This week (5-11 February), England Athletics will be marking the annual Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, an awareness event designed to empower and give a voice to all children and young people in the UK. As an organisation, we are determined to ensure both that athletics and running is utilised to the greatest possible extent to improve the mental health of children and young people, and that those children and young people within our sport are given comprehensive, thorough and exceptional support in this area. All this week we will be sharing the different ways in which we are striving to make a difference.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson has ended a fantastic 2023 for the sport of athletics by being voted by the public into third place at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. Fatima Whitbread also won the prestigious Helen Rolleson Award which recognises outstanding achievement in the face of adversity. Read more.

There is no question that 15-year-old Amelia Griffiths is passionate about athletics and running! So much so that in addition to her own training, she now a qualified funetics Leader and coaches the younger children at her club, Vale of York Athletic Community. Hear from Amelia as she explains what she loves most about being a funetics Leader.

England Athletics and partners call for political party leaders to facilitate more access to sport and physical activity to help alleviate the mental health epidemic in the UK. England Athletics has today hosted the second in a series of All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Running events, with a further call from Kim Leadbetter MP – chair of the APPG – for MPs to recognise the need for more support for physical and mental health amongst children.

The power of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games firmly placed the city on the global stage. It also acted as a catalyst, allowing funetics to establish an ambitious legacy activation initiative, funded by Sport England.

The podium has been dominated by England Athletics at the Sporting Equals Awards 2023! Our sport had winners in five categories in a night of celebration at the Royal Lancaster Hotel. Congratulations to Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Zharnel Hughes, Ayesha Jones, Emmanuel Oyinbo-Coker and Leon Baptiste. The Sporting Equals Awards saw 500 people come together in central London to celebrate the achievements of ethnically diverse athletes, coaches,volunteers and communities. Known as the MOBOs of sport, the awards shine a light on emerging stars as well as those already at the forefront of their disciplines. The Sporting Equals Awards pay tribute to the work undertaken to tackle inactivity and underrepresentation of ethnically diverse communities.

The Physical Literacy Consensus statement, issued by Sport England will help those working in the sport, education, physical activity, recreation, play, health, and youth sectors.

This World Mental Health Day, our sport is calling on the leaders of our political parties to unlock the potential of sport and physical activity to play a more meaningful role in tackling the UK’s growing mental health epidemic. Launched today at an All Parliamentary Committee session in Liverpool, led by Kim Ledbetter for Sport, the central message in the Open Letter to MP’s says we’re failing too many of our children, who leave school unfit, inactive and dealing with poor mental health on an unprecedented scale:

Whether your club currently has a junior section, or you are considering opening your doors to young people, funetics is the perfect place to start just as Lawley Running Club in Shropshire have done.

The primary focus of funetics is engaging children and young people with the athletics fundamental movement skills of running, jumping and throwing all whilst having fun. This is something which the Vale of York Athletic Community in Selby has demonstrated and provided for children and families at their recent Family Fun Day.