local and national provision of sport athletics

Research and write about the local and national provision for your preferred sport

In December 2006, UK:Athletics released its annual report outlining targets for 2007, among of which was to treble the participation in grassroots Athletics by 2012. However, is this a realistic objective? Traditionally, Athletics has had a large following, though the rise in popularity of sports such as Football, Rugby, Tennis etc, has resulted in a reduced interest in Athletics. With the London Olympics approaching, it is the job of the National Governing Bodies (NGB’s) to revitalize the sport, and raise the profile of Athletics once more.

The first challenge for the sports leading NGB, UK:Athletics, is to increase participation at grassroots level. Steps were taken to address this issue in early April of this year, when Norwich union, the leading sponsor, extended it’s commitment to UK:Athletics until 2012, in a deal worth nearly £50m. It is estimated that as a result of this increased investment, over 10 million children will be involved in various grassroots schemes by 2012. This deal will also allow investment in training for over 100,000 teachers in over 5,000 secondary and 20,000 primary schools, through the installment of a new teaching resource - ‘Elevating Athletics’. This new resource, coupled with an extensive teacher training program will further contribute to the Government’s vision of delivering more high quality athletics to schoolchildren. This initiative is also hoped to strengthen links between local clubs and schools, which is a fundamental factor in raising grassroot participation.

Current UK:Athletics grassroots schemes – shine:awards, star:track and sports:hall, all of which were acknowledged as being an integral part of the 11% rise in grassroot athletics participation in 2005, will all be developed and extended to reach even more youngsters across Britain in the coming years.

Once the Grassroot schemes are in place, the talented athlete must be provided with effective pathways to furthering their athletics careers. Figure 1 illustrates the basic pathway to junior international selection. There are many schemes currently set to be developed, to then take these junior international athletes to a world level. Firstly, as part of the UK:Athletics restructure during 2006, five Event Management Groups (EMG) have been put in place to control a significant budget and directly manage Athletes and Coaches who are performing at a prescribed level. This helps to offer elite performers direction and finical support.

A second scheme that has been set up was the appointment of four athlete mentors to assist current senior and junior athletes in their long term preparation for major championships and their lives as professional athletes. The appointment of the four mentors, Daley Thompson, Linford Christie, Steve Backley and Katharine Merry, is an integral part of the overall Performance vision of UK:Athletics and will help potential international athletes to gain the experience needed to compete at a world level.

In April 2006, The World Class Development programme was put in place. The programme caters for athletes who are within three to six years of reaching a World or Olympic podium. Athletes deemed closer to podium are normally funded at ‘A’ level. ‘B’ and ‘C’ level funding is issued to athletes 5 to 6 years from the podium. This funding allows athletes the finical support needed to compete on the world stage.

Besides UK:Athletics, there are numerous other NGB’s that help govern athletics. The English Schools Athletics Association (ESAA), works with UK:Athletics to promote the enjoyment of athletics in schools, and grassroot athletics. It achieves this by organising some of the premier events in the Country, and by running an award scheme for school pupils of all ages.

England Athletics, previously called the Amateur Athletics Association, governs athletics in England alone, as oppose to the UK. Its 2007 ‘mission statement’ is ‘To increase the capacity of the sport and improve performance in every event at every age group and in every region.’ England athletics receives the majority of its funding from sport England. Sport England recently provided more than £670,000 for a programme designed to get more people active and promote athletics at community and school level (grassroots). The funding was used to improve eight athletics facilities across England, under the Community Athletics Refurbishment Programme (CARP). This sum represents the ...

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The new Active People survey - released on the 7th December 2006 by Sport England - showed that only one in ten women (9%) take part in competitive sport, compared to one in five men (22%). However, Athletics is not reflective of this national trend. According to the UK:Athletics 2006 annual report, only 2.3% more males compete in athletics. Men and women are given the same recognition and are seen as equally successful. Indeed, the women’s GB team has been significantly more successfully over the past 4 years at the European and World Cross-country championships. Such role models as Paula Radcliffe, Sally Gunnell and Donna Frasier have been able to inspire young female athletes to get involved in the sport.

