Lamine Diack and Gilles de Robien, France's Minister of National Education, meet pupils during a visit to Reaumur primary school in Amiens on Friday (5 May) (© IAAF)
MonteCarlo“Designed, ever since its creation a decade ago as a way of promoting and developing athletics in sports venues overseen by the IAAF's Member Federations, the IAAF World Athletics Day will, for the first time in 2006, also reach out directly to schools, to encourage pupils to take part in our sport.
This initiative stems directly from the IAAF Council's firm resolve to gradually establish athletics as the number one participation sport in schools all over the world as one of the major objectives set out in the Athletics' World Plan, which is being implemented.
Our determination to obtain concrete results in this field led us to appoint a permanent commission charged with devising strategies to encourage school children and teenagers to take up athletics both at school and with their local clubs.
This commission is supported by permanent staff at the IAAF's headquarters in Monaco. Driven by the expertise and commitment of its members, the Commission for School/Youth has already made remarkable strides in its bid to set up a tailored athletics programme, offering both educational and competitive aspects for children and teenagers between the ages of 7 and 15.
We are convinced that schools are the ideal place in which to promote the virtues of physical activity in general, and of athletics in particular. No other environment, sporting or otherwise, can compete with schools in terms of their capacity to nurture, supervise, encourage and coach young people all over the world.
Schools have always been the main source of talent for clubs, in turn providing athletes for national sports federations and the international sports' scene, so it is only right that, in return, these entities collaborate with the schools in mutually beneficial partnerships based around shared projects.
At the IAAF, we want to see schools adopt a central role and be instrumental in the success of the development policy which has been mapped out in the Athletics' World Plan.
We are aware that this is only attainable with the full backing of National Member Federations and clubs, who we hope will feel duty-bound to develop links with schools' sport administrators. By strengthening relations on an institutional level they will also provide much needed support and assistance to teachers and coaches in their quest to improve the extent of their knowledge.
But, of course, schools are carefully controlled structures and depend on national authorities to regulate the ways in which they are managed and run.
That is why I call upon every government in the world to ensure that, in addition to featuring physical education and sport more prominently in their national school curriculum, they introduce special incentive schemes for those sport teachers who are willing to give up their own time to train and coach pupils outside school hours.
Because athletics is a core sport which develops children in a rounded way and enables them to thrive in practically any other physical activity, athletics must be given a central role in schools' sport programmes and new competition structures.
For these reasons, the IAAF is delighted to offer its full collaboration, with the support of our Area Associations and Member Federations, to all governing bodies or private entities, whether national or international, who are willing to be our partners in seeking to establish athletics as a worldwide participation sport whilst, at the same time, promoting its values and ideals.
I thank all of you, individuals and organisations alike, for doing us the honour of taking part in this year’s edition of the IAAF World Athletics Day and we wish you the best of success."
Lamine Diack
IAAF President