So the indoors season becomes a distant memory and I finish looking through the various photo albums form Budapest containing numerous athletes looking either worse for ware from celebrating just being there or grinning inanely with someone they've only just met. I have to say Team GB Masters did exceptionally well, somewhat better than our well sponsored Seniors, the issue of recognition of Masters athletics rumbles on. Just to add insult to injury, it has become apparent that "Viking River Cruises now sponsor ITV Drama", so much so that I'm getting sick to death of seeing that ruddy bridge in Budapest from every possible angle including FaceBook. Had I gone, I suspect my view might be different, but I didn't so stop it.
Closer to home, well mine anyway, the outdoor season gets underway without me and with one eye on the weather since West Wales is still missing a few bits after the winter. Even so the expected storms seem to often get lost somewhere between Aberystwyth and Newport but not before making themselves a nuisance in the valleys. So was the case at the first round of the Youth Development League, one of the coldest starts to the summer season for a while.
The fun started when I took a coaching session at Cwmbran stadium and noticed that the holes in the track had not been fixed as promised. Didn't think anything of it at first, we completed our session without falling into one of the millimetre abysses and went home. Then FaceBook kicked off "too dangerous", we don't think they should hold the Youth Development League (YDL) meetings there at all, someone might get hurt! Really? I mean 100m hurdles is fine, but a millimetre deep patch the size of a jam jar lid is going to kill someone? You sure the grass is OK? They held the meeting after more promises from the stadium involving use of sellotape and blue tak.
We, by which I mean my eldest daughter and I, arrived late for the YDL match and missed her first event due to urgent shopping for Lasagna, but so had several others due to a slightly confusing timetable document on the website, so it seemed she could do the shot later with the boys by way of recompense. Chloe had come there specifically focused on doing the shot and 4x400m relay, so we had lunch an made our way to the shot. The officials decided that they would not now allow guests and that only one girl could throw because she had been declared for the morning's competition, we were unable to fathom the logic of this discrimination as Chloe had also been on the team sheet in the morning. I bit my tongue and walked away as it had been our error in the first place.
Things got worse though, as we noticed the individual 400m B string went begging due to confusion over whether we could have B strings in both age groups or not. This weird rule apparently restricts B strings on some field events. We then found out that we didn't have 4 for the 4x400 relay, so no run for Chloe. She tried to take out her frustration on the discus but the heavens opened and she had to settle for a mediocre throw by her standards. It really was one of those days.
We stayed for the relays if only for the entertainment value of the officials at it again trying to stop Banbury from running due some sort of administration error, god knows what as they'd been there all the time since they called the relays forward. That's it guys, that will promote youth development now that the league is run on the basis of insurance companies say so and dumb ass officials.
I find this all really sad, I know the officials well, they work hard and often take stick from over enthusiastic parents, half wit teenagers and team managers, a thankless task at times. But sometimes common sense and good sportsmanship just deserts them and carnage follows. Thankfully my daughter took it all in her stride, either that or she was glad not to be running in the deluge that consumed the relays at the end of the day, we got home for some nice hot chocolate and a glass of Coal Ila, in celebration of the club's impressive win in round 1 of the YDL. Can you guess who had which one?
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