JUNIOR ILKLEY HARRIERS Running, jumping and throwing
Junior Ilkley Harriers (JIH) was set up by Ilkley Harriers Shirley Wood and Neil Chapman in September 2003 with its roots in Sportshall Athletics (see box). Since then, membership has grown from 60 to 274 children. Here Shirley describes how JIH has developed and its relation to Ilkley Harriers.
n September 2002 Neil Chapman and myself set up Ilkley Sportshall Athletics which amounted to one hour of SHA in the Clevedon House School sports hall on a Wednesday. It was run by volunteer helpers most of whom were members of Ilkley Harriers.
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At the time the Bradford Athletics Officer suggested that we could send all our juniors to Bingley Harriers. My exact reply was ‘over my dead body’ so over the summer of 2003 plans were made to establish Junior Ilkley Harriers (JIH) and at the September AGM of Ilkley Harriers this was approved.
JIH was officially set up on the 1st September 2003 for children between the
SPORTSHALL ATHLETICS
Over the past eight years our programme has been planned and developed to cater for the great demand for junior athletics in Wharfedale as well as the specific interests of the children. Originally we thought the junior section would mirror the senior’s and be primarily a XC/Fell club, but the popularity of Sportshall Athletics (SHA) has led us down a different pathway.
SHA is an indoor version of most of the traditional athletics events (long, triple and vertical jumps; shot, javelin, discus and hammer throws; running using reversaboards; hurdling; agility activities such as balance, sit and reach, balance beam, speed bounce and hi-stepper – the equipment is made of soft foam/plastic and is brightly coloured and fun).
Track & Field Athletics is the natural progression from SHA so it is in this direction that our junior section has moved.
24 ILKLEY HARRIERS NEWSLETTER • JULY–AUGUST 2010
ages of 8-16 years on the understanding that we would be independent from the senior section and have different training times and venues. Although we fall under the Ilkley Harriers club constitution we manage our own audited finances and have our own band of coaches and helpers. From September 2002 until the summer of 2005 we were based at Clevedon House School, where we enjoyed the most fantastic facilities and great support from the school and Demi Dowley the PE Teacher.
Our original one hour of coaching grew to four hours and as some of our older juniors were turning fifteen we set up a ‘Transition Stage’ where they could do
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