01  Where do you practice?

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Track practices are currently held at West Middle School in Nampa but could be changing to a new location for our summer 2024 season. Spike Up Athletics will be notifying current athletes & parents and posting on all of our social media if the location changes. Until then, West Middle School's address is 28 S Midland Blvd. Limited parking is available on S. Benewah Dr. and in the parking lot on the corner of S. Benewah Dr. and Lonestar Rd.

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During our season, practices are subject to change to other locations depending on our training needs. Beginning November 2023, we will partner with Mettle Sports facility for our weightlifting, plyometric, and explosive & reactive energy training for our winter season training only. Mettle is located at 3001 E Badger Dr. in Nampa. 

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 02  What days and times do you practice? 

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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 summer season is: 

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Monday thru Friday: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

Saturday: 10 am to 11:30 am

Please note that small spikes will only practice 3 days a week: Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  

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Practices for our summer season will begin on May 28, 2024. Any athlete who intends on competing with Spike Up Athletics this summer is highly encouraged to get registered as early as possible, even if currently playing a fall school or club sport. Registration begins on April 1, 2024 and will close on May 5, 2024. Any athlete who registers and decides prior to our first practice on May 28 that he/she will not compete, Spike Up Athletics guarantees a full refund of the paid program fee. To begin the registration process, click here.

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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 indoor season. 

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 03  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 complete 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 uniform ordered so that you'll have it in time for the first meet of the season. 

    

 04  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 we are not there just yet. The disciplines that we train also include race-walking for both our youth and adult athletes. The only time we will not offer training for a particular discipline is when we do not have the quantity of coaches needed to provide balanced and equal training opportunities for each discipline.  

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 05  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 indoor season. We do not offer a weightlifting program for our summer outdoor season because our summer outdoor season is not as long as our fall/winter indoor 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 indoor season to supplement our running, jumping, and throwing practices. Having a lifting program during our fall/winter indoor 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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06  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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 07  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. 

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Our summer season program fees are:

• Small Spikes: for ages 6 through 10 (must turn 7 before 12/31/24; must not turn 11 before 7/28/24) - $113 per summer season only. Small Spikes program is not available during the fall/winter indoor season.

• Youth: for ages 11 through 18 (must turn 11 before 12/31/24 and not turn 19 before 7/28/24) - $300 per season.

• Masters: for ages 25 plus (race-walking is great for adults) - $95 per season. 

 

Our fall/winter indoor season program fee is $350. 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 indoor season. 

 

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 indoor meets and 2 or 3 major summer/outdoor 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 winter/indoor 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. 

 

Spike Up Athletics currently has two seasons: a fall/winter indoor season and a summer outdoor season. The athlete program fee covers the cost of providing coaching and training to our athletes. Spike Up Athletics does have some competition uniforms to loan to athletes, which are to be cleaned and returned to Spike Up Athletics at the conclusion of each season. Competition uniforms will be loaned on a first-come, first-serve basis. When competition uniforms have been loaned already, there will be a separate one-time competition uniform cost ranging from about $25 for small spikes and about $99.50 for youth and master athletes; however, they are subject to come down in price depending on the quantity of our bulk order. Athletes will never be required to purchase a new competition uniform unless they choose to or our uniform manufacturer discontinues our uniform selection. Athletes & parents are encouraged to organized fundraising events to help offset some costs associated with uniforms, competition fees, and travel expenses (transportation and hotel rooms). 

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In addition to the competition uniform, athletes will be required to purchase additional travel uniform items such as team t-shirts, training shorts, and backpack for travel meets (and for our fall/winter indoor season long-sleeve t-shirt, a hoodie/jogger pant combo, and a backpack for travel meets). The cost of these additional items range from $180 to $260 per athlete depending on whether the items are for our summer or winter season. Again, these additional items are typically a one-time cost and will therefore pay for themselves over the course of time that the athlete trains and competes with Spike Up Athletics. Please note that we have a separate travel uniform for each of our fall/winter and summer seasons.  

 

All competing athletes will be required to purchase two memberships: a USA Track & Field (USATF) and an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). USATF youth memberships are currently $30 per year (January 1 through December 31), and adult memberships are $55 per year. AAU youth memberships are currently $22 per year (September 1 through August 31 of the following year), adult athlete memberships are $35 per year, and adult non-athlete memberships are $57 per year. 

 

There will be costs associated with travel to/from competitions that athletes will evenly share, such as bus, van & fuel costs, food, and hotel accommodation costs. All competition-associated costs will be itemized and presented to parents and athletes via our athlete pool account spreadsheet. Associated costs vary and can range somewhere between $200 and $1200 per season 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. 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. We also do not put pressure on any athlete or parent to travel for 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.  

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

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We typically have 2 to 3 travel meets, but it varies depending on the season. Our travel meets can be as near as Boise and as far away as the east coast of the United States during the summer outdoor season, and as near as Boise and as far away as Spokane, WA during our fall/winter indoor 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 outdoor 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 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.

 

 09  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 indoor 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.