A first taste of athletics competition…
Aviva Sportshall provides a highly enjoyable way for young people to try running, jumping and throwing activities as they take their first step into athletics.
The programme emphasises the importance of team competiton and fair play and the fact that taking part and trying your hardest is more importance than winning alone. Above all, Aviva Sportshall in an activity that can bring together children from across the globe in competition and friendship.
A great competition focus for budding athletes
Aviva Sportshall Pathway
Aviva Sportshall's exciting mix of skills, awards and competition appeals to children of all abilities.
Aviva's support of the Sportshall Competition across the both school and club setting provides a comprehensive series of the opportunities for young athletes. The Primary and Secondary programmes support regular competition in schools over the winter months culminating in a series of county and regional finals.
The Aviva Sportshall UK Championships provide the competitive focus for many young athletes between October and March. Each county stages a local programme of competition and trials to select teams with the majority providing regular competition for athletics clubs via a county league.
For more information please visit the Sportshall website.
An overview of the Aviva Sportshall programme
Aviva Sportshall Primary
The national competition framework for athletics provides for local cluster events, leading through School Sport Partnerships or District Finals to County Finals. In Scotland, the programme culminates in a series of regionla events. County Finals were held in 42 of the 49 English counties last year.
Whilst the national series of county finals provides for competition at school years five and six, many areas offer competition for younger age groups too. The competiton format encourages each school to field a team of upto 15 girls and 15 boys and incorporates an exciting mix of relays and field events. Three girls and three boys are selected for each of the six events in the field, whilst the track programme grips the attention of athletes and spectators alike.
These are without doubt the noisiest of the Aviva Sportshall events with each county final typically bring together between 200 and 300 young people and providing the most amazing sporting atmosphere. Record numbers of youngsters are competing in the programme across the Primary sector and these events will provide many with their first memorable experience of athletics competition..
Aviva Sportshall Secondary
Aviva Sportshall Secondary competition builds on the Primary experience and offers ideal solutions to the challenges of intra-school competion and the retention of young people in competitive school sport following transition. The programme is already firmly established in more than 40 countries.
The programme allows children to excel at individual races and develop technical skills for events such as Shot Putt and Triple Jump before they progress into outdoor track and field. The national framework promotes the selection of school teams at both Year 7 and Year 8 to contest local Partnership events and leagues prior to progression to County and Regional Finals.
Separate girls and boys teams, each comprising of between 5 and 8 athletes contest each competition. The track programme includes individual races over 2, 4 and 6 laps together with a series of relays. In the field two athletes are selected to contest each of the five field events, with each athlete being permitted to complete a maximum of three track and two field events.
