University of Exeter and England Athletics team up on Youth Talent Programme

Athletes on the Youth Talent Programme will soon get extra support on reducing the risk of injury via two projects jointly run by England Athletics and the University of Exeter.

University of Exeter is one of the England Athletics Chartermark universities and the project will receive funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. The project funding application was led by Associate Professor Alan Barker.

The Youth Talent Programme (YTP) is the first step on the Talent pathway designed to meet the needs of identified, talented English athletes aged between 16 and 18 years of age and their coaches. The programme focuses on developing a dual career for the athlete through fulfilling their potential within the sport and also in their education and employability.

The first project will create an evidence-based and practice-informed intervention to reduce the risk of injury in adolescent endurance runners. Robert Mann, a final year PhD student at the University of Exeter (Sport and Health Sciences), will lead this project.

In the other project, Robert Mann will be embedded in the YTP, as a Knowledge Exchange Fellow, to support with content delivery and development of future research project ideas to help these youth athletes successfully transition to senior success.

England Athletics National Endurance Lead, Spencer Duval, said: “At this exciting time for talent development, it’s fantastic to be working with the University of Exeter on these innovative projects. The resources developed by Rob will undoubtedly help the Youth Talent Programme.”

Robert Mann added: “This funding has provided a unique opportunity for us to apply my PhD research in practice. I am excited for these projects to start and to help support the delivery of the Youth Talent Programme.”

Photo credit: Tanya Raab.