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State Team

 

Little Athletics Queensland is excited to announce its guidelines for the 2024 Coles Australian Little Athletics Championships to be held in Adelaide. This information is intended for U13, U14 and U15 athletes only.

THE TEAM
The Team will comprise of up to 130 athletes in the U13, U14 and U15 age groups as well as up to 13 Managers. LAQ is offering a full team experience for selected athletes in 2024. This means all athletes and managers will travel and accommodate together for the duration of the trip, which will take place from Friday 26th – Monday 29th April 2024.

As this is a full team experience, no athlete will be allowed to stay with a parent or family, unless necessary for Multi Class athletes. There will be no exceptions to this.

The breakdown for each age group is as follows:

   Individual Events
   U13: 32 able bodied (16 per gender) and up to 2 Multi Class athletes
   U14 & U15: Up to 56 able bodied (28 per gender) and up to 2 Multi Class athletes per age group
   Combined Events
   U15: Only 1 athlete per gender for the Combined Event competition. U15 athletes cannot compete in both the individual and combined event competitions, they can only compete in one.

ELIGIBILITY
All able bodied and Multi Class U13, U14 and U15 athletes competing in individual events at the 2024 LAQ State Championships MUST have attended at least four of their Little Athletics actual Centre competition days prior to the Regional Championships (which were held in early February). They MUST also attend and compete at the 2024 LAQ State Championships.

U15 Combined Event athletes MUST have attended at least four of their Little Athletics Centre competition days prior to the Regional Championships. They MUST attend and compete in the Heptathlon event at either the 2023 LAQ Winter Carnival or 2024 LAQ Combined Event Championships.

Athletes that do not meet all eligibility criteria will not be considered for selection.

SELECTION
U13, U14 and U15 athletes competing in individual events will be selected based on their results from the 2024 LAQ State Championships, which will be held in Brisbane on the 22nd – 24th March.

U13 athletes will be selected based on their ability to contribute points to our team. Placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd does not guarantee selection. Because of the limited team size for the U13 athletes, generally, the U13 athletes will not be selected for one event only, therefore, should endeavour to compete in as many events as they can to increase their opportunity of selection in the State Team.

U14 and U15 athletes that place 1st or 2nd in any event will be automatically offered a position on the team for those events. Athletes who place 3rd in any event will only be offered a position if the 1st or 2nd placed athlete declines their position. Athletes placing 4th or below will not be eligible for selection, even if other athletes decline selection.

For U15 Combined Event athletes, selection will take place based on results from the 2024 LAQ Combined Event Championships or 2023 LAQ Winter Carnival.

Multi Class athletes must also compete at the 2024 LAQ State Championships and are required to achieve the McDonald’s achievement award blue level standard to be considered for selection. Placing at these Championships does not guarantee selection for Multi Class athletes.

In addition to the competitions listed above for selection, if necessary, selectors may take performances at other recently held LAQ sanctioned competitions into consideration in the final selection process.

There will be NO selections based on medical or compassionate grounds.

A maximum of 2 athletes will be selected per event.

UNIFORM TRY ONS
Athlete who place 1st – 3rd in their events across the weekend are encouraged to try on uniforms. Try ons will be held in the changerooms located under main grandstand. Look for the signs. We encourage athletes to try on uniforms straight after the medal presentation of their event.

EVENTS
For a full list of events at the Australian Little Athletics Championships, please click here.

COSTS
As LAQ is providing a full team experience for athletes, only three options are provided for those athletes who accept a position on the team. If you cannot accept one of the below options, you cannot accept a position on the team.

It is our preference that all athletes select Option 1. However, we understand that some families may have already booked flights to Adelaide for the Australian Junior Championships (Athletics Australia), which are being held the week before. If this is the case, Option 2 or 3 can be selected.

Option 1 – $1,700
    

Option 1 covers flights (Brisbane – Adelaide return), accommodation, ground transport, meals, uniforms and team camp costs. Athletes will accommodation with the team for 3 nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

   Option 2 – $1,550
 

Option 2 is available for those athletes who will already be in Adelaide in the leadup to these Championships, but require a return flight back to Brisbane. This cost covers their flight from Adelaide to Brisbane, accommodation, ground transport, meals, uniforms and team camp costs. Athletes who select Option 2 MUST meet the team in Adelaide on Friday 26th April at 2pm. There will be no exceptions to this if you select Option 2.

   Option 3 – $1,400
              

Option 3 is available for those athletes who will already be in Adelaide in the leadup to these Championships, and do not require any flights. Athletes who select option 3 MUST meet the team in Adelaide on Friday 26th April at 2pm and MUST accommodate with the team for 3 nights (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Athletes MUST be collected by a parent from our accommodation on Monday 29th April at 7am. There will be no exceptions to this if you select Option 3.

Parents of Multi Class athletes are required to pay $1,350 to travel and stay with the team. This covers return flights to Adelaide, accommodation, ground transport and meals at the accommodation.
For those athletes who accept a position in the Team, full payment will be required by Monday 1st April to secure your position in the Team. If payment is not received by this date, your position may be offered to another athlete.

HOW WILL I KNOW IF MY ATHLETE HAS BEEN SELECTED?
U13 athletes will be notified of their selection in the team on Monday 25th March. LAQ will contact you by phone and email to advise of your selection.

U14 and U15 athletes that place 1st – 3rd at the 2024 State Championships, will receive a letter at the medal presentation area with further information on their potential selection. This letter will include a link for parents to follow to accept their child’s place on the team (1st and 2nd place) or to indicate their interest in being selected (3rd place). Once we receive confirmation from all athletes who have placed 1st or 2nd in their events, LAQ will then look to appoint 3rd placed athletes based on these confirmations.

It is our intention to have the whole team finalised and athletes advised by Thursday 28th March.

Please do not contact LAQ to ask if your child has been selected. If your child is selected in the team, we will contact you. With such a large team, this process will take us some time to complete and we appreciate your patience.

MORE INFORMATION
Please contact Shannon Kruger in the LAQ Office on 3892 9400 if you have any questions.