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DyeStat Mexico
How ASCOPA works
by David Rojeck
Athletic Director
American School
Mexico City
ASCOPA is an organization which stands for ASociacion de COlegios Particulares. This is the second year that we are holding an ongoing track league for iinterested schools. As you can see by the results, we have five age groups running from 4th - 12th grade. Each year we have two seasons, running one each, both semesters. This is a new concept for schools in Mexico. Several schools host 1-2 day grand events where many schools attend, but this is the first school league to host 5-6 qualifying meets before what is called the Grand Final, where the top eight scores from the qualifying meets advance to this final. Most of the schools don't have their own tracks, so they use whatever space they have, and, of course, use the qualifying meets as practices, also. Certainly, they do not have the chance to practice every day.
Yet, track and field on the club and amateur level is quite a big deal. You may know of the Mexican lady that won the NYC Marathon this year. Parents and coaches want our school league to succeed, it will just take some time. Also, the coaches from the other schools don't receive much pay from their schools and sometimes they are working at more than one school.
Since the American School attempts to run an American style system, we have tried to take it upon ourselves to start up the league using our track and the Meet Manager program. As long as we stay the course, I'm sure scores will continue to improve and the league will gain in prestige. Maybe you can preface our league as a "start up league". Certainly, as we teach our member schools to look at your web site, and they begin to compare our times with the others listed, this can only be good for school track in Mexico in terms of motivation and inspiration. John, you can give a boost to Mexican track and we would be very happy if you decided to do so.
As an aside, legend has it that Bob Beamon practiced in the American School's long jump pit leading up to his shattering jump in the '68 Mexico City Olyimpics.
We have five age groups:
Infantil Menor: Born in 88-89
Infantil Mayor: Born in 86-87
Juvenil Menor: Born in 84-85
Juvenil Mayor: Born in 82-83
Juvenil Especial: Born in 80-81
The schools in the league are: The American School, Peterson, Vallarta, Vista Hermosa, Atoyac, Westhill and Regina schools. Other schools will be added in the future. Yes, Colegio means "school".
I am the American School Athletic Director, but we have three track coaches. We have 2,400 students in grades K-12. Our school is 113 years old, the oldest American School of its kind in the entire world. Currently, we have about 65% Mexicans, 25% Americans and the rest are foreigners of other countries around the world. Mexico City is at least one of the three largest cities in the world. It has a temperate climate at 7,300 feet, another reason Bob Beamon set his record in the thin air.
From David Rojeck rojeck@www.asf.edu.mx
