Junior Selection, eventually

[mharky]

Firstly, congratulations to everyone who got selected and commiserations to those who didn't.

But, why has it taken them so long to make the selections? It's been two weeks since the FCC final. The senior selectors managed to pick the Nordics & World Cup teams in one evening...

(If you want to complain about your child(ren) not being selected then start another thread, thanks)

[eddie]

to be fair to them they've just selected jwoc, eyoc and all of the junior tours. i'm guessing about 60-70 juniors have been picked for something or other.

and well done to everyone and best of luck.

[eagh]

Thanks Eddie.

Mark - Not to justify but give information: the chair of selectors group has been working abroad these past two weeks so the meeting could not have been earlier. In case you are thinking - what about email etc - the meeting lasted 5 hours covering 107 athletes across all races within selection criteria, selecting for JWOC, EYOC, pre-JWOC 2010 tour, Halden, Badaguish and Lagganlia.

Skype, conference calls etc are great but there are times when you just have to sit down together and I imagine the athletes would not want us to do it any other way.
Elizabeth Furness
GB Junior Selector

[DIDSCO]

eagh - Perhaps you could think about pre-selecting athletes to make your life easier, and their preperations better for the actual internationals. It will give you more time to really focus on the borderline cases, and also guarantee that the selection criteria is followed properly. I read somewhere that Australia messed their JWOC selections, didn't follow the criteria, and are having to re-select, how fun is that for the juniors!! I dont think it's realistic to seriously consider 107 different junior athletes at one meeting.

[gingerflyer]

Worth waiting for

[Becks]

Isn't it kind of preselecting anyway? It's only May. Two weeks wait in May really isn't going to adversely affect the performance of any of the athletes, especially when the domestic season is just through - a bit of rest never did anyone any harm!

Congratulations to everyone involved!

[mharky]

Thanks Liz, that's obviously a lot of people to pick. Looks like it might be worth splitting the tour selections away from the internationals selections. The tours are about 3 weeks after JWOC/EYOC, so the selections can obviously me made a few weeks later.

A 5 hour meeting is a bit long. Lets hope quick choices weren't made towards the end in order to end the meeting and get home asap!

[Stef]

Well Done to everyone selected, the hard training has paid off!

Particularly WELL DONE to my little sister who about 2 months ago had to be carried home from a walk in the local woods because glandular fever took over her body. She could barely stand for several weeks.

She has made such progress with her fitness to be competitive with the other girls in the recent races and by July she will be flying dd

[Oldman]

A 5 hour meeting is a bit long. Lets hope quick choices weren't made towards the end in order to end the meeting and get home asap!

I find that remark rather offensive as it hints that these hard working volunteers might not have done their job conscientiously, which I'd be willing to bet they did.

[mharky]

Can you conecentrate and maintain attention for 5 hours?

I was pointing out that maybe they should break it up into manageable sections.

I'm sure they did do a very good job. Incidently, I put my JWOC picks up the evening of the final, and got 11 out of 12 right.

[eagh]

Just to reassure you that during the 5 hours we had short breaks for tea/cake, a leg stretch and lunch, more tea.... you get the idea that we did everything we could to maintain focus and make the right decisions

[awk]

Can you conecentrate and maintain attention for 5 hours?....
I'm sure they did do a very good job. Incidently, I put my JWOC picks up the evening of the final, and got 11 out of 12 right.

Our meetings used to go on just as long, so not surprised when eagh gave that figure. If her experience is anything like ours was, most of the selections are done in very quick order (those 2 weeks will have given selectors time to have a think before the meeting). The vast bulk of the time is spent on the border line cases. The fact that the meeting took that long underlines to me that, rather than rushing the decisions at the end, there were in fact no rushed decisions - time being spent trying to make sure they were completely satisfied with the selections.

[award]

Please could anyone enlighten me as to why only 2 M/W18 selections for EYOC? I understand that a nation can send 4 competitors. NB Just seen on EYOC website that GB have entered 3 x M/W18

[Scott]

I'd guess it's a combination of (a) money and (b) the fact that JWOC is at the same time as EYOC this year, and so the top two W18s and three M18s are going to that instead - although the selection policy does say that "up to 3 male and 3 female athletes" may be selected for EYOC, I guess the selectors can't know in advance how many 18s will be in the JWOC team. Hopefully if eagh is still reading this she will be able to give you a fuller answer.

[mharky]

I'm glad they adopt the "up to X athletes will be selected policy", there is nothing worse than sending people to make up the numbers