By Owen Morgan

Exciting new plans to establish a long-term “conveyor belt” of talented Welsh athletes have been outlined by the new man at the head of the sport’s governing body in Wales.

James Williams took over as interim chief executive of Welsh Athletics at the turn of the year after his predecessor, Matt Newman, left to concentrate on his role with Run 4 Wales.

In a wide-ranging interview with Dai Sport, Williams outlined Welsh Athletics’ newly launched seven-year strategy to ensure the long-term health and success of the sport in Wales.

Speaking during last weekend’s successful Welsh Indoor Athletics Championships at Cardiff’s National Indoor Athletics Centre (NIAC), Williams said: “It’s a very exciting and interesting time for Welsh Athletics.

“We’ve just launched our new strategy and I think for the first time in a long time we have a clear vision of where the sport is going to go over the next seven years.”

As well as focussing on the success and potential of current athletes at upcoming championships, the governing body wants to concentrate on the development and success of future talent for years to come.

“We’ve outlined a long-term strategy because we need to start looking beyond a traditional cycle,” says Williams, formerly head of operations at Welsh Athletics.

“Of course, we hope to have top performances in Birmingham in 2022, but what can we put in place to ensure that we have almost a conveyor belt of talent that can come through for future Commonwealth Games, European Championships and, of course, world championships and Olympic Games.

“It’s about ensuring every aspect of that performance pathway is catered for – starting at the clubs, stronger clubs, investing in our coaches, recruiting new coaches, developing coaches regardless of where that coach is on their journey.

“Ensuring that with the athletes, we retain the talent, improve the talent and that the athletes perform, improve and develop over a long term basis.

“I think if there was a criticism of what we have tried to do in the past it is that we have tried to wrap as much support as we can around those athletes who have shown immediate talent.

“Our objective was around trying to enhance that immediate talent as opposed to looking at the structures we need to ensure that talent comes through on a continuous basis.”

Williams says it is important the competition structure within Wales underpins the new strategy, ensuring young athletes in particular enjoy a more rounded development rather than concentrating on just one discipline.

“What we have to start looking at is ensuring those athletes at the very young age groups – under 11, under 13 – have a more rounded experience in the sport.

“I think we have to look beyond an athlete trying to peak at 11, 12, 13-years-old and wrapping titles around them like, ‘you’re the absolute best in Wales at 11 and 12 yearsold’. If they are out of the sport by 14 or 15, what good is that?

“We are going to try to drive more of a multi-disciplinary approach to those younger age groups. It could be that we’ve got some fantastic hurdlers out there, but if they come into the sport as a 1500 metre runner, or as a long jumper and they don’t deviate from that, how will we ever see if that talent can be transferred?”

With so many competing attractions for youngsters’ time, it is hoped a creative and tailored approach to developing athletics will help make it more resilient to the challenges of other sports.

Williams says: “It’s one of the things I said to the staff a couple of weeks back, we always get examples like rugby and football thrown against us. This is what rugby is doing, this is what football is doing.

“You can’t compare the sports, you can’t compare the finances in those sports, so we can’t approach things in the way those other sports can. We have to be different, think creatively and take a different approach.

“Unfortunately, those riches which are available in rugby and football and the status of those sports in Wales will mean we play second, or third fiddle to some of those sports.

“But what we can do is put our sport at the centre of where we think we need to go and that’s where that long term development programme we are trying to put into place should ensure that those athletes are retained in the sport for a much longer period.

“History tells us this with our sport, if you look at the county records in some of our disciplines you have the likes of Gareth Bale, Sam Warburton, Geraint Thomas and Aaron Ramsey, who have all come through the athletics system but then go into some of those other sports, and we will always have that, unfortunately.

“More often than not, the fastest boy or girl in the school is also the outside-half, striker or top hockey player, too. We need to put those structures in place so those athletes who do have athletics as their passion, we retain them and we ensure they develop over a longer term. And if they continue to improve, the hope is that they stay in the sport for longer.

“If we continue to invest in our coaches then we will have better coaches who will help them on that journey and develop with them.

“So that’s where we are, trying to build that infrastructure to enable the sport in Wales to modernise, to create a more sustainable talent programme and, hopefully, we will see the success at the end of that.”

Williams is proud of the work the sport already does in looking after and developing its athletes in Wales, something the governing body will continue to do and develop further through national coach Chris Jones and his performance team.

“The relatively small talent base means we are able to wrap that support around them,” says Williams.

“It’s of a size that we can enable that one-to-one care and one-to-one support and work with that coach to ensure the athlete, should they get injured or ill, our performance team can work with them to ensure it’s an integrated, long-term re-introduction into the sport.

“The other thing that we are desperately trying to do with the talent that’s in Wales is try to retain them in Wales, so Chris and his team have a better chance of influencing the long-term development of that athlete through that immediate contact with them.

“In the past, I think we have been guilty of trying to push those athletes to a coach in say Loughborough or other places, when really, we have a better chance of ensuring they get the right level of support if they stay local here.

“And also, it’s a good sign for our coaches that you haven’t got to go to other parts of the country to develop. Our coaches are of a standard and our structures are of a standard that we can support you right here in Wales, be it Cardiff, Swansea or in North Wales.

“And one of the things I know that Chris and the performance team are trying to put in place is to use this centre here at NIAC, to wrap the support around this arena to create a true performance environment which enables that talent development to happen here in Cardiff.

“Chris has come back from a warm weather training camp in Spain where we had 16 of our top endurance athletes out there – the likes of Josh Griffiths, Dewi Griffiths, Jake Heyward, Charlotte Arter, Jenny Nesbitt, Clara Evans, all training together with that immediate support around them.”

The new strategy was formulated through conversations across Wales, including 14 open forums, a widely publicised online questionnaire and hosting a series of club and one-to-one meetings.

Now, it’s a case of putting the contents of that document into action and reaping the rewards in future, says Williams.

“We are trying to put the structures in place that will enable that talent to not only stay in the sport but develop over a longer term basis. By doing that we will start to see a broader talent base at the higher end.

“What that should lead to, hopefully, is not only more athletes qualifying for a Commonwealth Games, European champs etc, but then performing at a better standard when they get there. So that’s our ambition, I think all the staff have bought into it.

“Our challenge now is to get the community to understand the role that they are going to play within that. It’s a very, very exciting time for the sport.”

You can read the new seven year strategy in full on the Welsh Athletics website.

https://www.welshathletics.org/en/page/Our-vision