In 2006 Athletics as a sport had the largest participation of paraplegic sportspeople in grassroot activities; almost 13% more disabled people participated in athletics than wheelchair basketball this year. This was as a result of a £16million investment from Disability Sport England that helped put in pace several regional centres that specialized in catering for disabled sportspeople, including the Picketts Lock athletics stadium. The investment in grassroots disabled athletics was a necessary requirement, given that the British Paralympics team in Sydney 2000 was 38.

Norwich Union, through its partnership with WheelPower, is also funding a series of events throughout the UK to engage children in grassroots wheelchair sport, including athletics.

In 2007, Ian Brittain, manager of the UK Athletics disability sub group, stated that he intends to allow the 22 part time disabled athletics development officers become full-time employees, and create full-time Disability Athletics development officer position in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.’ These changes will help build upon the Paralympics success in 2004, where the British team finished second in the medals table to USA.

To conclude, it is clear that the prospect of hosting the Olympic Games in six years time has increased the funding and support of athletics, which can then be invested in grassroots athletics, facilities and the development of pathways for talented athletes to reach the top. However, the main criticism of the current system is that it fails to offer sufficient support to athletes finishing their education, and are considering professions. Money has to be in place to allow these athletes to become professional sportspeople. The reality is, however, that it is financially impossible to become a professional athlete with the funding provided by sports England alone.

However, UK:Athletics must be praised for the increase over the past two years in participation in athletics and both grassroots and elite level.

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Appendix

Event Management Groups

As part of UKA’s commitment to support of the Athlete Pathway, five Event Management Groups (EMG) were set up as part of the re-structure during 2005.

In this section you can find out about:

who is on each EMG
what an EMG does
the Event Group Winter Programmes for 2006/07

The following is a brief summary of EMG structure. Please click the link where appropriate.

There are 3 full time Senior Coordinators in place to support the EMG’s, they are:

(Field and Combined Events)
(Endurance)
(Sprints and Hurdles)

The EMG’s are in place to ensure that the event they manage has a clearly defined and effectively supported Athlete Pathway. Each group has a Chair and also comprises UK Event Coaches and representation from competition providers, ex athletes, with additional members being dependant on the specific event. The respective Senior Performance Manager from the World Class team also sit on the groups.

Each EMG controls a significant budget and directly manages Athletes and Coaches who are performing at a prescribed level.

In consultation with Celtic Nations and English Regions the EMG then agrees and supports the next tier with a parallel programme. For detail of who to talk to in your area, see the list.

World Class Development programme

The World Class Development programme caters for athletes who are within three to six years of reaching a World or Olympic podium. Athletes deemed closer to podium are normally funded at D level. E and F levels support athletes 5 to 6 years from the podium, already proven individuals currently recovering from injury, and previously successful athletes who show the potential to regain World Class levels of performance. Again for Disability athletes the criteria are tighter, and athletes have to be within four years of reaching the podium to be funded at this level. As of April 2006 this became a UK wide programme, as has always been the case with the Podium programme, and hence athletes will be matched against their counterparts across all of the home countries.

Current Grassroots schmes

Grassroots Athletics

Norwich Union shine:awards

The core platform from which athletics is introduced to children at school. The nationwide awards scheme for 3-18 year-olds measures their athletics progress in a variety of skills and disciplines

Norwich Union star:track

8-15 year olds of all abilities receive expert athletics coaching from trained coaches and can try events that they would not normally have a chance to – eg pole-vaulting, discuss and javelin
This will be enhanced to maximise participants and events

Norwich Union sports:hall

The pinnacle of the Grassroots schemes that allows for competitive indoor team athletics for U11s, U13s and U15s. Festivals take place from November, Regional Finals from January to March, whilst the National Final is held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham

Elevating Athletics with Norwich Union

National curriculum resource for schools aimed to increase interest in the sport of athletics as well as encourage literacy and numeracy
Extensive teacher training programme to engage over 100,000 teachers from 20,000 Primary Schools and 5,000 Secondary Schools to ensure quality and uniform coaching of athletics in schools

Athletics in the Community

Norwich Union Athletics Festivals

Free athletics festivals to be run in the host cities of five of the seven Norwich Union televised events to engage local schools and the community in athletics

Get Britain’s Kids Active

An initiative to encourage teachers and parents to work together to help their children and pupils get more active.

