The proposal below will be considered at the Alder Valley AGM on the 31st January – any comment to AFD rep at the AGM Peter Bennett
The Alder Valley League is the busiest league in the UK in as much that it provides competition for
more athletes per competition that any other league.
The league squeezes 8 fixture into the season due the high demand, this puts pressure on clubs and
officials as finding 8 dates over the season is a challenge due to clubs having differing priorities and
claims over dates due to competitions they enter.
England Athletics have regionalised the issuing of licences and will treat all similar tier events with
the same priority, i.e. any local league will have to compete for the same dates as others, this has
the possibility of some Alder Valley Clubs having two fixtures on the same day.
Numbers have grown over the last 10 years as more athletes are attracted to the participating clubs
seeking competition opportunities. Each season has presented organising clubs with greater
problems as competitors grow and officials dwindle.
There was a peak of 1790 competitors in 2016 when the were 11 clubs in the league, this led to a
review of the number of events and non-scorers in an effort to reduce participating numbers. In
2019 there were 1356 participants compared to 1118 in 2010.
Across the UK the number of athletes in clubs is highest in the younger age group, with U15s
dominating followed by U13s, neither of whom have sufficient competition opportunities due to
under provision of events with coaches observing that number limitations by leagues result in some
athletes not engaging in the sport.
Over the last 10 years the number of competition opportunities for U17s has grown as the Southern
Athletics League has enabled unlimited non-scorers
Changes are proposed for the Alder Valley League with the aim of:
• Providing a greater number of athletes with a competition opportunity
• Providing a regular fixture for athletes
• Focussing appropriate competition around the neediest age groups.
Change one:
Separate U11s from the matches, and provision of a U11 Quad Kids league/series of competitions.
Note: Quad kids competition can be run between clubs in separate locations, to keep the duration
short, with a series of rotating events that can drive coaching schedules.
Quad kid competitions can be run with less experienced officials and parents as there is less need for
accuracy as performances turn into points.
The removes approx. 180 competitors
Change two:
Take the U17 age group out of the match to eliminate the need for clubs to find U17s for the match,
as well as fixtures not being driven by U17 competition elsewhere (SAL, UAG, …).
This removes approx. 250 competitorsDecember 2021
Change three:
Allow debutant U17s to ‘guest’ in their first year of competition.
The Alder Valley has less pressure than a Senior SAL of YDL UAG for debutant athletes and allows
U17s in the first year to compete enables a ‘soft’ entry to competition.
Change four:
Bring the Boys and Girls matches together to reduce the number of fixtures from 8 to 4/5 at regular
intervals and establish a competition tempo.
Change five:
Increase the number of athletes competing by rotating the number of events across the season by
limiting the events at a meeting.
Rationale: Restricting events to sprint, hurdles (long or sprint), endurance, field (x2), high jump,
long jump, allows more competitors to take part as Officials don’t need to move to the next event.
Guest events in particular pole vault could be provisioned for if host/visiting clubs make provision.
i.e. an open/guest event.
Athletes should be encouraged to both a track and field event at a meeting.
A reward or league table using multievent points could be provisioned to provide a reward
programme.
Change six:
Remove A and B string and replace with numbers and use the results software to determine who
from each club has the best performance, the best two score in the match as A and B scorers. This
eliminates pressure on team mangers from parents to chose athletes based on poor performance
data. This also allows all to have an attempt at scoring points.
Notes:
The changes above are not wholly independent.
Change four requires change one and two to be accepted.
Changes five and six don’t require other changes to be implemented.
In summary the changes are proposed to allow more athletes to be exposed to age appropriate
competition, which should increase the number of athletes competing at U17 and beyond. Reducing
the opportunities may result in athletes having a poor experience of the sport and finding another
one, with consequent reductions in numbers at senior levels.
Proposed by:
Julian Starkey
Secretary Bracknell AC,
Seconded by Julie Rayfield