According to former jogscotland Communications Officer Kirsty Anderson,
Junior jogscotland uses fun, running-based games to get children on the
move. “It’s not about making them run 10 laps. They get movement and
athletic games, the kind of games their grandparents would have played,
which are fun and help to build general fitness.
“As they get fit, the children can join their local athletics clubs and
feed into the elite system, but those who do not want to follow that
route can continue to exercise with jogscotland groups.”
The jogscotland programme is part of scottishathletics, the regional
body of the national athletics federation, UK Athletics. The programme
encourages running/jogging groups by providing advice through its
website www.jogscotland.org.uk, qualifying training leaders and staging
a series of 5km challenge events in different locations.
The Junior jogscotland programme, which is sponsored by a national
grocery chain, is currently delivered at the local level by more than
800 schools, youth groups, athletics clubs and other recognised
organisations. It is now established in all but two regions of
Scotland, with more than 25,000 children signed up so far. Workshops
and resource packs are made available to local training leaders from
the participating organisations.
“The idea of a recreational running programme initially met with some
fears on the part of the clubs that elite-level athletics would be
neglected,” says Anderson. “This has not proved to the case and the
benefits for the clubs of increased numbers of kids are now being
clearly seen.”
Establishing jogscotland was a key priority for the Scottish
Government, which wanted to use the programme to improve general health
in the country. Membership is at three levels – joining is free but
members can purchase additional services through an annual fee. In the
longer-term, the aim is to make it self-funding through sponsorship and
member contributions.
Anderson says that an important success factor has been support from
local authorities and sponsors. Her advice to others planning a similar
programme is to prepare carefully to ensure the organisers are ready
for the high volume of work involved to ensure the many demands of the
customer groups can be met.
Fact File | |
Programme: | Junior jogscotland |
Organiser: | Scottish Athletics |
Start Date: | 2002 |
Target Group: | Children 3 to 12 years old |
Participants in 2008: | 25,000 |
Venues: | More than 800 |
Support: | Scottish Government, Sport Scotland, local authorities, local sponsors |
More Information: | jogscotland@scottishathletics.org.uk |