Please Note that our Academy is currently suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Academy Guidance for Parents

What is the Academy?
The Academy is our coaching scheme for young athletes aged 8-14 years. For session times, see Club Opening, but please also read the notes below.

New to the Academy?
All new starters must attend either the Sunday or Tuesday "Induction" sessions.
Athletics combines running, jumping and throwing events and, as such, has the widest range of event and developmental opportunities of any sport.
We have a number of Academy sessions over the week (see below), so we hope that we will have something to suit everybody’s needs and timetable.
For young athletes keen to attend more than one session per week, we strongly recommend that you bring them to a range of sessions, so that over the week they take part in all the different disciplines (running, jumps & throws) and avoid over specialising in any single discipline. Our coaches are there to give you guidance - see the “Levels” section below. However, we accept that some children will have likes and dislikes and will gravitate towards specialising.

Levels
Once your child has been inducted, our coaches will guide you as to what sessions they may attend. To do this, we operate a simple "level" system. Our aim is to place children in groups commensurate with their overall development, so that their training will be both enjoyable and challenging.
In assessing overall development, we take into account the following factors:

  • Chronological age, ie, actual age
  • Training age, ie, no of years training
  • Physical age, ie, physical maturity
  • Technical ability
  • Performance ability
  • Behaviour

Your child’s development will be influenced in varying degrees by all of the above factors and the following is therefore a guide only:

  • Level 1: 8-10 years
  • Level 2: 9-12 years
  • Level 3: 11-14 years

Our underlying principle is to allow children to develop at the rate that is appropriate for them.

Sessions

When Events Levels Coaches
Monday:      
18.00 to 19.30 Endurance

1 & 2

 Matt Evans
18.45 to 20.00 Endurance

3

 Paul Neville, Mark Wicketts
*Tuesday: *There is currently a waiting list for this session

 

 (last update -April 2019)
18.30 to 19.30 Running, Jumps, Throws

Induction
1 & 2

 Matt Evans
19.00 to 20.00 Running, Jumps, Throws

2 & 3

  
19.00 to 20.00 Endurance

3

 Dave Williams
Thursday:      
18.00 to 19.30 Endurance

1 & 2

 Matt Evans
19.00 to 20.00 Running, Jumps

2 & 3

  
19.00 to 20.00 Endurance

3

 Paul Neville, Mark Wicketts
Sunday:      
10.15 to 12.15 Running, Jumps, Throws

Induction
1 & 2

 Ben Evans
10.15 to 12.15 Hurdles

3

 Matthew Hargreaves

Please note: All our coaches are volunteers. As such, session times are not exact and are occasionally subject to cancellation, sometimes without notice, particularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays when work commitments or traffic may prevent coaches getting to the stadium.

Coaches
All our coaches are appropriately qualified and DBS checked. As volunteers, they may not be present at all sessions.

Competition
We encourage all children to take part in competition, although it is not compulsory. We are affiliated to a number of leagues (see below). Please speak to any of the coaches or team managers for further details or see our Competition page. NB: Only members are eligible for competition.

League When? What? Age Groups Team Manager Contact
Heart of England Summer Track & Field U11, U13, U15  
         
West Mids Cross Country Winter Cross Country U11,
U13, U15		 Ben Evans

Details can also be found on the Clubhouse notice boards.
In addition, we hold a series of "Academy Championships" throughout the year.