Central Athletic Club is committed to providing the best training for all of our athletes.

“Our philosophy, regardless of age and ability, is to encourage and support our members to achieve their goals in a competitive environment”

We aim to build upon their latent athletic capability and nurture them to become the very best athlete they can be.

In line with UK and Scottish Athletics best practice we take a long term view of our athletes, and our coaching structure is designed to support this. There’s more about our approach to athlete development on the Athlete Pathway page.

How can you help?

Athletics is a sport reliant on a myriad of volunteers.

The recruitment, retention and development of volunteers is a key part of our development at Central Athletic Club. We simply would not exist without volunteers.

At present, the club requires over 100 volunteers to operate effectively. This includes, Committee Members, Coaches and Parent Helpers, Officials and Team Managers, Administration. There is an extensive range of roles you can be involved in.

For example –

COMMITTEE: President; Secretary; Treasurer; Vice President; Membership Secretary; Competitions Manager; Welfare Officer; Communications Officer; Ordinary Members

COACHING: Athlete Development Officer; Coach Co-Ordinator; Reception & Development Coaches at – Alloa, Balfron, Callander and Stirling; Event Group Coaches; Senior Specialist Coaches; PARENT HELPERS!!

OFFICIALS AND TEAM MANAGERS: Pre-Season event; Time Trials; Club Champs; East League XC; Club XC; Monument Mile; Stirling 10k; Team Managers for Leagues

ADMINISTRATION: Club Kit; Training registration; Statistician; Trophy Manager; Social media; Website Development; Fund Raising and many more

Coaching and parent helpers

We are fortunate to have a team of committed coaches that are devoted to the development of our young athletes (your children), and they are the ones that give up their time week after week, in all weathers, at training and at events in order to make sure that your children get the best out of their athletic development in a secure and safe environment. As an aside, many of them started out as parent helpers.

Central Athletics Club aims for an Adult to Child ratio of 1 : 10, for all children over 9 years of age. Therefore, as an example, where we have over 30 children attending a training session, as a minimum, we need 4 supervising adults: a level 2 coach, 2 Assistant Coaches and volunteer parent helpers.

However, with that in mind, we are not asking for everyone, and appreciate that not everyone wants to become a level 2 coach or is able to commit to be at training every week.

Having said that, they need help! We always need more Accredited Coaches, but what we are asking for, is that you consider offering a small amount of time, even once a month perhaps, to help the existing coaches. We are keen to develop a Parent Helpers rota, so that the commitment is shared amongst as many helpers as possible.

As part of our Welfare arrangements, and specifically our Safeguarding Policy, all helpers need to be a member of the Scottish PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) scheme. Our Welfare Officer will explain help you through the application process.

Some examples of what may be asked of you as a helper to the Coaches –

• simply be present in order to support the coach by being an extra body, in terms of supervision, allowing the coach to deliver a focussed, meaningful training session;
• supervise the movement of children around the training area or using toilet facilities;
• make sure that children are aware of other track users in terms of safety;
• assist in the delivery of the session by setting up and collecting equipment;
• help rake the sand pit for long jump sessions;
• help starting or timing a running session;
• help ensure safety of children during ‘throws’ coaching;
• taking names at registration;
• assisting team managers at League meetings;
• assist at pre-season events, end of season events and monthly Time Trials.

If you want to feel of greater value, you could attend a Leading Athletics Workshop, a 3 hour course, to introduce volunteers to the basics of athletics and coaching.

To be of even more value, you could attend a Coaching Assistant Course. This allows you to have greater input into coaching children, under the supervision of the Level 2 coach.

You may also consider attending an Officials training course.

Get in touch

The Club needs your help, or, more specifically, your children need your help!

Please send an email to our Club Together Officer (CTO) community@centralathletics.co.uk to express your interest in helping – the CTO will contact you personally to discuss how to take this forward.

If you already help – Thank You!!!