News

26/05/2023 00:00, In Blog / Club Notice Board /

We are pleased to confirm we have completed a re-structure of our Development and Participation teams.

The previous regional structure had been in place since 2011 and has been replaced by a series of National Coordinators with clear remits that are all directly aligned with the key areas of focus for the organisation going forward.

Given the funding reductions in recent years and the indication of further reductions, it is clear that a different approach is required.

Aligned to the new structure, we will continue to work with clubs to explore opportunities to create dedicated club roles that will enable localised delivery and to support the growth within the club infrastructure.

School Sport & Active Adult Survey Results

The recent Schools Sport Survey has identified running/jogging was the most popular sport in Wales in the last school year with 221,000 pupils currently participating, an increase of 2% since the last survey in 2018 prior to the pandemic. In addition, 13,000 pupils that do not currently participate in our sport have a demand to do so.

However, sadly there was a 9% decrease of pupils participating in sport 3 times a week and an 8% increase of pupils not frequently participating in sport at all, that coupled with the rising numbers in children’s obesity in Wales has identified a need for change.

In addition, the recent Active Adult Survey identified over 283,000 of adults are currently participating in athletics/running/jogging in Wales at least once over a 4week period, with 47,000 of adults wanting to participate more. This has been evidenced in our growth in adult membership with currently 72% of members being senior members.

These survey results have identified the demand for athletics and running in Wales and the need to increase opportunities and participation for everyone, everywhere.

As a result of these results and in order to create the capacity to deliver our strategic objectives, we have restructured our Development & Participation teams within Welsh Athletics and Run Wales.

Welsh Athletics Development Team Structure

The Development team will be responsible for delivering the following strategic objectives:

• Improving the provision of athletics in schools
• Supporting the School Districts
• Creating a modern and sustainable club structure
• Continue to engage harder to reach communities across our sport
• Getting 100% of schools participating in athletics and running activities in Wales

Run Wales Participation Team Structure

The Participation team will be responsible for delivering the following strategic objectives:

• Making Run Wales the health and well-being arm of Welsh Athletics
• Continuing to focus on increasing participation in our sport
• Building partnerships with others in Wales for example: Public Health Wales, parkrun, Daily Mile, Sport Wales, Welsh Government etc.
• Getting 100% of schools participating in running activities in Wales

Hannah Pretty, Head of Development, Participation & Inclusion added:

It's great to have a new team structure in place which will help us focus on delivering our strategic objectives across the sport. We look forward to working with our partners & stakeholders to accelerate this work and increase the impact athletics and running can have in Wales!

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