School and Youth – The driving force of the Athletics World Plan
“I believe that my greatest legacy would be to know that I have placed the sport of athletics back where it deserves to be – at the heart of society – and as a key tool in the education, health and fitness of young people all over the world.
Kid's athletics in Senegal ©IAAF.org
Monte Carlo - When talking about the IAAF Athletics World Plan, which was set up in 2003 to provide strategic impetus in all aspects of athletics’ development, President Lamine Diack always underlines the vital importance of creating a thriving and dynamic school and youth programme that ensures that athletics is not just left to clubs but returns to education systems as well.
“I believe that my greatest legacy would be to know that I have placed the sport of athletics back where it deserves to be – at the heart of society – and as a key tool in the education, health and fitness of young people all over the world. And by this, we are not only looking at primary schools, where our well established Kids Athletics programme is reaching the under 12s – but crucially, the 13-15 age group. If we can hang on to youngsters of this age group, then we really are building the athletic adults of the future, which benefits athletics, sport in general and society as a whole.
But as well as that, school and youth initiatives work at all levels – it is not just the IAAF working centrally, because we have great initiatives also from our Area Associations, our Member Federations and real interest from national authorities as well. For his reason in particular, the School and Youth project symbolises what the IAAF Athletics World Plan stands for,” said President Diack.
At Loughborough University, one of the world’s most famous sport universities and an IAAF Academy, the IAAF has just completed a pilot course to finalise a new IAAF Youth Academy Coach qualification with a number of top experts in the field of youth sport. The first full course is scheduled to take place in July 2010 in Nairobi, just prior to the African Athletics Championships.
The aim is not just to create specialised coaches but to develop officials who can manage the structures that will ensure that adolescents get the best opportunities to take up athletics and to stay in the sport. The IAAF is looking to create a new group of international experts by creating the skill sets and templates to allow them to manage the development of athletes in a vital age group – 13-15 – which research shows often drift away from our sport.
The IAAF has discussed and examined a number of factors related to coaching and developing this specialist age group – for example, how to manage individual growth and maturity when developing sport? How to create a talent identification system, such as already exists in football? How to develop resistance and endurance training? What are the social relations between coaches, athletes and parents? How should endurance training be adapted to adolescents?
IAAF Member Services Director, Elio Locatelli, who was chairing the workshop said: “We are starting to have real success in seeding our Kids Athletics programmes for primary school kids, throughout the world, often in association with education systems which means that the effects are going to be long lasting. But we don’t want all these kids who enjoy Kids Athletics at a young age to then drop out when they reach adolescence. The 13 to 15 year old age group is vital, although there are obviously big differences between a 13 and a 15 year old, which is why our system is flexible and allows us to select, and prepare athletes gradually, depending on their own physical maturity. Our aim is to have as many 15 year olds not only staying in the sport but with an excellent all-round athletic ability. In other words, they should be “ready to train” by that age and be on the right road to begin specialising in different events in time for the IAAF’s first age group competition which is the World Youth and open to 16-17 year olds.”
The competition system which is being currently studied for 13 year olds will continue to ensure that ALL the event groups are covered in a team competition, but it will not be overly complicated so that it works easily in developing as well as developed countries. The aim is to have sprints and hurdles (ranging from 60 – 200m) middle and long distance (max of 2000m and including a race walk), jumps and throws.
“There are a couple of crucial points in our plan. First of all, as well as the competitions themselves, what is important is to have a series of tests, which allow us then to monitor the progress of the youngsters but also to note whether they are early, normal or late developers, as this is the fair way to measure the performances.
“As well as this, it is important to note that the 13-15 age group competitions will, as is the case with Kids Athletics, have a fairly simple but comprehensive set of specialist equipment. Special throwing implements, hurdles etc. This is important as it makes the youngsters feel that they have special treatment and someone developed only for them.”
In the world of Kids Athletics, one of the goals for 2010 and beyond are to insist on a direct partnership approach with institutions that can see the benefit of athletics as a core sport and a way to encourage health and fitness. In efforts to introduce kids athletics as widely as possible, the most recent initiative took place in Dakar, Senegal, where the Mayor of the City has joined forces with the IAAF to introduce Kids Athletics at primary schools throughout the city. Abdelmalek El Hebil, responsible for School and Youth initiatives at the IAAF, supervised the first 3 day training course with 30 school PE teachers on 22 January 2010. “We need to exploit the multiplier effect because the people we train here will then be in a position to train others and we can build up large numbers of competent instructors,” said El Hebil. “Kids Athletics aims to make the sport fun and relevant to the young age group – competing with friends in a team, which is something that is appealing to kids. The appeal of traditional athletics to allow the achievement of set goals through lonely commitment is daunting for youngsters today, so you need to find other ways to get them interested.”
The IAAF’s Regional Development Centres are also used for this purpose, since each one of the IAAF RDCs have at least one set of IAAF Kids Athletics kits (containing the specialist equipment needed for KA competitions).
- IAAF Kids Athletics Kits have been sent out to every IAAF RDC but also to 67 IAAF member federations including, Algeria, Botswana, Iceland, South Africa, Gambia, Ghana, Norway, Nigeria, St Kitts and Nevis, Kenya, Puerto Rico, Seychelles, Netherlands Antilles, Venezuela, Cuba, Estonia, Mali, Cape Verde, Fiji, Lebanon, Nepal and Kiribati, Benin, Liberia and Malta, Cote D’Ivoire and Mauritania.
- IAAF Kids Athletics programmes are now part of education programmes in 14 countries including Spain, Ukraine, China, Italy, Iceland, Pakistan, Egypt and Mauritius. In addition, 23 member federations have committed to a pilot project to implement Kids Athletics in 10 schools inside their countries …
- IAAF Member Federations have started their own initiatives linked to Kids’ Athletics in 22 countries, including Korea, Japan, Australia, Greece, Hungary Oman, Tajikistan, Algeria, Kyrgyz Republic, Mexico, Malaysia and Niger …
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