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 | Published Standards - all updated for 2005 In Athletics the Amateur Athletics Association of England (AAA) has developed a series of "Common Standards" by event, age group and gender which are used as a guide to a Young Athlete's performance. They are also used to give an indication of the progression and improvement of the performance of an Athlete. The Standards are known as "Common Standards" or the "AAA's Standards" or, more commonly, as "Grades". The AAA have a system of awarding Certificates and Badges (Badges have to be purchased, whereas Certificates are free) according to these standards. Quite often, you will see advertised an "Open Graded" meeting which might indicate that the Organisers will give out Grading Certificates on request. As well as the AAA Standards, the English Schools Athletics Association (ESAA) also produce Standards tables and these can be accessed by following the link continue.... In addition, Athletics Weekly use published standards indicating two grades. The "A" Grade are performances that they will make every endeavour to publish, nearly to the point of guaranteeing so as they are an indication that the Athlete will most probably be in the top 30 Athletes in the UK for this "Age, Gender, event". The "B" grades will be published depending upon space. It is not normal to expect performances below "B" grade to be published although they often are. Athletics Weekly Grades are published in the same tables as AAA Common Standards. In addition, major Championship meetings publish entry standards as a guide to keep the quality of Athletes entering at an appropriate level. You can link to some recent examples from the top of the page.
This link will take you to the English schools standards, which, of course, you will need to know if you are competing in England: http://www.esaa.net/currentstands.html
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