01  Is Your Club Recreational or Competitive?

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Spike Up Athletics is a competitive club that only offers competitive level training and competition opportunities for all running, jumping, and throwing events. However, if you are a pole vaulter and would like to compete on a team with other athletes or friends, please see Q/A #5 below. 

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Competitive level opportunities are defined as a level of track & field training that demands more time investment than recreational level opportunities. Competitive level opportunities are geared towards individuals who are looking to pursue and excel in track & field athletics at a much higher level than recreational level opportunities offer. 

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Recreational level opportunities are defined as a level of track & field training that offers flexibility, making it more suitable for those individuals who want to enjoy track & field athletics without a strict training or competition schedule. Spike Up Athletics does not offer recreational level opportunities. 

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If you are still unclear about whether the prospective athlete would fall into the competitive or recreational category, please click here and send us an inquiry and we will be happy to clarify things for you. ​​

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 02  Where do you practice?

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Track practices are currently held at South Middle School in Nampa. South Middle School's address is 229 W Greenhurst Rd in Nampa. 

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Practices are subject to change to other locations depending on our training needs. During our fall/winter season, we partner with Rock & Armor for our weightlifting, plyometric, and explosive & reactive energy training. Our training location for Rock & Armor is located at 3001 E Badger Dr. in Nampa. 

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 03  What days and times do you practice? 

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Because we are a competitive level club, meaning we expect our athletes to train and compete in a majority of our scheduled meets (individual family budgets permitting), we will practice 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday. This provides our athletes 24 practices per month versus the traditional 12 practices per month most track clubs offer.

 

Our tentative practice schedule for the fall/winter season is: 

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Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm

Tuesdays and Thursdays: 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm

Saturday: 10 am to 11:30 am

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Practices for our fall/winter season will begin on November 4, 2024. Any athlete who intends on competing with Spike Up Athletics is highly encouraged to get registered as early as possible, even if currently playing a fall school or club sport. Registration begins on September 29, 2024 and will close registration on November 2, 2024. Any athlete who registers and decides prior to our first practice on November 4 that he/she will not train or compete, Spike Up Athletics guarantees a full refund of the paid program fee. Our season will conclude on February 22, 2024 with competition uniform turn-in scheduled for March 1, 2024.  To begin the registration process, click here.

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We do not offer competitive-level training or competition to our elementary-age group kids during our fall/winter season; only middle and high school aged athletes may train and compete with us during our fall/winter season. 

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 04  My school sport does not end before Spike Up Athletics' practices start. Can I still come practice?

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Out of respect for your school and coach(es) of your particular sport, we ask that you please not come to practice with Spike Up Athletics until your school season is officially over or your school's head coach provides written permission for you to practice with both your school team and Spike Up Athletics simultaneously, if schedules allow. In the meantime, while waiting for your school season to end, please go ahead and complete Spike Up Athletics' registration process ASAP, and we'll see you when your school season ends. Registering as soon as possible allows you to take advantage of any promotional discounts that we may offer and to get your travel uniform ordered so that you'll have it in time for our first meet of the season. 

    

 05  Does your club offer training for all track & field events?

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No, we train for all track & field disciplines except pole vault. It is in our long-term plan to provide pole vault training, but if you are a pole-vaulter and want to be on a team that allows you to compete in other events or with your friends, please contact us because we may be able to get your pole vault training elsewhere, and we will provide your training for all other events.  

 

We also offer race-walking training and competition during our summer season for both our youth and adult athletes.

 

The only time we will not offer training for a particular event is when we do not have the quantity of coaches needed to provide balanced and equal training opportunities for each event.  

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 06  Does your club offer a weightlifting program as part of your track & field training?

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Yes, we do for our fall/winter season. We do not offer a weightlifting program for our summer season because our summer season is not as long as our fall/winter season. Plus, many of our athletes come to us directly from their spring school season and therefore are well past the general preparation phase of training where most of the strength development typically occurs. 

 

It is vital that we include a weightlifting program for our longer fall/winter season to supplement our running, jumping, and throwing practices. Having a lifting program during our fall/winter season helps our athletes strengthen their bodies to avoid injuries due to the high demands we place on them and due to the fact most of our training takes place outside. Training outside during the winter helps our athletes acclimate to the cold temperatures our athletes compete in during the early part of their school's spring track and field season. 

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07  Do you help athletes with their nutritional and dietary needs?

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Although no one in our club is a certified nutritionist, we have teamed with FNX Fit based out of Salt Lake City, Utah to help provide nutritional supplements to our athletes. Click here to see their supplement guide. 

