Tamworth Athletic Club has become the first athletics club in Staffordshire and 24th in England to achieve the much-coveted Sport England’s Athletics Clubmark Status.
This achievement is in fact all the more remarkable as it is the only independent athletic club in the country that own, manage and have total control of it’s own facilities.
Sport England Clubmark is a national cross-sport accreditation for sports clubs with junior sections in recognition of a quality club. Clubmark sets core criteria for sports clubs to meet in the areas of child protection, coaching and competition, sports equity and ethics and club management.
Over the past 18 months Tamworth AC have been working hard to achieve the standards and it was announced by Paul Eales, Active Sports Partnership Manager for England Athletics that they had been successful. ‘I think it is an excellent example and therefore can confirm that I am happy to give the Clubmark accreditation.’
Catherine Pendlebury Athletics Development Officer for Sport Across Staffordshire added ‘I would like to congratulate the club on achieving the status. I am pleased that they have gained the recognition of the process they have gone through in furthering their excellent junior development’. She continued, ‘Things do not end here. The club will continue to go on to develop even better standards of service and programmes for young people and will be reassessed in 4 years time’.
Tamworth AC is hoping to develop further on the excellent progress being made at the club and work has already started on the provision of additional early training sessions for juniors to further capture the enthusiasm and interest of potential young athletes of the future.
The Clubmark award will be presented to representatives from Tamworth AC during an Indoor Athletics Event at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena in the Spring.
