Playground to Podium: We launch Year 2

Saturday 3rd May 2014

We are delighted to announce the second year of our national schools initiative being delivered by scottishathletics in partnership with the Scottish Government and sportscotland – Playground to Podium; our National Talent Identification Programme.

scottishathletics will be holding a series of Talent ID camps across Scotland in June, and every one of the 376 secondary schools in Scotland has been invited to send along three male and three female pupils from S3 who are not currently involved in an athletics club to the Talent ID day in your region.

Last year was a really positive experience with over 300 youngsters assessed across the length and breadth of the country.

This process led to 50 pupils being signposted to athletics coaches over last summer and already many of these youngsters are having an impact.

Read more about the second year of the programme on our Playground to Podium page.

All athletes taking part in the talent identification days will be supported into athletics if they so wish and those athletes who are identified as having the potential to become World Class will be invited to work with an experienced coach who will be able to facilitate their development towards podium potential.

Identified athletes will also be part of National Talent ID Gatherings where they will have the opportunity to speak with, spend time with and be mentored by International athletes such as Eilidh Child, Laura Muir, Lynsey Sharp, Chris Baillie and Mark Dry – as well as former Olympic Champion Allan Wells – as part of their development in the sport.

This national programme for athletics is part of ongoing developments in the lead-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow through the INSPIRE 2014 programme.

Ultimately the aim of the programme is to motivate and inspire these young Scots to make the most of their abilities in order to become Scotland’s next generation of champions.

The talent identification programme will primarily focus on power events and we are looking to replicate the success of the work performed by the UK Talent Team – which has delivered seven National athlete recruitment projects and assessed over 7,000 athletes – all of whom were previously unknown to the UK World Class system and sports.

And again this year we are looking for clubs and coaches to be prepared to take on any athletes identified as part of this process ñ and provide any ‘rough diamonds’ with a welcoming environment which could allow them to flourish as they progress in our sport.

So if you know of any youngsters in your community who you believe have potential in our sport, then please encourage the Physical Education department at their school to engage with the programme and get the youngsters entered for their local Playground to Podium event.

Nominations of athlete names for participation in the talent identification days should be received by scottishathletics no later than MONDAY 26 MAY.

For more information please feel free to view the information video below: