What is the Star Awards System?
The Star Awards System provides athletes with goals to aim for during the season. It rewards athletes for their attendance, improvement and achievement.
An athlete can be awarded up to 5 stars in a season, for increasing levels of performance; Yellow, Green, Red, Blue and finally Gold. The stars can be displayed on the athlete’s centre uniform or tshirt.
To qualify for the award of a star, an athlete must achieve the qualifying standard in the prescribed number of track and field events for their age group – the mixture of track and field events is designed to encourage athletes to develop skills generally. It is important to note that results must be entered against the colour categories in order. For example, say an athlete achieves a Gold standard performance for 100m in week 1, that result must be entered against Yellow. If in week 2 the same athlete then achieves a Blue standard performance for 100m, the result must be entered against Green and so on.
The numbers of events in which a qualifying standard is required depends on an athlete’s age group and are follows:
Yellow, Green, Red and Blue:
- 6’s & 7’s – See below for more details on the 6’s & 7’s Star Award requirements
- 8’s – 1 x track + 2 x field, or 1 x field + 2 x track
- 9’s to 10’s – 2 x track + 2 x field
- 11’s to 12’s – 3 x track + 2 x field, or 3 x field + 2 x track
- 13s (u14) and above are under revision
^Gold:
- 6’s to 12’s – Any 2 events, track or field
The qualifying standards are summarised by age group in the Star Award Performance sheets below. These standards are based on the LANSW multi-event and non-multi-event points tables. However, because it is significantly harder for smaller athletes to perform well in the “strength” events – Shot Put, Discus and Javelin – the qualifying standards for those events have been reduced.
6’s & 7’s Star Awards
Star awards for the under 6s and 7s are focussed on helping the youngest athletes to develop a good technique outside of the pressures of achieving specific performance targets. Instead of having performance based targets for their yellow, green and red stars, under 6 & 7 athletes will be taught a series of basic skills for their track and field events and awarded stars once they demonstrate the following number of skills for each level:
- Yellow – demonstrate all 3 x track and 3 x field skills
- Green – demonstrate 2 x track + 2 x field skills
- Red – demonstrate 2 x track + 1 x field skills, or 1 x track and 2 x field skills
- Blue – 1 x track + 2 x field, or 1 x field + 2 x track performances
- Gold – Any 2 event performances, track or field
The target skills for each level are shown in this U6 & U7 Star Award Reference sheet. Skills will be taught each week by the club coaches and age managers and will be assessed on a regular basis. Achievement of each skill will be recorded by the age managers on a star chart and once the awards officer has been notified, stars will be awarded the following week.
Once an athlete has achieved their red star, they will be eligible to also achieve their blue and gold stars, which are based on performance targets similar to other age groups. Qualifying standards for blue and gold are provided in the Star Award Performance sheets below.
11’s Star Awards
Star awards for under 11s will continue to operate as per other age groups, with the exception of the new events under 11s learn – triple jump, high jump and javelin. To help the athletes master these new events outside of the pressures of performance, yellow, green and red targets for these events will be skills based rather than performance based. The target skills for each level are shown in this 11’s Star Awards Skills Reference Card. Skills will be taught each week but the club coaches and age managers and will be assessed by the age manager on a regular basis. Achieving the targets in these events will count towards achieving stars consistent with the performance based targets for other events.
How Do I Claim a Star Award
There is an automated process for recording results and therefore parents will not be required to complete any paperwork to register their child’s achievements. However, we strongly encourage parents to print the star relevant charts and review results with their children during the season. This helps to encourage the athletes during the season and increases the sense of achievement they will feel as they work towards their goals.
Results for athletes can be accessed via ResultsHQ.
Awards will not be distributed automatically. It will be the athlete’s responsibility to claim the award. This is to encourage ownership by the athlete. To claim an award come and see the Awards or Results officer on a Saturday morning. They will check our system and confirm eligibility for that award and present the star badge.
For more information, see the Awards or Results officer on a Saturday morning.
^Please note, the criteria for all awards in the Juniors category (13’s (u14) – 17’s (u18) and u20) are being revised for the 2024/25 season.
