Track Meet USA Overview

Program At A Glance

Our application is both uncomplicated and powerful. Tools are available for developing and editing a team's roster, planning the season schedule, and logging the performances of athletes at track and cross country meets. Best of all, data entered by coaches or team managers can be downloaded into a spreadsheet for general use off–line. You own your data!

Second, the website archives the performance data of athletes and uses a high–tech search engine to allow coaches and athletes to generate a variety of customized ranking reports. These reports can be used by coaches and athletes to analyze the competition and measure progress against the field at any time. Our ranking system is for upgraded accounts only.

The Track Meet USA system is comprised of four main functions:

1. Tools for Coaches – applications to help registered coaches manage their teams.
2. Tools for Athletes – services that enhance the athletic experience of our registered athletes.
3. Subscriber Viewing – services for track & field enthusiasts who are interested in following the competition.
4. Public Access – general features for any member of the public interested in visiting and browsing our system.

School Registration Instructions

1. Go to www.trackmeetusa.com and click the registration link.
2. A coach or team manager should set up the initial school account.
3. If you received a Media and Coaches Guide in the mail, you may enter your school's invitation code to expedite your registration. Follow the instructions on your screen.
4. If you don't have an invitation code, follow the instructions and your account will be approved by Track Meet USA, usually within 48 hours.
5. Once a school's account is approved by Track Meet USA, subsequent coaches and athletes can be approved by any registered coach. You will never have to register your school again!
6. Read our privacy policy. Track Meet USA does not release, sell, rent, or share the personal information of coaches, athletes, or subscribers.

Navigating through the Track Meet USA system is easy. A help page is available online. But if you have questions, give us a call or send us an email. We'll respond as quickly as possible.

Managing Personal Accounts
All coaches, athletes, and subscribers can edit their personal contact information at any time by logging into the Track Meet USA system. We encourage all registrants to keep their email addresses current so that special announcements and other communications issued by Track Meet USA can be sent without delay or interruption.

Tools For Coaches

This section outlines the main features designed to help coaches manage their teams and data more effectively.

Private Team Page
Each school registered in the Track Meet USA system will enjoy its own home page where important team information and announcements can be posted and made available to coaches and athletes.

Roster
Track Meet USA's online roster is an application that allows coaches to keep a current database of athletes registered in their respective school's track & field and cross country programs. Once the roster is created, it makes performance stats much easier to enter.

During the season, as the roster changes, it can be downloaded into a new spreadsheet that can be used and edited off line at your convenience. Roster information can also be uploaded from special spreadsheets to reduce time.

Schedule
The online scheduling application allows a coach to create and modify his or her team's competition schedule. It covers the indoor and outdoor track & field seasons as well as the cross country season in late summer and early fall.

Home meets that are hosted by a school will automatically be loaded into the public Meet Board™, which is explained in this section.

Marks Log
Track Meet USA's Marks Log is a utility that allows a coach or statistician to enter the performance stats of athletes following a track or cross–country meet. These stats will be archived and sorted by Track Meet USA for analysis using our Variable Performance Ranking System™ (VPRS). Team stats can be downloaded into a spreadsheet for use offline.

Meet Board
The Meet Board™ is a new feature being introduced at the start of the 2007 indoor track & field season. It automatically displays critical information about the meets our schools are hosting during the competitive seasons. As an added feature, visiting teams can quickly view the weather forecast and print driving directions for all meets posted on the Meet Board™. It's a great way to keep the participants and visitors of coming meets up to date about important meet information and announcements. Meet information can only be edited by the coaches of the host school.

Variable Performance Ranking System™ (VPRS)
VPRS™ is a special searching system that allows coaches and athletes with upgraded accounts to view and sort all of the performance data in the Track Meet USA system. Data can be filtered to return information about specific events, states, regions, grades of athletes, and so forth. It's a powerful tool to help teams analyze the competition while public subscribers enjoy the chance to follow their favorite teams, athletes, and events.

End of Season Reports
At the end of each competitive season, Track Meet USA releases a final season report that ranks the top performances and averages for each event. Special state and regional reports will also be available to help coaches and athletes review the season and evaluate team and individual performances.

Tools For Athletes

The Track Meet USA system offers a variety of features that provide distinct advantages and opportunities for athletes seeking to improve their performances or simply looking for a more valuable overall athletic experience. Track Meet USA realizes that our high school athletes are young people striving to improve while earning the admiration and confidence of their coaches and teammates.

Our goal is to provide a safe and exciting environment for athletes to enjoy the experiences that only the sports of high school track and field and cross–country can afford them. By boosting our kids' appreciation and enthusiasm for the sports of high school track and field and cross country, Track Meet USA hopes to give schools better leverage in attracting their best athletes to these important and exciting sports.

The following is a brief listing of some of the features available to athletes at Track Meet USA:

Team Home Page
See the Team Home Page description in the Coaches Tools section of this guide. Our Team Page features are free to athletes and allow them to stay connected for information and announcements posted by coaches. There is also a section for viewing school records.

Variable Performance Ranking System™
VPRS™, a special searching system that allows coaches to view and sort all of the performance data from all schools registered in the Track Meet USA system, is also made available to athletes who have upgraded their account. Data can be sorted to return information about specific events, states, regions, grades, and so forth.

Collegiate Recruiting
Track Meet USA seeks to encourage worthy high school athletes to compete at the collegiate level when possible. We continually work to liaison with reputable collegiate track and field programs to ensure that top performers are given an opportunity to be noticed by recruiters.

Public Access Features

While the Track Meet USA web site is designed to be a tool for registered coaches and athletes, there are features available to the general public who may be interested in the sports of high school track and field and cross country.

Subscriptions
For a small fee, any member of the public can subscribe to Track Meet USA and have access to all of our performance entries and ranking engines that allow for a very detailed and specific analysis of the competition in any locality, state, or region in which schools are registered in our program. Athletes and teams can be screened using a variety of filters that give a clear snapshot of what's happening in a given event – at a given location.

How to Subscribe
Just click the registration link on the home page and follow the on–screen instructions. It's quick and easy!

Getting the Most From Track Meet USA

The Track Meet USA system was specifically designed to be valuable to schools and coaches regardless of how many schools participate. Even without our networking, ranking, and communications tools, Track Meet USA has much to offer coaches and athletes from any school – anywhere.

But the real value of our system is realized when entire conferences, leagues, and counties unite themselves at Track Meet USA. Rosters, schedules, and performance marks that would otherwise sit dormant in spreadsheets and logbooks can become energized and available 24 hours a day – 7 days a week. By getting "connected," schools breathe new life into their programs and generate excitement that will attract a larger number of athletes.

We urge all coaches to make an effort to contact their colleagues at nearby schools and encourage them to participate in the Track Meet USA program. We also suggest contacting local media representatives and directing them to www.trackmeetusa.com where they can contact us for a copy of this media guide. Giving Track Meet USA media exposure in your area is a great way to motivate and inform your fellow coaches.