World Class talent programme

UK Athletics has announced a list of 77 young athletes who will receive lottery support as part of the World Class Talent Programme.

The list includes 15 athletes who competed at Beijing in the World Junior Championships in August, and aims to support those on the first rung of the World Class Pathway.

However Dave Collins, UK Athletics Performance Director, reflected on how the athletes who feature on the Talent list had to demonstrate more than just good performance levels during the athlete review process:

“There are some great performers on this list, but much more important at this age is that they demonstrate the potential to further develop towards senior success.

“The five rings model aims to produce those stars of the future by looking carefully and identifying those athletes with all the facets required to move up the World Class Pathway. At this age it is essential to see those five rings (movement skills, technical and tactical, psycho behavioural skills, lifestyle and support and physical conditioning) in place as these are the athletes that are supported with a long-term view.”

Dave Collins and other performance staff from UK Athletics will be introducing these athletes to the programme at an induction weekend that takes place at Loughborough this Saturday and Sunday 28-29th October.

Athletes:

Julian Adeniran, 18, 110mH
Ed Aston, 18, 800m
Daniel Awde, 18, Decathlon
Mike Baker, 16, 400mH
Nick Ball, 18, 10k Walk
Myles Barrett, 19, 800m
James Bedford, 17, Hammer
Meghan Beesley, 16, 300mH
Jo Blair, 20, Javelin
Dominique Blaize, 19, Combined Events
Louise Bloor, 21, Long Jump
James   Brewer, 18, 800m
Louise Butterworth, 20, Pole Vault
Chris Clarke, 16        200m/400m
Mike Cole, 17, 800m
Jessica Coulson, 16, 1500m
Neil Crossley, 18, Decathlon
Robert Davis, 17, 400m
Joey Duck, 17, 100/200m/400m
Hannah England, 19,1500m
Luke Fagan, 18, 100m/200m
Kieran Flannery, 19, 800m
Eden Francis, 17, Shot
Kris Gauson, 18, 1500m
Laura Gillhespy, 17, 400m
Ben Green, 20, 800m
Darren Hammond, 17, HJ
Joanne Harvey, 17, 800m/1500m
Stuart Harvey, 19, Javelin
Jos Hopeson, 18, Sprints
Simon   Horsfield, 16, 3000m
Joe Ive, 19, Pole Vault
Hayley Jones, 18, 100m/200m/400m
Laura Kenney, 21, 5000m
Richard Kilty, 17, 100m / 200m
Chris Kirk, 21, Long Jump
Adele Lassu, 17, High Jump
Jessica Leach, 19, High Jump
Alison Leonard, 19, 800m
Hannah Lewis, 16, Long Jump
Claire, Linskill, 18, Triple Jump
Iain Macdonald, 19, 400mH
Andrew Marsh, 16, Pole Vault
Susan McKelvie, 21, Hammer
James McLean, 15, 100mH
Oliver, McNeillis, 18, Long Jump
Simon Merrill, 16, Sprint Hurdles
Rebecca Mersh, 17, Walk 10k
Ross Millington, 17, 1500m
Mark Mitchell, 18, 800m
Gemma Nicol, 20, 400m
Phil Norman, 17, Steeplechase
Elaine O'Neil, 17, 100/200m
Elliot O'Neill, 21, Triple Jump
Emma Pallant, 17, 1500m
Asha Phillip, 16, Sprints
Rion Pierre, 18, Sprints
Carolyn Plateau, 18, 800m
Charlie Purdue, 15, 3000m/5000m
Lewis Robson, 18, Decathlon
Jazmine Rowe, 17, 100m/200m
Ryan Scott, 19, 100m
Ruth Senior, 18, 3000m s/c
Perri Shakes Drayton, 17, 400mH
Emily Shaw, 17, 200m
Peter Smith, 16, Hammer
Olufunmi Sobodu, 16, 100m/200m
Serita Solomon, 16, Sprints
Guy Stroud, 18, Decathlon
Toby Ulm, 18, 400mH
Ben Wears, 16, Race Walk
Gemma Weetman, 19, Heptathlon
Michael Wheeler, 15, Shot
Laura   Whittingham, 20, Javelin
Jamie Williamson, 19, Shot
Nathan Woodward, 17, 400mH
Leevan Yearwood, 18, 100m

