​The Junior Section welcomes young people from the age of 7 into our club and we provide the full range of athletic disciplines apart from hammer and pole vault. We offer coaching and competition opportunities for anybody interested in athletics and we expect all our athletes to be interested in athletics and to be motivated and committed to their own athletic development.

​

All our juniors train under the supervision of a qualified coach and are placed into a coaching group according to their age, ability or specialist discipline. Our coaches will make training enjoyable and safe but all the time we are looking to improve performance and athletic discipline so we expect our athletes to work hard too. We are an athletic club, not a fitness class or a playground and we expect our junior athletes to enter competitions and to represent the club when asked.

In summer, training concentrates on sprints and endurance running, long jump, high jump, shot, discus and javelin. In winter, training concentrates on sportshall events, cross country, sprint training, general conditioning and plyometrics.

Training is outside all year for our older athletes but indoors in winter for our athletes aged 7 and 8, so appropriate clothing is essential, whatever the weather.

Over the years many of our juniors have gained county, regional and national recognition and many have progressed, with our good wishes and support, to bigger clubs, where they continue to thrive, competing at a higher level, but proud to have commenced their athletic career with Retford AC.

Selection Criteria

We expect:

• all our members to work hard at developing their athletic skills, to behave properly at all times and to enter competitions when the time is right.   

• all new members to have a basic level of fitness and when you first come to us, we will give you a short assessment based on running, throwing and  jumping.    This helps us to work out which training group is best and to decide if our club is right for you.     

• all our parents to  lend a helping hand in managing and organising the junior section and its activities.

​

If you are still interested please go to the Join Us tab of this website for information on how to join.

​