The Athletics for All programme was launched at the European Athletics Convention in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia on 24-26 October.
This new European Athletics programme plans to promote exercise through athletic activities to enhance the fitness, mental and emotional health of all people across all demographics. It emphasises inclusivity and the benefits of exercise individually, but even more so in groups.
Exercising and keeping active is important on many levels and is important for enhancing mental and emotional strength, as well as physical strength. Group activities combined with athletic exercise can improve a person's overall health and therefore build resilience, confidence and social groups.
World Mental Health Day
In the month that marked World Mental Health Day (10), the subject of Health and Well-being was prominent at the convention and has been identified by the European Athletics Development Commission as one of its core priorities.
Commission member Scott Grace introduced new overarching programme which includes project to target numerous groups, namely Active Kids (4-12), Active Teens (13-19), Active Adults (18+), Active for Life, Active Athletes, Active Families, Active Schools, Active Workplace.
The goal is to promote healthy lifestyles through the inclusive “Athletics for All” programme by aiming to make health and well-being activities available to people of all ages, physical, mental, social, and emotional abilities, levels, and backgrounds.
Athletics for All will increase awareness of healthy lifestyles across all generations and give better access to sport, physical activity, and healthy diets, with a special focus on inclusion and non-discrimination to reach disadvantaged groups. It seeks to increase awareness of the benefits of athletics on mental health and well-being.
Good practice across Europe
Already there are several good practice models across Member Federations embracing the potential of athletics to reach and engage wider audiences with beyond the traditional audiences with Health and Well-being programmes which were showcased in Skopje.
Among those were the North Macedonia Federation Board Member Ana Krstevska-Kajcevski of who shared a national programme through health and wellbeing that has resulted in a 30% increase in under 16 participation in the country.
“If we lack participants, that was the category under 16,” she said. “And we usually have around 100 kids on every competition under 16. And after the kids’ athletics program and the active families’ programme. That number went up to like 500, 600 children under age of 16, which gave us a bigger chance to identify talent.
“Also, it initiated a bigger visibility. Most of the clubs that were organizing road races, they included kids races and family races within their 5K or 10K or half or full marathon. So as a programme. Actually, it really changed the picture of the Athletics Federation and the sport of athletics in Macedonia.
Also presenting was Sara Sánchez Muñiz of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation, who are harnessing the opportunity presented by Madrid hosting of the 2025 European Athletics Team Championships First Division next June for the Spanish capital to become the first European Capital of Running.
“The activity of this programme is going to be the legacy of the European Championship. So, the City Council of Madrid doesn't want to have this event and then forget about athletics in the city. And they want to transform Madrid with a good excuse of this championship but have this legacy of health and well-being for its citizens.
“It will be about first analysing Madrid, analysing its infrastructures, its activities and then creating a plan to get better in this aspect. This will be for Madrid citizens, also for every tourist that comes to Madrid, for sports reasons or other reasons.
Additionally, Emmanuelle Jaeger of the French Athletics Federation and a European Athetics Development Commission member shared the Diagnoform tool which is being deployed by the federation to assess the fitness of different demographics and recommending solutions to support health and wellbeing.
For example, one metric is how walking at 85% of maximum speed can “considerably improve your health and fitness.”
Finally, Esther Akihary-van Nobelen of the Netherlands federation presented the Active Schools and Active Workplace programmes.
Citing the workplace programme, she demonstrated how it could promote fitness and well-being within companies, build team cohesion and support employee health through long-term engagement. For the Federation, it could reach a new audience and provide an alternative source of income for the Federation and for clubs.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics