About the Flyers
Founded in 1976 by local track coaching legend Bob McCarter, the Thousand Oaks Flyers Youth Track Club provides a safe competitive environment for the Conejo Valley’s young athletes.
Each child benefits from a strong tradition of dedication, hard work, and the uncompromising belief in every child’s need for a positive self-image. We want our children to have fun and accomplish his or her personal best.
Our Club teaches the basic and advanced skills needed for all youth appropriate Track & Field events. While doing so, we stress the importance of commitment; anything worthwhile demands time and devotion.
Not only will our athletes walk away with confidence and great memories, but also with the knowledge they were able to accomplish their personal best!
The Club has a rich legacy of feeding very proficient youth athletes into Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Oaks Christian and La Reina High Schools. Many of the Club’s alumni have progressed into very successful high school and college track experiences.
The annual track season membership of the Club is approximately 275 children which is the maximum allowed by our governing conference. It is not uncommon for the Club to have a waitlist of 20-30 children at the beginning of each season.
The Club competes in the Ventura County Youth Track Conference which is comprised of nine youth track programs from Ojai, Ventura, Oxnard, Fillmore, Camarillo, Newbury Park, Moorpark, Westlake and Thousand Oaks. The total youth athlete membership of the VCYTC is approximately 1,700 children.
During most seasons the Club will participate in 3 or 4 away meets and will host 3 to 4 home meets. In some seasons the Club may also host the Junior Varsity Finals or the Varsity Finals.
Through the efforts of the Club’s board of directors the VCYTC has established a cooperative relationship with the 8 member clubs of the Southern California Youth Track & Field Conference. The SCYTFC serves approximately 2,300 youth athletes from Simi Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and the San Fernando Valley.
Through this relationship the VCYTC and SCYTFC host a dual conference open meet each April at Moorpark High School. This past season more than 2,000 youth athletes participated in the two day event.
At the conclusion of each season both conferences run respective Varsity Finals events which serve as qualifiers for the jointly run Co-Conference Championship. Many of the athletic performances which occur at the CCC are considered elite on a national level.
During 2011 more than 40 youth athletes from the VCYTC and SCYTFC which competed in the Co-Conference Championship moved on to qualify for and participate in the Junior Olympics.
The Thousand Oaks Flyers Track Club is an all volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
League History
By Larry Olsen, League Historian (May, 2006)
This Ventura County track competition league traces its origins to 1976. Prior to that time there was competition among grade schools and Jr. High Schools in the county, but teams were first formed and a competition schedule conducted in 1976. The clubs were: Newbury Park, Moorpark (called SECO), Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura, and Ojai. The Ventura YMCA was the sponsoring agency. The first record of Varsity Finals is from 1978 held at Newbury Park H.S.
Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks split into two clubs for the 1979 season. Fillmore was added in 1984. Santa Paula was added in 1986. Rio Mesa competed as an associated (not a full member) club from 1993 until 2003. Santa Barbara was an associated club from 1999 until 2006.
The league has continually evolved. The original Bantam Age group was the same as our current Midget Age group. The Bantams were originally called “Mighty Mights.” In 1981 the age groups were re-named to match up with the National age group track and field governing body, TAC. In 1996 and 97 we had a “Tadpole” age group with boys and girls age five and younger (age group below the Gremlins.) Tadpoles were discontinued in 1998. In 1983 all yard races were changed to metric distances. This was not a significant change for all distances except for the change between 100 yards and 100 meters. That was a 10% change in distance. Triple jump was added for the older girls in 1983 and in 1990 all triple jump events were eliminated. Also in 1990 we began measuring all field events in metric. This was changed back to feet and inches in 2004. Hurdles have changed in distance, height, and spacing several times. Hurdles for Midgets were added in 1995. Spacing for all age groups was changed again in 2004 to match USATF (the national age group track and field governing body that replaced TAC.) Over the years High Schools in the county began to put in all-weather tracks. The first was at Rio Mesa H.S. and the league held all of its Varsity finals meets at that facility for several years in the 1990’s. All-weather tracks are now available at most High Schools.
In 1990 the league incorporated as a 501 c(3) organization and left the YMCA. At that time we also formed the Ventura County Condors as a separate team for all league athletes to compete in national and international competition under USATF. All members of the governing boards of the league and member clubs are volunteers putting in thousands of hours over the years. Hundreds of men and women have served in this organization and quality personnel are continually rotating through as their children join, age, and go on to high school. This league has been a valuable asset to the area.
During our history, we have had several athletes win national championships and set national records in individual and team competitions. Many of our athletes compete for the area high schools and gone on to college competition in Track and Field and in other sports. We have had two alumni athletes who have competed in the Olympics.