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With the greatest sporting event on earth about to be held in London, England Athletics is working to make the most of this once in a lifetime event and build a lasting legacy for London. This involves working on a number of projects that help clubs, volunteers, and athletes to make the most from this unique opportunity.

An event on this scale impacts the whole country and many of the projects England Athletics, clubs, coaches and volunteers are involved in are therefore being rolled out nationwide. Other opportunities are very specific to London and England Athletics is therefore working in partnership with other organisations, such as the London Mayor's Office, so that together we can build a better future for athletics in London.

A great deal of work has already been done, but much is still on going. Here are some of the pieces of work where England Athletics, clubs, coaches, volunteers and other partners are working together.

Run!

Run! is an exciting initiative to take athletics into the Inner London Boroughs and places where people have not had the opportunity to become involved in our sport. Funded by the London Mayor’s Office this is one of our a London specific projects that makes the most of the unique opportunities arising as a result of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To find out more please visit the Run! section of this site here.

Clubs

Clubs are the best way for athletes to access the most appropriate and effective training and competition. England Athletics therefore places a large focus on supporting clubs, and the volunteers and staff who run them. You can find out more about the work of clubs and how England Athletics support them at www.englandathletics.org/clubs but here are some of the key programmes:
McCain Athletics Networks – Many clubs in London and nationwide are working together in partnership with each other and with other organisations in their area as part of a McCain Athletics Network. Funded Networks receive funding from England Athletics as supplied via Sport England and McCain to help boost their work and improve the effectiveness of their efforts. To find out more about the work of McCain Athletics Networks see www.englandathletics.org/man.
Flying Coach Visits – For athletes to thrive they need high quality coaching on a regular basis. The Flying Coach programme sees high standard coaches hold a series of visits to a club or group of clubs. Over the course of these visits they work with the coaches there to help develop the coaches’ skills in a practical environment. This may involve a specific event or a specific aspect of coaching. The result is that rather than one-off sessions from this coach there are benefits from the local coaches being ‘up-skilled’ to deliver better coaching week-in, week-out. For details see www.englandathletics.org/flyingcoach.
Athletics 365 – Athletics 365 is a multi-event, young people development programme and syllabus, which introduces athletes to the fundamental skills of athletics which are vital to every sport. Athletics 365 focuses on developing the technical skills (‘how’ to run, jump and throw) required to perform at full potential and move like a champion. The nine progressive stages of Athletics 365 also look at an athlete’s physical, mental and emotional development, as well as their lifestyle and social development. Details are at www.athletics365.org.
Aviva UKA Academy Awards - The Aviva UKA Academy Awards offer an effective test for your children / potential athletes as they learn to enjoy all aspects of running, jumping and throwing. For coaches or teachers using Athletics 365 or Elevating Athletics to develop athlete skills this is a good way for recognising and monitoring athlete outcomes in terms of 'how fast, how long, how high'. For more information see www.englandathletics.org/aviva-awards.
Volunteering – Athletics is a sport built upon the efforts of skilled and dedicated volunteers. England Athletics has produced resources to help people enable people who wish to volunteer get involved in athletics and to help those people at clubs who have a role in recruiting and retaining volunteers make the most of their efforts. Find out more at www.englandathletics.org/volunteer.

Coaching

Good coaching is central to an enjoyable and successful involvement in athletics. Most coaches operate in the club environment, but this is not true of all of them. Here is some of the work done by England Athletics to support coaches.
Coach Education – Coach education courses allow people to take or improve their coaching qualifications. As well as providing technical input these qualifications also give people the skills that they need to coach (or lead) a group effectively in real-life situations. In London, thanks to the Mayor’s Legacy Fund subsidies are available for people who fulfil certain criteria. London applicants may be eligible for a Mayor's Legacy grant. For more information see www.englandathletics.org/coach-ed.
National Coach Development Programme & Local Coach Development Programme – Both of these programmes see coaches able to be part of a mentoring process that sees expertise cascaded from the very best coaches in the country through to coaches across England. Expert input from overseas coaches is also used and all coaches are encouraged to share their own experiences and expertise with each other to improve the knowledge and insights of all coaches. You can learn more at www.englandathletics.org/cdp.
Other Coach Development Opportunities – As well as these programmes there are also workshops, Masterclasses, National Coaching Conferences, online resources and other opportunities available to coaches. To see what else you can get involved in please visit www.englandathletics.org/coaching.

Schools and Young Athletes

Bringing youngsters into the sport is hugely important. A lot of the work is done by clubs (see above). We are working to provide the best opportunities possible in schools, often by giving opportunities for clubs to work with schools. Competition formats such as QuadKids, Sportshall and Super8 can be used in Schools as well as Clubs, and other work such as using the Athletics 365 syllabus or the Aviva UKA Academy Awards could be done in a club or school setting. We also work with the English Schools Athletics Association. To learn more about our work with Schools please visit www.englandathletics.org/schools.

Community Athletics Activator resource

With an increasing focus on leadership and volunteering, the Community Athletics Activator Resource offers ideal preparation for those wishing to support, officiate or coordinate an informal activity or short form competition event in their school, neighbourhood, community youth project or as part of their general “street games” activity. This resource might also prove useful for youth, community and club workers, young volunteers and helpers. To learn more please visit www.englandathletics.org/athleticsactivators.

Competition

As well as working to provide competition formats and opportunities for young athletes we also provide national championships. Details of these can be viewed at www.englandathletics.org/championships. We also support Northern Athletics, the South Of England Athletics Association, and the Midland Counties Athletics Association in their provision of competition opportunities. Many other conmpetitions are provided by, or accessible through, local athletics clubs.

Run in England

Run England is the official England Athletics recreational running project to which aims to get the whole nation running. Regardless of your age, fitness level, aspiration, background, or location you can be a part of Run England and benefit from being a part of England's running community. We are here to help and encourage more people to run, and to run more often. So whatever you want to get from your running Run England is here to encourage and support you. (And to make sure we all have some fun with our running)! This enables you to do your running, your way, where you are - while benefitting from the support and encouragement of the wider running community, you can find out more at www.runengland.org.

To find out more about the work of England Athletics please see www.englandathletics.org.