Weston Whippets helping children to grow in confidence with funetics

Our funetics programme helps children to learn, develop and practice running, jumping and throwing skills. Weston Whippets Running Club, an England Athletics affiliated club, were one of the early adopters of this programme. We recently visited the club to find out more about their funetics sessions and the impact they are having on the young people in the local community.

Getting started

The club saw an influx of children keen to get involved in activity following the Covid-19 lockdowns, so they started delivering funetics to provide opportunities for more young children to take part. Shelley, funetics lead at Weston Whippets, described how they got started:

“Setting up funetics was actually quite easy. We contacted England Athletics and they told us what we needed to do. Two of us became Coaches in Running Fitness and trained to be funetics coaches. From there, we took on the Activator course and now we have a team of eight.”

She went on to explain how easy the weekly sessions are to follow:

“There are sessions each week that we use from the plans, we don’t have to do anything extra as everything is already set out for us. It’s a really great plan to follow, it gets all the children involved. We play games to set off every session and then we just focus on two or three things each session, building up the confidence of the children to get them to push forward in what they enjoy the most.”

Supporting young people in athletics and beyond

Weston Whippets are an active, vibrant, community-based club, who love to get the whole family involved, as exemplified by Sarah and her two daughters. Sarah joined the club when she was struggling with running on her own and found great support. Since then, both her daughters have also benefitted from the funetics sessions.

“My youngest was born during lockdown, so she didn’t attend many clubs and things, so she’s quite shy. funetics has really helped bring out her confidence and the strength and positivity to be able to go out there have fun and know she can do it.

“It greatly helps my eldest, she's currently awaiting an ADHD assessment, so things like waiting around can be difficult for her. Coming to the running club, getting out that excess energy really helps. Shelley, the coach, is really patient and calm, so she can feel very relaxed and at ease. The sport just helps her to get a bit more control.

“The club also helps all three of us with our mental health, just getting out, being active, being fit and doing things the best we can to support our bodies.”

The impact on the young people was recognised by Rich Ayling, Club Support Manager for the South West, who visited the club and reflected:

“The thing which just stood out to me from the visit was just that sense of community, the amazing role that clubs play in supporting young people and the general public more broadly. You just got a real sense of how much it meant to the young people in the community.”

What do the children enjoy most about funetics?

The children are at the heart of the funetics sessions, so we asked them what they enjoyed most..

“I enjoy funetics because there's various things that you can do and there's fun things every week. Something I also enjoy about funetics is my sister comes as well - she's actually the one that inspired me to do this because she started first, then I thought that would be a good idea for us to exercise together.” – Sophia, funetics team

“funetics is fun because we do a variety of sessions and it’s fun to have different people to do it with. The people are really nice and I enjoy tempo running because it’s the thing I’m best at.” – Eva, youth team

If you have been inspired to give funetics a go at your club, Shelley’s advice is:

“I'd encourage other clubs to get in touch with England Athletics and start your own funetics team because it is such a massive part of our community. We encourage children from the age of four to get involved in athletics, which covers the breadth of every sport that you could come across. We've got swimmers, gymnasts, footballers, rugby players, and funetics supports them to become better at what they want to be, as well as bringing in all of the athletic sides of things.”