How Abingdon AC manage athletes, coaches and training areas

Abingdon Athletics Club has been thriving for over 40 years. The club now offer a diverse range of athletics events, meeting at Tilsley Park in Abingdon, near Oxford twice a week. The club's growing popularity has led the committee to rethink how all the members can get the most productive use of the facility. This has been achieved by our current committee bringing their work life skills to bear when making plans.

The facility is managed by Abingdon School on behalf of the District Council, and boasts floodlit athletics track with 4G astroturf football/rugby infield, and a dedicated fenced throws area just next the 500-seat covered grandstand, which has large changing rooms, showers, a bar, and cafe. The complex also has many all-weather football and hockey pitches.

The club have implemented many ways of trying to reduce the waiting list of over 200 children using the 36 coaches and around a dozen parent helpers available to them. England Athletics Club Support Manager for the region, Ffion Edgeley, visited at the end of last year during one of the Tuesday sessions when the Club has sole use of the track, infield and throws area from 5.30 to 8pm; she was able to observe how the results of Coaching and Group Coordinator Colin Mitchell’s detailed scheduling have ensured the best use of the facility on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

The club coaches in age groups from U10-12-14-16-18 to senior and Masters level. Colin works with all the group coach leaders who submit their coaching plans and requests for particular areas of the facility two months in advance. He then collates all the plans in 10-week chunks to ensure that each group gets a turn on each part of the track, infield, or throws area as per their training plans. These are added to their Club Spond (a Sports Team Management App) where the coaching team, parents and athletes can see everything in advance. The Spond App is also where parents and athletes sign up to each training session in advance. As well as the eight-lane track and infield itself, training sessions can also take place on the grass banks which wrap around three quarters of the track.

During her visit, Ffion observed the early evening U10 group at the throws area, then later the U12 and U14 groups in lanes 1 to 4, Masters athletes in lanes 5-8, some Seniors training in the gym under the stands, long jump training near the finish line sandpit, and U16 and U18s doing plyo drills on the infield.

To ensure fairness throughout and to keep the waiting lists down, each group (approximately 35 children) in the U10, U12 and U14 can only attend one session a week and are coached in all disciplines depending on the time of year. U16s upwards have the option to specialise and may attend on both Tuesdays and Thursdays and can choose to swap between the track and field and the endurance group. Meanwhile, the senior road runners are on the road on Tuesdays and track on Thursdays.

Because of the huge junior waiting list, regular commitment from the juniors is a must, and priority is given to youngsters where parents agree to volunteer regularly. Juniors need to attend regularly and compete for the club at least three to six times a year depending on age.

There is no dedicated clubhouse as such, but athletes and coaches have access to the gym room and other spaces within the sports complex - so they have room for a trophy cabinet and a couple of pinboards for posters and notices. The club takes the time to host external social events such as the monthly Chips Tuesday where all members are invited to enjoy some chips at a local pub, paid for by the club.

It's a positive solution which other clubs could look to replicate. It goes to show how vital volunteers - such as Colin, backed by his committee - are to the smooth running of a club and to ensure the members all get the most out of the time with the club- whether training, competing or running just for recreation.