Retaining Athletes

The retention of athletes is a subject close to my heart. It can mean two things to me. The first is keepeing young athletes in the sport and in the club - in the 1970's I did a bit of research with the blessing of the SAAA into how long young athletes stayed in the sport. This involved keeping track of the careers of all the medal winners in the Scottish Schools Championships over a five year period. The overall retention rate was approximately 10%. That is, only 10% of those winning things at 15 were still in the sport at 20 and it was much worse in field events than in track. I suspect that the figure now is even lower than that.

Apart from diversions such as computer games, such as a bigger range of sports to choose from and even a cultural change that doesn't encourage the work ethic either in school or out of it, the children are maybe not getting what they want from the sport. Tommy Boyle compared athletic clubs to buses: you get on it to go somwehere. If you are on the wrong bus, then change! There may be some truth in the suggestion that many young athletes have not got what they want from the sport generally for a variety of reasons - the facilities are lacking which is a general truth in Scotland; the coaching or competition structures are lacking; the social life that many want is lacking.

One thing that I do know is that athletes can get more and better attention in a small club than in one of the massive organisations masquerading as clubs at present. It is no coincidence that Tom McKean spent all his career at Motherwell where there were not massive demands to support the club everywhere; it is no coincidence that Liz McColgan never ran for any of the big clubs in Scotland either in Edinburgh or Glasgow. And have you noticed that Lee McConnell does not have a Scottish club - she runs exclusively in a Shaftesbury Barnet vest and really only turns out in BAL matches - even then not always!

The solution for young athletes is to find a coach with whom you can work, and then do your best. If you are good enough, you will get the races you need to develop. The question for the club is - what sort of bus are we? Do we take the members where they want to go?

Anyway, these are just random thoughts - all comments welcome!