Does your child train with us? We need you!

HELPERS WANTED

Parent helpers are essential for the Juniors to exist and continue to thrive.

Our Junior division can’t run without volunteers and we depend on parents to step up and help out. By volunteering, you ensure the members of Poole Runners Juniors have to opportunity to use athletics to be healthy, active and sociable.

No Experience Needed

No previous coaching or athletic experience is required to become a helper for the Juniors. We just need friendly and willing volunteers who enjoy encouraging children to reach their full protentional.

Get Certified

By volunteering, you have the opportunity to complete a range of England Athletics coaching & officiating courses that are fully paid by the club. However, you don’t have to take any courses if you wish to remain as a helper.

Rewarding Opportunity

Helping out with the Poole Runners Junior Team is an amazing opportunity to give back to the community and ensures that the next generation can learn resilience and life skills through the sport of athletics.

Volunteer - Junior Athletic Club - Poole Runners

It is our passion to coach athletics that builds confidence and resilience while your child is being active and making new friends.

VOLUNTEER TO HELP

FAQs

What is involved?

Coaching athletics includes teaching the technical aspects of running, jumping and throwing. It includes delivering structured training and motivating the athletes. Whilst the majority of our coached athletes are juniors, we also coach seniors.

Officiating involves conducting and judging competitions at track and field events.

Whilst it is helpful to gain qualifications for both coaching and officiating, these are not mandatory if you would just like to give general assistance.

The time commitment varies, from a full Athletics Coach who might train their athletes for two to three hours each session three times a week, to an unqualified helper who might assist for a single one hour session a week. Officials typically judge a minimum of four to six competitions a year, each of which takes half a day.

Why become a coach or official?

Athletes are most likely to achieve their potential and enjoy their sport to the full if properly coached. Younger participants in particular need guidance on how to run efficiently, on the mechanics of throwing and jumping, on how to train effectively to improve performance/avoid injury and on the rules and guidance for competition. They also need someone to provide them with additional motivation and encouragement. The coach is the athlete’s partner on this journey.

Track and field competitions cannot take place without officials to run them. As a club, Poole Runners must provide officials for league events its athletes take part in. Being an official means you are on track or in field right next to the athletes who are bringing months or years of hard work to a head in competition. You are part of the competition without actually competing; this is a privileged and exciting position to be in.

Both coaching and officiating are incredibly rewarding. We all love this sport and to help children and adults fulfil their own individual potential, have fun and make friends for life is very special.

On a practical note, Poole Runners needs to maintain a large pool of coaches and officials to be able to provide continuous, high-quality support to its athletes. Without this, the Club will be very different and arguably much weaker.

Who should consider a role as a coach or official?

Someone who still runs or competes and would like to help their fellow athletes improve
Someone who loves the sport, wants to be involved but through age, injury or some other reason is unable to run or compete themselves
A parent, guardian or grandparent who regularly brings a child to training and competitions and would like to use that time profitably by getting involved

How can you get involved?

If you are interested but have some questions before you want to make a commitment, please first speak to one of the Club’s coaches or officials.

For coaching this includes Haydn Morris, Les Turner, Rupert Pepper, Matt East and Andy Howse.

And for officiating this includes Andy Howse, Haydn Morris, Claudia Howse and Kirsty Cooper.

If you can, it is best to talk to them at a training session at Ashdown when you can see coaching in action. Alternatively, they can be contacted via Facebook Messenger or the contact form here.

Accredited

ENGLAND ATHLETICS AFFILIATED REGISTERED NUMBER: 2659040

Timetable

Day	Time	Session	Age	Venue
Monday	6pm-7pm	Track & Field	QuadKids (8-11)	Ashdown Track
Monday	7pm-8pm	Track & Field	U18 (12-17)	Ashdown Track
Thursday	6pm-7pm	Track & Field	QuadKids (8-11)	Ashdown Track
Thursday	7pm-8pm	Track & Field	U18 (12-17)	Ashdown Track
Saturday	10am-11am	Track & Field	QuadKids (8-11)	Lockyer’s Middle School
Saturday	11:30am-12:30am	Cross Country/ Squad Run	U18 (12-17)	Broadstone Rec

From once a month to every week, any time that you can spare will help the Juniors to continue to function and thrive.

VOLUNTEER TODAY

VOLUNTEER ROLES

Coaching Helper

No qualifications are required. You will help the Athletics Coaches and Coaching Assistants during coaching sessions and will be under their supervision. You will need energy, a willingness to engage and motivate, plenty of patience and a desire to help the juniors and/or seniors improve their performance.

Coaching Assistant

This is an official England Athletics qualification which requires on-line learning and attendance at a one day in-person course. Coaching Assistants can train athletes unsupervised provided that the session is under the guidance of an Athletics Coach. Poole Runners will cover the cost of you attending this course. Details of the course structure can be found at:

https://www.englandathletics.org/coaching/qualifications/coaching-assistant/

Athletics Coach

This is the next step up the EA coaching ladder. You need to be a Coaching Assistant before you can qualify as an Athletics Coach. The course includes two days of in-person learning covering all athletics disciplines, two days which allow you to learn more about a specific discipline plus assessments of technical knowledge. Poole Runners will cover the cost of you attending this course. Details of the course structure can be found at:

https://www.englandathletics.org/coaching/qualifications/athletics-coach/

Event Group Coach

The final EA coaching step is to qualify as a specialist coach in either sprints/hurdles, endurance, jumps or throws. Poole Runners will cover the cost of you attending these courses.

Coach/Leader in Running Fitness

These EA qualifications are suited for those wishing to work with off-track runners wishing to improve their fitness. Poole Runners will cover the cost of you attending these courses.

Level 1 Official

The start of your officiating journey is to complete an EA Level 1 qualification, choosing from the following disciplines: field judge, track judge, timekeeper, starter and photofinish. You will need to attend an in-person course plus complete four practical competition experiences and pass a DBS check and online Health & Safety course. Poole Runners will cover the cost of you attending this course.

Details of the officiating courses can be found at:

https://www.englandathletics.org/officiating/

Level 2 Licenced Official

This is achieved by completing Level 1, a further six competition experiences, answering Level 2 questions and receiving a positive report from a Level 3+ official. Level 2 allows you to officiate at club and county-level track and field events. Poole Runners will cover the cost of you attending this course.

You can then choose to become qualified at higher levels: Level 3 allows you to officiate at regional level, Level 4 at national/international level.

Details of the officiating courses can be found at:

https://www.englandathletics.org/officiating/

Coaches

We have a large team of trained coaches covering different activities to help develop your child’s athletic abilities. All coaches and assistant coaches have completed the England Athletics coaching courses and are all DBS checked.

EXPRESS INTEREST

If you are interested in volunteering or if you have any questions, please get in touch.