Kids’ Athletics shifts attention from participation totals to children’s experience

World Athletics is expanding the role of its Kids’ Athletics programme within the Global Sport for Good Initiative, with an emphasis on understanding what participation changes for children and communities. The collaboration includes the IOC and several international sports federations.

The athletics programme targets ages four to fourteen. World Athletics says its latest participation campaign reached more than seven million children across 170 countries, supported by a network of trainers, educators, coaches and teachers.

Counting attendance is only a starting point

A participation total can show the scale of an activity without explaining its quality. A child attending one session, enjoying it enough to return and developing a lasting connection with sport are different outcomes. A programme that wants to understand its effect needs to ask more than how many names appeared on a register.

That is the importance of the initiative’s focus on measurement and child-centred delivery. Listening to children’s experiences can reveal barriers or concerns that an adult-designed participation target misses. It can also help identify which activities make a session welcoming and engaging.

The aim should not be to force every child towards elite competition. Grassroots athletics can introduce running, jumping and throwing in a way that allows different interests and abilities to take part. Competitive opportunities may follow for some children, but a positive first experience has value beyond that pathway.

The people delivering sessions matter

Coaches and teachers turn a broad programme into an actual activity. Their ability to explain a task, adapt it and respond to the group shapes what children experience. Equipment and a plan are useful, but they do not replace the judgement required to deliver a session well.

World Athletics points to education and practical tools, including a free app with offline functionality and a session planner. Such tools may support preparation, while the local setting still determines how they should be used.

A useful question for clubs and schools

For a school or community club, the practical question is whether children can participate in a way that is accessible and appropriate to them. Transport, timing, facilities and the way activities are explained can all affect that experience. The relevant barriers need to be understood locally rather than assumed from a global announcement.

Measuring change can help a programme improve, provided the measures remain connected to its purpose. A larger headline number is not automatically better if the experience becomes less inclusive or if children do not want to return.

The initiative gives Kids’ Athletics a clearer framework for asking those questions. Its ambitions should be assessed through the quality and sustainability of delivery, alongside participation. The meaningful result is not only that children were present, but that the programme understands what taking part meant for them.

Source: World Athletics strengthens role of Kids’ Athletics through Global Sport for Good Initiative. Reporting and analysis by Montage Africa.