Kid's Athletics
Terry West is a Level V coach in Middle Distance who is invoived in all facets of Track and Field. He is President of the Ocean
Coaches Athletic Association and regularly attends coaching meeting with the iAAF and coaching representatives from all over the
world. The IAAF has launched a program specifically for kids and Terry explains briefly its objectives.
Kid's Athletics is a team athletics program that has been
developed by the IAAF which I would like to recommend to
you. It has been designed to avoid earfy specialisation and
events are therefore not scale models ot adult's competitions.
It is based on three age groupings.
Group 1 Children 7-8 years
Group 2 Children 9-10 years
Group3 chiidren 11-12years
Teams are mixed and generally comprise of 10 members and
most events are conducted is some relay format. Events are
Sprinting and Running, Throwing and Jumping, Scoring is
designed to keep the event outcome unpredictable and give
participants a feeling that they can actually win the event they
participate in.
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Terry West
The program that was developed was based on meeting
the following requirements: (a) to offer children attractive
athletics.
(b) To offer children accessible athletics.
(c) To offer children instructive athletics.
KID'S ATHLETICS is intended to bring excitement into PLAYING
Athletics.
There are a number of objectives of this concept and the ones
I believe are the most imporfant are:
• That a large number of children can be active at the
same time
•That varied and basic athletic forms of movement are
experienced,
• That not only stronger or faster children make a
contribution to a good result.
The equipment used is simple and can often easily be made
out of recycled materials or using the equipment we already
have in an imaginative way.
While it is based on a team competition there is another
very useful way that coaches of young children can use the
program. I use many of the activities as teaching and training
tools, I have included a sample of the activity cards (there
are scores of cards). The Formula One can easily be made
longer and is an excellent way for children to train for Cross
country and Middle Distance events. It makes school training
for these events much more interesting. It is also a good way
to introduce interval training.
How much does it cost? Nothing! Simply go to the IAAF
web site and click on Development and follow the links to
download. At the very least, you can add to your folder of
activities which will make training more enjoyable. I can attest
that most of them work .You can also encourage your local
Primary Schools to use it and I know that teachers are looking
for something like this as it caters for whole class groups. I
recently conducted a course for teachers on Kid's Athletics
and it was enthusiastically received.
What follows are some examples of activities that make up
the program, Hope you enjoy.
 DUCATIONAL CARD 1 EDUCATIONAL CARD 2
Limited Triple Jump sprint/Hurdles Shuttle Relay (Event for the 7/8 year olds)
Objective: To improve the take off precision Description: Shuttle relay of combined sprint and hurdle
distances
Proposed situation:
Complete forwards jumps with a short run up to improve
precision in the support placement. The obstacles will be Ftgur«
mainly horizontal so as not to force the participants to jump
high.
The beginner's behaviour:
To gain precision, beginners slow down before the jumping
area and look at the ground, turning aside from regular general
jumping behaviour.

Procedure:
The equipment is installed as in the above figure. Two lanes
are necessary for each team: one lane with and the other
without hurdles. The first distance is the hurdle distance and
then the team members run the sprint distance as a regular
relay. The event is completed once each team member has
run both sprint and hurdle distances. The relay is conducted
so that the changeover is made with the left hand.
Instructions for the exercise:
Scoring:
• Do not look at the ground
The ranking is eveluated according to the time: ttie winning
• Link the jumping and running phases into a whole
team being the one with the best time. The next teams are
sequence
ranked according to their finishing time.
Noticeable points:
• Precise foot placement
• No loss of speed before jumping EDUCATIONAL CARD 3
• Landing at running speed
Sprint/Hurdles Formula 1 (VI)
Teaching progression
• Vary the distance between rivers (keep short distance - Description: Relay as a combination of flat-, hurdles- and
10m) slatom-sprint
• Modify the width of the rivers when possible
• Carry out take off from the right foot and the left foot
• Carry landing on right foot hopping and left foot flopping
• Move towards games
Safety:
• Soft ground
• Safe and non-slippery markers
Equipment
• Jumping markers
• Markers on the course
This training situation is valid for the short run up triple
jumping event and the short run up long jumping event.
continued over page

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 EDUCATIONAL CARD 3 continued EDUCATIONAL CARD 5
Procedure:
The distance is about 60m or 8ûm long and is devided into Sprint/Hurdles Shuttle Relay
one area each for flat sprinting, for sprinting over hurdles and Objective: To improve baton handling
for sprinting around slalom poles (see figure), A soft ring is
used as the relay baton. Each participant has to start with a Proposed situation:
forward roll on the tumble mat. Catch and release a baton {tennis ball, soft ring, relay baton,
etc) placed at hip level at running speed.
The 'Formula-One' is a team event in which each team
The beginners behaviour:
member has to complete the full course. Up to six teams can
compete at the same time on one course. Beginners have great difficulty separating their arm action
from their running action. Their arm accompanies the sprinting
Scoring: movement and can not carry out an accurate action.
The ranking is eveluated according to the time: the winning
team being the one with the best time. The next teams are
ranked according to their finishing time.

EDUCATIONAL CARD 4
Formula 1 (V2)
Description: To improve the curve running
Proposed situation:
On a sprinting mode, react to some instructions in varied
situations, achieving curve running distances with a varied Instructions for the exercise:
radius. • Remain in a relaxed position
The beginners behaviour: • Do not turn the head towards the target
Beginners will often complete a curve running with decreasing Noticeable points:
speed quality (arms, point stances). They often run the same • Catching/releasing the implements with precision and
curved distance to complete different kinds of curves. regularity
• No disruption in the sprinting movement (from the carry
arm only) 1
• No loss of speed during the exercise
Teaching progression
• Vary the implements and the speed
" Use the right hand and the left hand
• Complete sequences: release/catch, catch/release
• Perform the exercise with changing hands
• Move towards games
Instructions for the exercise:
• Keep running as regularly as possible in spite of the curves Safety:
• Lean inward the curve • Course without obstacles
• Organise the group
Noticeable points: • Baton placed at the appropriate height
• Achieve the given exercises
" In the curves, oblique and in-line position of the body Equipment
• Similar adjustment in right and left curves • Batons or various implements
• Support for relay batons
Teaching progression
• Vary the radius of the curves at the most
• Increase ttie speed
• Delay tfie signal announcing the selected curve
• Move towards games
Safety: Equipment
• Non-slippery ground • Verticle markers
• Organisation of the group

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