Athletics - exciting, diverse and vibrant

Hundreds of thousands of people across England are involved in athletics. In many different ways it really is the most exciting, diverse and vibrant sport there is. For many athletics provides the ultimate challenge to their competitive abilities. The range of disciplines across the track, field, road and off-road provides an incredible diversity of events for different people with different skills and abilities which means that it is impossible to stereotype what it means to be an athlete. For other people athletics is about fitness and participation but the range of age groups, events, competitions and clubs means that athletics really is a truly inclusive sport.

Alongside the athletes is an army of volunteers and staff who provide coaching, officiating and a range of support services to enable the athletes to do what they know and love the best.

England Athletics is therefore proud to be the National Governing Body for this great sport which also has a phenomenal heritage. We are working hard to develop and promote Athletics across the whole of the country.

We sincerely hope you gain as much enjoyment and fulfilment from athletics as we do.

What we do

England Athletics has three core objectives:

1. To increase participation across a wider cross-section of the community
2. To improve the quality of experience of every participant.
3. To support the development of the next generation of champions.

England Athletics delivers services, support and funding within the sport. Our role includes working with affiliated clubs, officials, schools, and coaches. We also provide national level competition and work on athlete development beneath world class performance level. Our role is directly related to the work of the many volunteers whose efforts are fundamental to the success of athletics in England.

The work of England Athletics includes:

• Clubs – Clubs are vital to the provision of athletics in England. Schemes such as Athletics Networks are designed to deliver funding directly to where it can be used most effectively. Our aim is to raise standards and participation levels with minimum bureaucracy. The work done by England Athletics in other areas, such as coach and official development, is designed to help clubs thrive and achieve a high level of independence. England Athletics staff work with clubs to help in areas such as funding applications too.
• Coach education – Coaching is a major priority for England Athletics due to its deep rooted, long term and wide spread benefits. We provide courses and assessments to enable people to qualify as coaches, and provide wider opportunities for coaches to increase their skills. These include coaching conferences, seminars and mentoring.
• Officials – we provide Level 1 and 2 courses (with Level 3 managed by UK Athletics) and oversee the Tri-regional groups who manage senior officials in England.
• Competitions – we hold national championship events with the support of volunteers who are able to offer a high level of expertise. We commission and support other competition providers where their expertise and role makes them the most effective provider of the appropriate competition.
• Schools – we work in partnership with the English Schools Athletics Association, Quadkids and Sportshall athletics initiatives to provide suitable development and competition opportunities for youngsters. We believe schools athletics is an important way of attracting youngsters into the sport and introducing them to an enjoyable and successful involvement in athletics.
• Participation – England Athletics works to improve participation at all levels of the sport. This includes the work done with clubs and schools but is also expanding to include wider initiatives such as Run In England and working with the Park Run series to ensure as many people as possible are able to enjoy our sport.
• Joint initiatives – we co-operate with many other organisations to promote and develop athletics.

England Athletics works with UK Athletics who also provide many services within athletics in England and across the UK. UK Athletics works to develop and sustain elite performance at world class level. It acts as a policy maker and works with the home countries, including England Athletics, to secure resources to enable the development of the sport at a grassroots level. For more information see www.uka.org.uk.

To get in touch

To find out more about the team at England Athletics please click here for details of the national staff and organisation, or visit your local area's section to find out more about your local team and the work they do.

Formative Years

England Athletics was formed in 2005 as a result of the Foster Review into the governance of Athletics in England. In its formative years England has made significant progress in key areas of work, providing a 'decentralised' and focused local service to meet the needs of our affiliated clubs and members. England is proud to work in partnership with its key stakeholders and funders, most noticably Affiliated Clubs and Members. Sport England, UK Athletics and key sponsors.

Facts

• England has currently over 1,270 affiliated athletics clubs
• England has over 110,000 affiliated individual members
• England has over 10,000 licensed and CRB cleared athletics coaches,
• England has over 6,000 licensed athletics officials

Did You Know That Since September 2006...

• 10,000 coaches have attended regulated training and education courses
• Over 30,000 young people have received coaching through our investment into community club and schools athletics
• Over 5,000 teachers have attended athletics education courses
• Over 2,000 officials have attended training courses
• Over 2,500 young athletes have been involved in talent development programmes delivered through regional and sub regional programmes across England at U15,17 and 20 level
• Over 1,000 coaches have attended "non qualification" based coach development events and seminars
• England has supported the organisation of Disability Athletic Championships and programmes through its nine regions and involving over 2,000 people