Preparing for Round One

Information Night
The club will be hosting an information night for the upcoming summer season on Tuesday 1st October, 6pm at the Casey Fields club rooms. Everyone is welcome, as we will be going over the registration process and the new competition structure, as well as having sample sizing of the new uniform to try on. Tea and Coffee will be provided.

Round 1 
Registration for round 1 is now open and will close midday Wednesday 2nd October.

Uniform
The uniform store is currently closed to process the orders received over the winter period. We’re hoping that the shop will be reopened by Monday 30th, and then will be closed regularly to submit orders. To get your singlet as early as possible, please order ASAP from when the store re-opens. Thank you for your patience!
Members and new athletes who currently do not have or are waiting for a singlet to arrive, can for now compete in either an old singlet or plain white top. We have a limited size run of old singlets that new members can borrow to compete in while waiting for theirs to arrive.
All club members are expected to either be in or have ordered a new singlet by December 21st.
A reminder that competition bottoms/shorts must either be official club uniform or black.

Summer is Coming: Get Prepared

Firstly, congratulations to our XC team this year, wrapping up this weekend at the Tan Relays. What we lack in numbers we make up for in spirit! The 2019/2020 Track and Field season kicks off in under two weeks. Make sure you have everything prepared to start competing!

Registration
Registration is open via the AV members portal. For athletes using our training facilities, please be registered by Thursday the 26th, as the club is liable without insurance for athletes. Otherwise, please register ASAP to be able to enter the first round of AV Shield League (October 5th). If there are any financial concerns or if you’re a new member looking to sign up, there are various packages available with more information available here.

Athletics Victoria Shield League
Don’t know what AV Shield League is? AVSL is the new competition format for this season. Athletes will no longer compete in age groups, and will instead compete as a whole club in divisions, with the opportunity to go head to head at the end of the year to find out who comes out on top! We’re really excited here at the club about the new format and hope to see our athletes make the most of the competition. More information on the new structure can be found here.

Uniform
Hopefully everyone has picked up our new uniform. Everyone who can has to compete in the new uniform, as we are phasing out the old singlets. There will be leeway for the start of the season and new members until orders arrive, but we want everyone in the new tops by the end of the season! The uniform store can be found here or at Project Clothing. A reminder that in competition athletes must wear either club or black shorts, this is our specified uniform with AV.

Results Hub
The Results Hub will be the go to place for all results, rankings and ladders for Victorian Competition. Get familiar with navigating the page here.

Summer Handbook
The 2019/2020 Summer Handbook hasn’t been released yet, but keep your eyes on the AV website for it to pop up!

Competition Calendar
Hopefully everyone has had a look ahead at some of the competitions coming up this season. With the AV Shield League will come a specialised relay round and Nitro round, as well as the multiple Specialist meets and state competitions. The Calendar can be found here.

Training
Casey Cardinia has allocations at Casey Fields on Tuesday and Thursday nights. All members are encouraged to make the most of our facilities.

Amiru leaps to victory: Gold at Oceania Champs

By Michael Hansford

CCA’s Amiru Chandrasena’s debut representing Australia did not fail to deliver, winning Gold and Bronze at the 2019 Oceania Area Championships.

The reigning Victorian and Australian Champion won the U18 long jump and placed third in the triple jump in Townsville three weeks ago in his first international competition, setting a long jump best of 7.33m.

The 16 year old said the excitement was “unreal” to compete at such a significant competition.

“There wasn’t any nerves going in (to the competition) as I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “There was a great atmosphere with everyone being friendly and supportive, it was an amazing experience.”

Chandrasena didn’t expect to compete in the Green and Gold so early in his career, saying that performing well at the Australian Championships was the primary focus for this season.

“Nationals was definitely the goal (for this season)” he said, “but after winning the long jump and getting second in triple jump I was told about Oceania.”

“It was hard (to keep training past Nationals) in the cold and wet … and there were a few injuries that hindered the training as well, but everything worked out,” Chandrasena said.

“It was exciting to do something new.”

 

Starting off as a sprinter, Chandrasena was drawn to the jumping events for the chilled call rooms and multiple attempts.

“I started finding my talent in jumping and pursued in improving that. I also can’t stand the anticipation of the call room before a heat or the wait before a final,” he said. “Jumping also appeals to me as you are constantly learning from every jump and have multiple chances to prove yourself.”

Chandrasena credits the support of his family and guidance of expert coach John Boas and his training squad for his success.

Boas manages the training of some of Australia’s highest pedigree jumpers, including 8 metre jumpers Darcy Roper, Christopher Mitrevski and Henry Smith.

“There is something different about training with a squad compared to by yourself that pushes you and motivates you to be better,” Chandrasena said.

His father Danuja was his first coach and continues to assist him with his training.

Chandrasena said that “The support from family is extremely important when it comes to training and a competing because you can’t always do it by yourself, and they share in losses (as well as) the wins.”

Fellow Club member Cameron Debruin also competed at the Oceania Championships, coming second in the U20 100m, first in the 200m and first in the 4x100m relay.

Follow the boys at: @Amiru.c and @Cam.debruin

If you are a part of CCA’s community and have an idea for what our next story should be, please contact Michael via mdhan2@student.monash.edu, through social media or around the track!