Meath leads the way in schools programme

The Primary Schools Mini Athletics Programme has been running for the past 4 years with the help and support of the Meath Athletics Board. The coaches are employed by FAS under the Community Employment Scheme on a yearly contract for a maximum of 3 years. The programme consists of throws, jumps, sprints and relays, but we would cover a particular event if the school requests.
They provide the programme to 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th classes, and the period allocated for each class is an hour. The programme is free of charge; its aim is to encourage children to join their local Athletics Club. They usually visit schools once a year but do revisit schools if requested. The coaches have covered approximately 87 schools from September 2010 to date, and are targeting the remaining schools in the County at present.
Last term the programme introduced “Sports Hall Athletics” to its schedule. This scheme is sponsored by the Meath Local Sports Partnership. The first school to undertake this new programme was a Drumbarragh National School and it ran for a training period of 6 weeks. A team of 48 athletes was chosen from 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th classes to represent Meath in the Inter County Schools Hall Athletics Finals in Athlone in March 2011. Seven Counties competed in this competition and the school were placed 4th.
At present, the programme is working with Carnaross N.S and Yellow Furze N.S., and they will be selecting the top 24 athletes from each school to represent Meath in the Pre-qualifier National Inter Schools Championships in February 2012.
Secondary School Development
This September the development team provided the athletics programme to Loreto Secondary School, Navan, and introduced a module which covered Core Strength and Nutrition. This proved to be successful, and the school requested a follow-on lecture in Nutrition. In 2012, the coaches will be working with 2nd year students in three Secondary Schools in Meath.
The course coaches have completed a Disability Awareness Training Course in Sports with Aine Coogan, Sports Inclusion Disability Officer with MLSP. They felt there was a need to do this course because they have found a large number of children in classes with physical or intellectual disabilities. And they aim to give all children an opportunity in sport, this course provided us with the knowledge required to include these children in our programmes.The coaches who deliver this programmes are Moira Peppard is a level 2 coach with Trim Athletics Club. Maria Matthews is a level 1 coach with Navan Athletics Club. Paul Tully is a level 1 coach and Personal Trainer with Paul Tully Fitness. Contact Moira on 086 0878875 if you would like to have your school include in future programmes.