Ready for Rio?

The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and the London Olympics and Paralympics will live long in the memory as truly inspirational events, and athletics benefited significantly from those successes. The bounce effect from both championships resulted in a large increase in club activities as well as huge interest in joining athletics clubs, predominantly from young athletes aged 8 – 14 years.

In many cases athletics clubs benefited and managed to increase membership – both volunteers and athletes – through some fantastic work by dedicated volunteers and coaches, a number of athletics clubs reported that they had an additional 100 – 150 contacts looking to take part in athletics during both periods. Given the interest in potential Scottish medal success this time around, we are sure that this interest will be matched once again.

As the 2016 Olympics fast approaches, we are now asking clubs … Are you ready for Rio?

What is for certain is that as our athletes prepare to compete at the Rio Games, athletics clubs in Scotland once again have a great opportunity to benefit. Together as a sport we can build a legacy which engages young and old to promote our sport to build stronger clubs, recruit volunteers, and to improve participation levels.

Are you Ready for Rio?

We understand there are major challenges for clubs, particularly around club structures, volunteering and coaching structures – the key building blocks – in ensuring clubs can recruit more athletes and provide a quality experience. After London 2012 & Glasgow 2014 these structures in local communities came under huge pressure. There are some questions clubs need to ask themselves now as they prepare for spiked interest in the sport come August and September:

• Do we have capacity for more athletes?
• What is our capacity based on the number of coaches and facility access?
• Do we have gaps where we can recruit and train more coaches or coach helpers?
• Can we recruit more volunteers to help?
• What is our club doing to promote our activities to potential new members?
• What are we doing to provide a great experience for our existing members?

For additional support and to discuss plans for your club please contact your National Club Manager.

Posters to help promote your club locally can be downloaded below.

Ready For Rio A5 Flyer
Ready For Rio Poster 1
Volunteer Poster 1
Volunteer Poster 2