Lack of coaches and track damage leave athletics club struggling

Children across the country may have been inspired, by recent European Athletics Championships and the feats of athletes like British sprinters Amy Hunt and Matthew Hudson-Smith, to take up the sport.

But is the sport ready for them? One club not far from the venue which hosted the championships said they were struggling to cope with the interest.

A summer camp run by the Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletics Club was well-attended which their chairman, Colin Thompson, said "was inspired by" the Birmingham event.

"That helps us, but what happens is people come down, having been inspired by the sport, only to find that we can't accommodate them through lack of coaches," he added.

The club has lost four coaches over the last year and struggles to maintain their track, due to local plant life.

"[We've] got roots growing underneath the velodrome, which is the cycle velodrome around the track, and the [athletics] track", Thompson said.

"It's not just a simple case of covering the track. It's getting rid of the roots to enable us to resurface the track."

"The interest may be there, but you've got to have the infrastructure to deal with it and a lot of clubs haven't got that infrastructure."

But he did not criticise the local council, which he said, like many across the country, did not have the money to invest in grassroots sports like athletics.

"The facilities are so expensive to maintain that I think like all councils up and down the country they've got so much money to spend," Thompson added.

"They've got to allocate it to the most appropriate places."

England Athletics recognised the challenges some clubs faced in recruiting and keeping volunteers, coaches and officials, a spokesperson said.

"While some clubs are experiencing pressures, we continue to see strong demand for athletics and running across England," they added.

Their organisation was working closely with clubs, coaches, officials, facility providers and local partners to help address these challenges, they added.

"We've passed on the club's concerns to our club support manager for the West Midlands to reach out the club to see if there is anything further we can do to support them," the spokesperson said.

The City of Wolverhampton Council was contacted for comment.

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