Meet the athlete

You’ll need

Pens or pencils
A4 paper
Chairs
Access to the internet

Before you begin

It’s a good idea to have this activity on your programme before any physical activities. Anyone working towards their Athletics Activity Badge will find it useful to learn from some experts.

Run the activity

Everyone should get into small groups or pairs. Each group will need a device or computer connected to the internet. Ask that each group goes to United Kingdom Athletics. From here, they should follow the link to the relevant national page (Scottish Athletics, Welsh Athletics, Athletics NI or England Athletics). Use the filters to find your local area and choose a local athletics club.

If there aren’t any suitable clubs on this database, you could contact local schools or universities, as they often have athletics teams.

The person leading the activity should work with the groups or pairs to decide how best to contact the chosen club. They’ll need to invite a couple of members to a session at your meeting place or at their training facilities, whichever is most suitable.
Give out pens or pencils and scrap paper. Groups should think up and write down some interesting questions to ask the club members, which relate to the following categories. No more than five questions per category are needed. These questions should be ranked one to five beneath the category, like this:

Rank	Safety	Equipment and clothing	Interests
1	What are the main risks in your sport?	What type of equipment do you need for your sport?	How did you become interested in this sport?
2	How do you keep safe when taking part?	How do you look after the equipment?	How many times a week do you train and how long for?
3	Have you ever been injured because of your sport?	What type of clothing do you wear during your sport?	Who’s your hero in your sport?
4	How do you look after yourself when playing your sport?	Does the equipment you use, or clothing you wear, ever change? And, if so, why?	What’s the most challenging part of your sport?
5	What’s your warm-up routine?	Does it have to be a certain colour?	What is your proudest achievement?

Contact the club and set up the meeting. Prepare for the visit by putting out chairs for your guests and for those who’ve prepared questions. Put out some chairs for anyone else who’d like to listen too.

Remember to ask your visitors if they have any accessibility or travel needs. Double check that they’re still able to come the day before.

Welcome your guests and invite them to be seated. Offer them some refreshments. Those who’ve prepared questions should then sit with them and take turns asking questions. Groups could have one nominated spokesperson or could take turns asking. You could even have a host who chooses who gets to ask a question next, like in a press conference.
Have your guests ask the group some questions to see if they were listening! They could also ask some more general questions about sport, athletics, safety and accessibility. Have them ask the group what they do in their meetings.

If asked, young people should demonstrate anything they've been learning about, such as a warm-up or cool-down routine.

Have those who prepared questions thank the guests for their visit when the interview is complete.

Reflection

Meeting people who do sport on a regular basis and finding out about what they do should’ve inspired you to keep active. Were there any hints or tips the athletes gave that really stood out to you? What kind of challenges had they overcome? Sportspeople often inspire us by chasing a seemingly-impossible goal and reaching it in dramatic fashion. Resilience is very important, and most athletes will have had times when they’ve needed to pick themselves up again after just falling short. If you can do that, you can do anything!

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

Online safety: Supervise young people when they’re online and give them advice about staying safe. Take a look at our online safety or bullying guidance. The NSPCC offers more advice and guidance, too. If you want to know more about specific social networks and games, Childnet has information and safety tips for apps. You can also report anything that’s worried you online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. As always, if you’ve got concerns about a young person’s welfare, including their online experiences, follow the Yellow Card to make a report.