Launched in October 2017, our Athlete Development Pathway aligns the British Athletics Athlete Development stages with key athlete and coach support programmes delivered in NI.

Entry to the pathway is from 8 years old through the following levels of development:

• Fundamentals – Focusing on movement skills including agility, balance and co-ordination; speed; jumping and landing to support a multi-sport approach
• Foundation – Focusing on running, jumping and throwing skills to support a multi-event approach, appreciating the athlete may still be involved in multiple sports
• Event Group – Narrowing the focus to Sprints, Endurance, Jumps, Throws or Combined Events
• Event Specialist – Narrowing the focus to a specialist event within an event group
• Performance – Preparing to compete at the highest level

The pathway takes into account the sporting environment athletes and coaches work within, such as schools, universities, clubs, communities and performance centres, highlighting the crucial interactions, and relationships, at each stage of athlete development.

Athletics NI aim to offer appropriate, positive and rewarding experiences to every athlete in every training environment so they may reach their full potential. We aim to get more athletes to major championships and to improve the quality of coaching at every level. Success at international level will attract more participants into the sport and more members for Athletics Northern Ireland. We believe that Talent and Performance drive Participation and Participation drives Talent.