 

FNX Fit supplies us with pre-workout, intra-workout, and post-workout recovery supplements to help our athletes repair the muscle fibers they tear up during our intense workouts. FNX products are safe to use. None of their products' ingredients are on the World Anti-doping Agency's (WADA) list of banned substances. WADA oversees doping for international sports and publishes a prohibited list of substances and doping methods. Just like collegiate and professional athletes, any of us can check WADA's prohibited list at any time by clicking here. 

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FNX Fit has also given Spike Up Athletics our very own discount code that can be used by ANYONE, including Spike Up Athletic athletes and their families and other local middle school and high school athletes, regardless of sport. If you'd like to get some nutritional products to help with your nutritional needs and save 20% off your entire purchase, just click here to visit FNX Fit's website and be sure to check out using discount code SPIKEUP20.  

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 08  What is the cost and are there any hidden costs I need to be aware of?

 

Because we know we live in a low economic area, we want our costs to be as affordable to the community as possible, so our athlete's seasonal registration fees are based on the program in which they enroll and services offered within those programs. However, please continue to take into consideration that we are not a recreational club; we are a competitive level club, so our fees and your expected costs are reflective of our status. In other words, competitive level training and competition costs more than recreational competition because there is very little training involved due to its laid back and fun nature. 

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A.  Program Fees (paid at time of registration)

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The athlete program fee covers the cost of providing coaching and training to our athletes.

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Our fall/winter season program fees are:

• Youth: for ages 11 through 18 (must turn 11 before 12/31/25 and not turn 19 before 7/27/25) - $375 per season.

• Masters: for ages 25 plus - $305 per season. Competition opportunities will be limited and may require you to travel on your own to compete. 

 

We do not offer training to our elementary-age group kids during our fall/winter indoor season; only middle and high school aged athletes may train and compete with us during our fall/winter season. 

 

Our summer season program fees are:

• Small Spikes: for ages 6 through 10 (must turn 7 by 12/31/25 and must not turn 11 before 12/31/25) - $150 per summer season only. Small Spikes program is not available during the fall/winter season.

• Youth: for ages 11 through 18 (must turn 11 before 12/31/25 and not turn 19 before 7/27/25) - $300 per season.

• Masters: for ages 25 plus (race-walking is great for adults) - $230 per season. 

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While some other clubs in the Treasure Valley start their practices much later in the month than we do, charge upwards of $220 for a season, only practice 12 days a month, and participates in a limited number of meets (1 or 2 fall/winter season meets and 2 or 3 major summer season meets), we start our practices earlier in the month, practice 24 days a month (to include a full weightlifting and plyometric program, and explosive/reactive energy system training during the fall/winter season) and aim to participate in 3 to 5 indoor and outdoor meets depending on availability. We also offer a 10% discount per athlete living in the same home. We offer first responders, active duty or retired military, and military veteran families a 15% discount per athlete. To take advantage of these savings, click here to begin the registration process. 

 

B.  Competiton Uniform Fee (paid at time of registration; refunded at conclusion of season)

 

Youth and Master Athletes

When a youth or master athlete doesn't already own a competition uniform, a $99.50 fee is collected as a security deposit until the uniform is returned at the conclusion of the seson washed, dried, and in the condition it was issued. 

• Spike Up Athletics does have some competition uniforms to loan to youth and master athletes, which will be loaned on a first-come, first-serve basis.

• Youth and master athletes will never be required to purchase a competition uniform unless they choose to own it, all competition uniforms in the athlete's size has already been loaned, or our uniform manufacturer discontinues our uniform selection.

• When the uniform is returned, Spike Up Athletics will refund the security deposit to the person who paid the deposit. 

 

Small Spike Athletes

Spike Up Athletics does not loan competition uniforms to our small spike athletes. All competition uniform items must be purchased, to be owned, by the athlete. 

• Singlet/tank top - Spike Up Athletics will collect $25 at the time of regisration and order the singlet/tank top from our supplier. 

• Compression shorts - Parents will be required to purchase black compression shorts from a local sporting goods retailer for the athlete to compete in.  

 

​C. Travel Uniform Items

Athletes will be required to purchase travel uniform items, and these will be owned by the athlete. The cost ranges from $120 to $260 per athlete depending on whether the items are for our fall/winter or summer season. Travel uniforms are one-time cost and will therefore pay for themselves over the course of time that the athlete trains and competes with Spike Up Athletics. Once purchased our athletes will never be required to purchase another travel uniform unless they outgrown the uniform, or our uniform manufacturer discontinues our uniform selection.

