Training site for 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles becomes only second facility in United States to install specialized timing system, hoping to become desired destination for elite athletes to practice in preparation for 2020 Olympics

By Alex Valladares for DyeStat

The Scott King Track and Field venue inside Birmingham High’s Rick Prizant Stadium has provided a training destination for the past half-century for elite athletes in Southern California ranging from aspiring Olympians to NFL players.

Now, the facility on the Lake Balboa campus in the San Fernando Valley is stepping further into the 21st century by adding a new training feature to its polyurethane track.

SCOTT KING ON BIRMINGHAM BEING A TRAINING DESTINATION WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY

Birmingham has become the first high school and just the second facility in the country to have installed the Rekortan SmarTrack timing system, which consists of magnetic rods that have been installed inside the track and can transmit data at intervals of zero, five, 10, 50 and 100 meters in lane five and at every 100 meters in lane one when the athletes pass through the magnetic gates.

Cheney Stadium in Georgia, the training site for the Atlanta Track Club, is the only other facility in the United States to have this system installed in 2017, with 75 additional locations located throughout Europe.

In addition to sprints, the system can be used to compile data for the long jump, triple jump and hurdles. Along with measuring intervals of speed and distance, the system can also provide data on step length, step frequency, tapping frequency and jump height, with no limit to the number of athletes who can be training at the same time.

A USB-like chip containing a high-tech sensor is worn by the athletes on a waist belt, which is then plugged into a computer, where it can be analyzed on the SmarTrack Diagnostic software. The data, which can also be downloaded via the SmarTracks Athletic App (currently only available for android phones), can also be converted to an excel spreadsheet that shows time, intervals, miles per hour and splits.

“We wanted to be ahead as far as technology is concerned,” said Scott King, the former Birmingham cross country and track and field coach.

“This is something that is just being introduced. We’re the second track in the United States to have one. We’re the first school, including colleges, to have one. At least at this time, we’re a little bit ahead of the game in the technology aspect.”

At the demonstration held Tuesday morning at Birmingham, Calabasas CA junior Bella Witt and Birmingham junior Cassia Ramelb each ran 100 meters, as well as 400 meters.

Their respective data was then projected on a large screen in the gym to several coaches and administrators who attended the event.

“It’s not the type of thing that’s really for everybody,” King said. “Right now, it would be mainly for your elite athletes. It’s something for them to use, especially with the Olympics next year.”

In 1983, Birmingham was a popular training site for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games and also hosts several track and field meets ranging from youth to post-collegiate throughout the year. The venue has been a frequent site for the L.A. City Section prelims and finals, along with the annual San Fernando Rotary Club meet.

Birmingham will soon be joined by several California high schools in the Inland Empire to have this technology available as Los Osos, Colony, Chaffey and Paloma Valley will have it installed in their respective tracks in the near future.

“Over the years, we’ve had elite athletes practice at Birmingham,” King said.  “With the Olympics coming up, they’re going to need some place locally to train. I’m hoping next year it will be used by a lot of athletes as far as Olympians are concerned.”