Run, jump, throw: Bringing funetics to the local community in East Durham

funetics was created by England Athletics to help 4-11 year old children across the country to learn, develop and practice running, jumping and throwing skills all year round, for a healthy confident future. We recently caught up with Ian McAlister, Junior Development Lead at East Durham Running Club, who took the initiative to bring this programme to East Durham.

Having previously coached the youth division at another club, Ian started running with East Durham Running Club and noticed there wasn’t anything available for the young children.

“Using the experience that I had previously and my interest in getting the kids up and running, we decided as a club to look into any support we could get from England Athletics and that's how we found funetics. We completed the training in the back end of 2024, about December time and then we rolled it out from January this year.”

The programme has now been running in East Durham for a few months and they are already seeing its positive impact within the club and beyond.

“We're getting really good feedback and finding that it's really good for the community as well.”

The funetics programme is built to be user friendly and easy for clubs, primary schools and community groups to implement for the children in their local area. Each licence is tailored to the needs of the specific provider to help them best deliver fundamental movements skills to young children.

“The programme itself is really easy and simple to use for funetics. It comes with a good app that's really accessible. It enables you to share the classes amongst everyone, including the parents as well, so they get a bit of a heads up. I think not only does the training plan itself work well, but the technology that comes on the back of it is really well designed as well.”

“The support that we got for me was just perfect in terms of the seamless transition, delivery of the products and the delivery of the training.”

Positive impacts of funetics on the children’s development

The children are the centre of the funetics programme, so it is important that they are experiencing the benefits of learning their fundamental movement skills. Whilst East Durham Running Club are in the early stages of the programme, they are already beginning to see the positive impact it can have.

“We've seen a really good positive impact on the children. They've engaged really well with the sessions that we've been planning. And I think it also gives them an open door in athletics by teaching them these fundamental skills of running, jumping and throwing.

“During the competition weeks in the schedule, we’ve noticed when recording the scores that their fitness has gone up. So it goes beyond positive engagement to seeing improvements in the children’s fundamental movement skills.”

It is equally as important for the children to develop their social skills through the programme alongside these fundamental movement skills. The children in East Durham have formed friendships that stretch beyond the athletics track.

“The social side of it is important as well. We had a good discussion with one of the children the other week where three of them, from different parts of the East Durham area, have actually become friends. So outside of the club, they've started spending a lot more time with each other socially and going out, bowling and playing outside of the club.”

Reaching the wider community in Durham

Through this programme the club is able to have a wide positive impact on the children in the local community. The club runs as a charity, which enables them to minimise the cost for children to join the programme.

“It's made it affordable club for kids to come to, so when the parents are paying into that, it's not a massive hefty cost over the six week course programme.

“It also provides somewhere for the kids to go. Around here the kids have got a bit of a bad name, so we give them a bit of a haven, somewhere to come develop and make new friends. It keeps them off the streets and gives them something to do.”

The group is formed from a mix of children of those in the senior running group and others from the local area. The club have found this is a great way to engage the community as parents are coming along to the athletics club with their children for funetics and then getting involved themselves in Couch to 5k or other sessions.

Ambitions for the future

Beyond the funetics programme, East Durham Running Club have big ambitions for youth athletics as they are currently working towards setting up a junior parkrun in their local area.

“Starting a new junior parkrun goes hand in hand with funetics as a kind of step up, especially for children looking to get more involved in running. There's a bit of a goal to aim for.”

They are also hoping to expand their funetics programme in the future, looking to bigger capacity venues to enable more children and young people to get involved.

Are you considering using funetics in your club?

Ian’s advice to anyone considering funetics is:

“I would absolutely advise anyone from any club to get this. If you haven't got a clubhouse, then go out in your local area to try to find somewhere. We didn't have a central base, so we're working from a local community centre. The kit that's provided by England Athletics is fantastic, so all you need is an amount of space to do it.”