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Fall/Winter Travel Uniforms (only required for youth and master athletes)

• Long-sleeve team t-shirts

• Hooded sweat shirt

• Sweat pants

• Premier Backpack (optional)

 

Summer Travel Uniforms (required for all athletes)

• Short-sleeve team t-shirts

• Shorts

• Premier Backpack (optional)

 

D. Governing Body Membership Fees

All competing athletes will be required to purchase two memberships:

 

USA Track & Field (USATF)

• USATF youth memberships are currently $30 per year (January 1 through December 31), and adult (master) memberships are $55 per year.

 

Amateur Athletic Union (AAU)

• AAU youth memberships are currently $22 per year (September 1 through August 31 of the following year), adult (master) athlete memberships are $35 per year, and adult non-athlete memberships are $57 per year. 

• Spike Up Athletics is primarily a USATF affiliated club, which means there will be seasons where the club doesn't have any AAU-sanctioned meets on its schedule. When that is the case, the athlete will not be required to purchase an AAU membership. 

 

E. Travel Related Costs (bus or van, hotel, lunch, and dinner)

Competition-associated travel costs vary and can range somewhere between $200 and $1200 or more per travel meet, per athlete, depending on where we're traveling, how long we'll be there, whether the athlete will be rooming with his/her parents or sharing a room with other athletes, whether the athlete will be traveling to/from the competition with parents or in the team bus or van, and how much the athlete will be able to earn via his/her fundraising effort.

 

Typically athletes who travel with the team (in the team bus or van and unaccompanied by parents) will evenly share bus or van rental costs, fuel costs, hotel accommodation costs, and food costs. When traveling Spike Up Athletics typically coordinates lunches and dinners for competing athletes and coaches. Please be advised, the more athletes we have who ride the team bus or in the team van and share hotel accommodations, the cheaper the shared expenses will be for all athletes/families.

 

All competition-associated travel costs will be itemized and presented to parents and athletes via our athlete pool account spreadsheet weeks prior to each scheduled meet. We are a competitive level club, so we do have an expectation that all athletes compete in all or a majority of our travel meets; otherwise, a recreational level club is probably more suited for the athlete. With that said, we also will not put pressure on any athlete or parent to travel for all scheduled competitions as each individual family's financial situation is unique; but, if the family's goal is to make the athlete a better runner, jumper, or thrower then we will emphasize that the only way to get better is via hard work and competing against top level athletes both within and outside of Idaho. So again, if traveling for competition and the expenses that comes along with travel does not fit the family's budget, a recreational level club is probably better for the athlete.     

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Athletes & parents are encouraged to organize fundraising events to help offset some costs associated with uniforms, competition fees, and travel expenses (e.g. transportation and hotel rooms). 

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 09  How many travel meets do I need to plan and budget for?

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Although Spike Up Athletics usually participates in 3 to 5 indoor and outdoor meets, typically only 1 to 3 of those meets will be travel meets, but it will vary depending on the season. Our travel meets can be as near as Boise and as far away as Spokane, WA during our fall/winter season; and as near as Boise and as far away as the east coast of the United States during the summer season. Our tentative schedule can be viewed by clicking here and then on "competition schedule."

 

Just to clarify, we don't purposefully look to the east coast or to states that are not nearby for competition, but we have no say in where USA Track & Field (USATF) and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) decides to hold our district/division and regional meets during the summer season. Again, we are very comfortable with leaving travel decisions up to each individual family. The beauty of track and field is that although it's a team sport, it's still very much an individual sport as it pertains to the events in which the athlete competes.  The only time a family's decision to not let their athlete travel to compete in a meet and have that decision negatively impact the team is when their athlete is on one of our top relay teams and that team has a realistic chance of getting on the podium at a regional or national event, which could end up being a huge disappointment to his or her relay team members if the athlete does not go. Spike Up Athletics will always be very honest with parents about their athlete and his/her relay team's chances of reaching a podium, which information will help the family make travel decisions.

 

 10  Can adults come train with Spike Up Athletics?

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Yes! We want to build a community of race-walkers, especially for those adults over 30 years old. Although it is our dream to grow our sport by getting adults in our community to participate in competitive running, jumping, and throwing events because it helps keep our community healthy, their competition opportunities may be very limited, especially during the fall/winter season. But, we highly encourage adults to be active and train with us. However, because we have young athletes on our team, we have to take precautionary measures to protect them from sexual abuse and adult misconduct. As a result, any adult who wishes to train with us will be required to obtain a USATF membership and review and sign an Adult Athlete Code of Conduct. USATF memberships costs about $55 a year for anyone over 18 years of age.