Sonia boosts stars of future
Olympic race walkers Olive Loughnane and Robert Heffernan — seventh and eight, respectively, in Beijing — were amongst the celebrities assembled for the launch.
But the Olympic silver medallist, a multiple world and European champion, had special words for Phyllis Kidney who, as Chairperson of Ballymore/Cobh AC, was a major influence on her early career.
“We did not have programmes like this in those days,” she said. “Phyllis had us out running laps and then, when she finished with us, I would run some more laps.
“Phyllis was before her time in the area of fun athletics for kids and it is great to see her here giving her full support to the programme.”
The driving force behind the McDonalds Little Athletics programme is Jacqui Freyne who was a dual scholarship student — athletics and hockey — in the US and is now Director of Development with Athletics Ireland.
“Basically it is a fun introduction for five to 10-years-old into athletics — making it more fun and getting more people involved,” she said.
“McDonalds sponsorship has allowed us to move the programme to a new level — get new manuals, get new equipment and the regional development officers (RDOs) have those agility challenges for the clubs too.
“At present we estimate there is about 15,000 to 20,000 kids enjoying little athletics around the country and we are hoping to increase those numbers and particularly if we get the schools involved as well as community groups and summer camps.
“In the schools you are going to be competing against all the other sports but I think this new programme makes athletics a lot of fun and, as a result, a lot of the other sports have been showing an interest in getting involved.”
The McDonalds Little Athletics programme will be delivered by Athletics Ireland’s seven Regional Development Officers and by Athletics Leaders — adults trained by Athletics Ireland through the Athletic Leader coaching qualification.
The RDOs will visit 200 clubs throughout the year and they will focus on the use of games to provide fun while developing fitness. Props such as hurdles, obstacles, medicine balls, foam javelins and hula-hoops will be used encourage tumbling, running, throwing, hopping a jumping.
Clubs or schools can send three people on an Athletic Leader course and all the equipment and the manual will be provided free of charge for them to take back to their bases.
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