Athlete Mentors

DALEY THOMPSON, LINFORD CHRISTIE, STEVE BACKLEY AND KATHARINE MERRY TO MENTOR ATHLETES ON PATH TO GLORY

UK Athletics has appointed four athlete mentors to assist current senior and junior athletes in their long term preparations for major championships and their lives as professional athletes.

Double Olympic Champion Daley Thompson and Olympic Bronze Medallist Katharine Merry will work with Britain’s junior talent, whilst Olympic 100m Champion Linford Christie and Olympic Silver Medallist Steve Backley will work primarily in a coaching support capacity for senior athletes.

The appointment of the four mentors is an integral part of the overall Performance vision of UK Athletics and is funded as a result of Norwich Union’s £50 million commitment to athletics until 2012.

Each will be passing on their extensive experience to Britain’s most talented athletes to help the Norwich Union GB & NI Team at all levels achieve the long term goals of improving performances and medal tallies at major championships.

Both Christie and Backley will travel to Gothenburg to observe the senior Norwich Union GB & NI Team in action, whilst Merry will accompany the junior team to Beijing.

Dave Collins, Performance Director of UK Athletics comments: “We have chosen these four athletes as they have demonstrated the commitment required for their respective roles and have tremendous track records as athletes in their own right. They each have much to offer the sport of athletics and they have the instant respect of our senior and junior athletes.

“This is the first of the major changes announced as a result of our increased funding package from Norwich Union and we may introduce further mentors as time progresses. We are looking forward to working with all four to help ensure our teams are prepared both physically and mentally for the challenges ahead.”

Olympic Gold Medallist Darren Campbell, who will be competing at the European Championships, will also fly out to Beijing as an ambassador for UK Athletics to observe and learn how the mentors will operate. He said: “This is fantastic news for British athletics. I’ve been incredibly fortunate throughout my career to not only have Linford as my coach, but also as my mentor. My success on the track is testament to his ability as much as mine and I’m pleased that other athletes will have access to the same knowledge and experience that all four mentors have to offer.

Tanya Veingard, Head of Sponsorship and CSR for Norwich Union said, “We are delighted to support the mentors and have seen first hand what a difference a mentor can make with our work with Kelly Holmes’ ‘On Camp with Kelly’ initiative. Two of the girls involved have already made the Norwich Union GB Team for Beijing and we will be watching them closely. Now, with Daley, Linford, Steve and Katharine, other athletes both senior and junior will have access to some of the most inspirational, motivational and iconic athletes Britain has produced.”

The Mentors

Linford Christie said: “It’s great that Norwich Union and UK Athletics have recognised the positive impact that mentors can have and I am looking forward to working with some existing athlete/coach partnerships to help athletes prepare mentally for the international stage. There is a lot of talent in this country and sometimes it is something as simple as self belief that is missing.”

Steve Backley added: “There are many former athletes like myself, Linford, Daley and Katharine who have a great deal to offer the sport. Since my retirement from competition, I’ve been developing as a coach and want to be able to help give the team as much of a competitive advantage as possible. If I can help in any way by improving the performance of individual athletes then we’ll all benefit.”

Daley Thompson is also looking forward to his role with the juniors, “There are some great kids out there with plenty of talent, what I want to offer them is an insight into how to become a more professional athlete. I hope that I can pass on to them some of the experience I have and instil in them a more competitive attitude in the build up to future championships – be it the Commonwealth Games in Delhi or London 2012.”

Katharine Merry said: “I’m really looking forward to seeing the juniors in action in Beijing. Not only will it be a fantastic experience for them, but it will also show them what to expect in a major championship. I will be looking closely at all of them and identifying ways in which I can help bring my experiences to bear.”