on the website, and in actually getting the document on the web.
The goal was to develop a “user friendly” manual that would help people in planning and conducting a Masters track & field meet, and with the valuable contribution of others, it is now in your hands.
Good luck, and may you experience many successful events!
Becky L. Sisley, Ed.D