Pacific Association Athlete Travel Fund Policy and Requirements
(from PA/USATF Operating Procedures, May 2010)
Purpose:
The Athlete Travel Fund is intended as a secondary funding mechanism for Pacific Association athlete development by helping those that otherwise might not be able to get those opportunities. It is intended to be a secondary funding source.
Criteria for Athlete Travel Funds:
A. Must be a member of USATF and a resident of the Pacific Association for at least three months before they are eligible for travel funds.
B. An athlete can only be funded for one trip per year.
C. Funds are normally expected to be available for championship events only.
D. Travel funds are only available to athletes who receive less than 50% of needed funding for the event from other sources such as club supplements, sponsorships etc. As a basis to validate submitted expenses, the following guidelines for per diem estimates for funding should be used: $45/day for meals, $107 for room (Current IRS re-imbursement rates) plus “K” Class plane fare.
Excluded is funding from the Pacific Association Athlete Development Program (AADP).
E. Standards for awarding funds should be performance based such that funded athletes are at or near the national level. Open Track & Field athletes requesting funds to attend the championship meet must have achieved the B standard for the meet within the qualifying window set by the meet requirements
F. Standards need to be clear as to when and where the standards can be met. For non-championship meets the qualifying standard for Open Track & Field athletes shall be the B standard for the previous year’s championship meet) Standards can be met at any USATF or IAAF sanctioned meet.
G. Open Track & Field Championship standards can be found on the USATF website: www.usatf.org
H. Standards should be set by the individual sports committee involved and then submitted to the Association office at least 6 months prior to the event.
I. In order to keep standards current, they can be indexed to placement at the meet, equivalent performance from previous year’s event, e.g. equivalent to 8th place finish in previous year’s meet, or to an outside standard such as the junior standard, the USATF national A or B qualifying standard. This is not a requirement but a suggestion as how committees could use other standards setting groups to update their standards.
J. If more than one athlete applies for funds then the athlete with the highest performance score based on current IAAF scoring tables (Open Track & Field athletes only) will receive the funding.
K. There will be five travel funds, LDR (developing separate criteria for funding), Open Track and Field, Youth (Youth committee has separate criteria for funding) Race Walking and Junior Track & Field.
L. Funding levels for all funds and the amount of funding per athlete will be set each year as part of the budget process. This funding request are submitted by Committee chairs prior to the September Board of Athletics meeting, and voted on at the September BOA meeting.
M. The appropriate sports committee can make recommendations, as part of their budget submittal as to how many athletes should be funded.
History of the Athlete Travel Fund Grant:
Following the 1987 National Track and Field Championships, the Pacific Association used the interest from the TV funds that the association received to fund a travel fund for Track and Field including both the open division and the junior division. The Race Walking athletes were also included. The Long Distance Running committee chose to have a Grand Prix rather than a travel fund. Later in 1992, the Youth Committee began to use the profits from the Junior Olympic Championships to fund athletes to the National Junior Olympics. This approved motion was intended to formalize an athlete travel fund policy for the association.
More recently, the PA/USATF Board of Athletics used general fund monies when available to fund these activities, approved annually at the September meeting.