Jordan Hasay of Arroyo Grande, California  was recently named  USATF Youth Athlete of the Year.  You may remember her from the Olympic Trials. She was the youngest athlete in the 1500m and broke the National record setting a new time of 4:14.50. Hasay said of this honor:

“I am honored to be recognized by USA Track & Field with this award….. “I am thankful for everything that USATF does for the sport of running in our country and inspired by its outstanding dedication to its members. I’d also like to thank my family, coach, and community who always provide continued support to me. “

In  July of this year Jordan placed a strong 4th place finish, the best finish ever by an American woman in this event at the World Junior Games.

“Jordan is a shining star for Team USA and for the USATF youth program,” said USATF Youth Athletics Committee Chair Lionel Leach, noting that Hasay has long been a fixture at USATF’s Youth and Junior Olympic events. “We are proud that she got her start in the USATF youth programs and will eagerly be watching her progress as she moves on to the collegiate and professional levels.”

For more on Jordan see:
1.    Foot Locker West Regionals Jordan Hasay Does It AGAIN!
2.    Happy 4th Of July
3.    Fantasy Track Team “Ground Speed” 2012 London
4.    Day 2 July 29th,2008 AAU Junior Olympic Games

The Olympic Trials for Track and Field will be held in July in Eugene, Oregon.

High jumper, Amy Acuff, is trying to qualify for her third Olympic games at the age of 32 (she turns 33 this summer). Discus thrower, Suzy Powell who is turning 32, was the highest Olympic qualifier in 1996.

Their Run Jump Throw program is a fundamentals program that teaches boys and girls the technical skill progressions for athletic events. The primary goal is physical fitness, health and physical development for children 6-12 years of age in Canada.

It is also a foundation program that all youths can benefit from with the basic skills of running, jumping and throwing, and designed to increase transferable physical skill abilities to other sports including soccer, football, and basketball.

In short, any sport that involves speed, strength, and agility.

The program provides individual assessment for participants and is a terrific tool for physical education, special education or adaptive physical education programs. Moreover, it is a great after school or Saturday morning program in which parents can participate as volunteer officials.

Every province has their own Provincial branches. More information can be found at Athletics Canada.

A 4:42 min video (352x 240) is presented here by the Alberta branch of the Run Jump Throw program :

The Run Jump Throw program – Click To Play

Thank you to Jimson Lee of SpeedEndurance.com for this guest post.

In the Home Turf feature with Nastia Liukin, host Dione Sanders shows up at Liukin house in Texas at 7 am ready to go with Nastia to the WOGA gym at 7:30 am. We get to see part of Nastia’s training and lots of cheesy commentary from Dione himself, but really, the whole thing is very cute and my gymnast daughter loves it. It is almost worth watching just to see the gorgeous house Nastia lives in.

Another feature of the Blueroom is the Behind the Team series. The first episode is on TEAM USA Gymnastics and is called Heart of a Champion. It features some of the more well know faces of USA Gymnastics such as Mary Lou Retton, Marta and Bela Karolyi, John Roethlisberger and gymnasts like Nastia, Jana Bieger, Chelsea Memmel, Shawn Johnson and more.

I’m sure as we get closer to the Olympics we will get to see more athletes in action and more behind the scenes action.

Kids can play games like Long Jump, 200m Spring, and more. There are also screen savers and desktop art to download, athlete profiles, a quiz and more great resources. Check it out today!