JACKSONVILLE, FL - President Bill Roe, CEO Craig Masback and IAAF President Lamine Diack spoke on Wednesday evening at the Opening General Session at the 2005 USATF Annual Meeting in Jacksonville, Florida.

Celebrating a theme of "Our Time," the 2005 Annual Meeting brings together more than 1,000 of the sport's officials, coaches, administrators, athletes and supporters, who come together to chart the future of the sport.

During his address, Roe unveiled USATF's new Mission Statement and Purposes.

Mission:

To lead the sport of Athletics in the United States and maintain the primacy of USA Track and Field in global athletics.

Purposes:

1) Champion the rights, privileges, opportunities, and well being of athletes throughout our sport;

2) Achieve the sustained excellence of our professional athletes and their coaches;

3) Promote and practice diversity in all aspects of our operations;

4) Eliminate performance enhancing drug use in Athletics;

5) Develop interest and participation in the sport of Athletics at all levels and ages;

6) Generate public awareness, appreciation, and support for Athletics and for USATF;

7) Create opportunities for athletes and Athletics events; and

8) Generate sponsorships to aid this corporation in fulfilling its purposes and duties.

Roe also encouraged his audience to contribute to the leadership of the sport in the U.S. "Leadership is essential to our movement forward as a sport and an organization," said Roe. "I know many of you are leaders at your local level. The key is being a leader, not what level you operate at. Leadership is a skill, and a good leader can be a leader in almost any environment. By being here, most of you are leaders in some manner. As our leadership initiatives grow, through our Diversity and Leadership Committee, we need you to step forward and share your leadership with us."

State of the Sport

During his annual State of the Sport address, Masback emphasized the Annual Meeting theme, "Our Time." "It's Our Time to celebrate that our financial challenges are behind us and we've begun to rebuild our investment fund," said Masback.

"It's Our Time to celebrate our champion athletes of all ages who made us proud in 2005 and will have a big year ahead in 2006.

"Most importantly, this is Our Time to begin to operate like the organization we want to be, not the organization we have to be in response to one crisis or another."

Masback noted that USATF flourished in many areas in 2005, pointing out that Team USA athletes achieved record medal totals at multiple championship events, and that the organization's inaugural Visa Championship Series of network televised track and field events was the organization's best TV series ever in a post-Olympic year. He also mentioned that USATF's highly successful "Be A Champion" program has given elite athletes a vehicle to demonstrate their "unparalleled commitment to the community."

"This is the time for us to seize the time to revolutionize our sport by remaking our organization, refocusing our mission and marshalling our resources as never before," said Masback. To that end, Masback put forth the following objectives for the coming year.

1. "In the year ahead, we will build the USATF brand by promoting the sport and its stars. I will be working with our marketing department and Sandra Farmer Patrick to create a bigger and better Visa Championship Series with a more significant, more promotable payoff at the end for our athletes."

2. "In the year ahead, we will identify and support the stars of the future. It is time to take our high performance development efforts to a new level by creating a strategic plan for every event, holding ourselves accountable for how well we are serving our athletes and finding new sources of funding for critical high performance programs."

3. "In the year ahead, we will promote excellence in coaching. Our new relationships with Connor Sport Court and Gill will allow us to take our Coaching Education Program, already the world's best, to a whole new level.

4. In the year ahead, we will grow USATF resources. Out progress in 2005 was remarkable for a post-Olympic year and 2006 promises to be even bigger...and better.

5. "We will promote youth fitness and physical education. We have pledged to support the continued expansion of the "Be A Champion" program, which is already recognized as a leader in the youth fitness and anti-obesity effort in America. Our role in the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, gives us an immediate opportunity to influence federal legislation and work with other organizations on the fitness issue.

6. "In looking at the year ahead, we will continue to do the right thing with respect to the issue of performance enhancing drugs in sports. The Board had an enlightening presentation from USADA earlier today and we will continue to work with USADA and the IAAF to remain a leader in this area.

7. "Finally, in looking ahead to 2006, we will redouble our efforts, started one year ago, to strengthen our relationships with the IAAF, the USOC, the school and college community and the Indianapolis community.

Diack praises USATF success

In his second appearance at a USATF Annual Meeting, IAAF President Lamine Diack, who attended the 1999 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, spoke at the Opening Session.

"I would like to take this opportunity to personally congratulate you all on the excellent work you have done to make track and field a thriving sport in the USA," said Diack. "In other visits to this country, I have been able to see with my own eyes that this country has an excellent system for discovering and encouraging young athletes, and that the U.S. high school and colleges offer a tough competitive environment, which encourages world class talent to emerge. As we could all see in Helsinki earlier this year - a great new generation of U.S. athletes have now become world stars.

"As President of the IAAF, rest assured that I share your delight in the achievements of American athletes, because the future of the sport depends, primarily, on this essential human resource."

"Finally, I would also like to pay a special tribute to your CEO Craig Masback, who has worked very hard to raise sponsor revenues to record levels, and to create competition circuits which are now attracting record numbers of TV viewers."

2005 President's Award Winners

USATF President Bill Roe honored 12 USATF contributors with President's Awards during Wednesday night's 2004 Annual Meeting Opening Session. Below are the honorees.

Reggie Lewis Track & Field Center in Boston, Massachusetts - Host of the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships and the annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games.

Winnie Eggers - Track & field official.

Alan Kolling - Law & Legislation Committee member.

Vince Peters - athlete, youth and race walk coach, official, USATF Board member and committee leader.

Jo Ann Grissom - Two-time Olympian, masters athlete, track & field official, member of national team staffs, high school coach.

Larry and Nancy Siefert - Youth Athletics advocates.

Dr. Norbert Sander - President, New Balance Track & Field Center in New York City.

The Colgate Women's Games - The nation's largest amateur track series open to all girls from elementary school through college. The event is held annually at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. Finalists compete for trophies and educational grants-in-aid from Colgate-Palmolive Company at New York's Madison Square Garden in February.

Elizabeth Phillips - USATF Women's Long Distance Running Chair.

Erica Baxter - Youth Athletics, USATF Associations and cultural exchange advocate, and event organizer.

Cedric Walker - USATF High Performance Division Manager, member of USATF Niagara Association, member of National Team staffs.

Fred Finke - USATF Long Distance Running Chair, event organizer.

For more information on the 2005 USATF Annual Meeting, visit www.usatf.org.