Young Athletes Club started in January 2017 by Jon Ireland
A Former GB Masters athlete who has competed over the full range of athletics events to international level, Jon has also coached young athletes for over 30 years and is currently Head Coach at Harrogate Harriers Juniors. His aim is to run a club which takes young athletes seriously and offers quality coaching to teach children the skills required in key athletics events. Most clubs only take children from ages from 10 and above, missing out on a unique window of opportunity to teach younger children athletic skills as they are growing and developing. Top coaches’ traditionally only coach top athletes, but we need to put our best resources into the lower age groups too. This is where we can give aspiring future stars a head start.
The club has been formed to try and get rid of the issue of young athletes who simply want to run, having to sit on waiting lists for other clubs until they are either old enough, or a place comes up. Any child aged 5-11 can join the club irrespective of their ability.
We have a fantastic team of coaches who are England Athletics qualified and DBS checked.
We have a dedicated group of volunteer helpers who ensure the club runs smoothly. If you would like to be part of our enthusiastic Young Athletes Club team in any capacity, please let us know.
Our club goals are:
- To ensure that by the age of 11 every child will have been taught the techniques of key athletics events so that they have the skills to be able to sprint, run middle distance, hurdle, jump and throw
- To encourage each child’s participation in the sport of athletics
- To provide progressive and challenging training sessions that are enjoyable, safe and fun
- To give the opportunity to compete in track and field events in the Summer, indoor Sportshall in Spring and cross country races in the Winter
- To provide School Holiday training camps for both members and non-members
- To ensure that each child has been given a good background in athletics training to move with confidence into the U13s age group at other clubs at the age of 11 if they wish to do so