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Benefits of Athletics for Schools

Out of all sports, many schools see athletics as one of the best types of sports to get kids into due to its wide range of activities contained within it. But, how do schools start to include athletics into their PE lessons and leisure time?

There are many benefits of athletics for schools as there is a wide range of events available to suit different pupils’ abilities.

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Which Athletics Events are Available?

The beauty behind athletics is how there are so many different events to choose from, really allowing for people to build upon different skills. Creating a multipurpose track is always a good idea as it allows for multiple sports (e.g. sprint, marathon, hurdles, long jump, relay races) to be carried out on it.

Surfacing for more specific events can be installed/supplied by us, and these include discus circles, long jump tracks, high jumps and triple jump. Installing things like this can really encourage children to try out new activities and possibly spark an interest in a new event that they previously didn’t know any information about beforehand.

Classic athletic tracks can be requested also like the 1200m track. We can add the painted lines to create a more stand out track and make it clearer for those taking part. If you’re looking for just a simple 100m track, then we can also help with that as well. All ideas are welcomed by our team so make sure you send us an enquiry as soon as possible with your ideas

Athletics Tracks and Facilities for Schools

Athletic tracks are incredibly beneficial for children in schools. With so many different types offered, you can really cater for what the kids want to do whilst also giving them a wide variety of physical and mental benefits. We at Soft Surfaces can supply and install various types of surfaces which can be used for a full running track to smaller facilities.

Choosing the surface of your sports track can be a bit of a nightmare if you don’t know what you’re looking for exactly. Below are the two most popular selections we get and some points to note for both.

  • Polymeric rubber – Being made up of rubber granules, this surface offers a great platform for athletes to fully express themselves. Many professional athletic clubs and high schools make this their prime selection when it comes to picking between the two as the surface is perfect for aspiring/professional athletes.
  • Needlepunch turf – On the other hand, some people may find polymeric a tough surface to fall on and may result in injuries to those who are inexperienced or too young. Needlepunch turf is a perfect counter to this problem. Being a lot softer, many primary schools like to choose this surface out of the two. Visit this page for more information on this particular surface type.

It really is up to you how you want to design your athletic tracks/facilities as you can pick either and even change colours and add patterns depending on the size. Soft Surfaces really promote the idea of having full creativity over your own product and so we will try and make sure that your ideas are bought to life.

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Boosting Children’s Health with Sport

Recent times have seen children become unhealthier as time goes on. The UK government has stated that 1 in 6 children during reception and 1 in 3 children during primary school are classed as obese.

With an increase from previous years, many believe that technology had some role to play in this whole act but there are ways in which we can improve health. Starting with athletics. Some benefits of athletics for schools include:

  • Healthy habits are built – Through athletics, healthy habits are improved on and children start to become a lot more adapted to the effort that you must put in. Preparing them with these types of activities is great to start to integrate sports within their lifestyles. See another post here to find out more about healthy and active lifestyles for kids.
  • Slow down ageing – Getting older can lead to many bone and muscle problems for those who don’t do any exercise. By getting children doing exercise like this, it decreases the chance of these problems occurring earlier.
  • Improves confidence – Children often suffer from a decrease in confidence when they don’t do a lot of sport as they can start to think of themselves as incredibly unhealthy. Athletics gives kids a wide variety of sports to take part in and really express themselves without any worries.
  • Teamwork – Relay races rely on great teamwork to have a winning chance. Sports like these highlight the importance of teamwork amongst children and gets them into a strong mindset to understand how an effective team can accomplish and achieve goals within a quick time.
  • Sharpens coordination – Sports such as shot put, javelin, hurdles, triple jump all require great coordination. Combining two key muscle functions, children start to improve coordination skills In school and learn how to master certain functions of the body.
  • Great sportsmanship – Taking part in these activities means so kids will win whilst most will end up losing. Loads of children don’t want to lose but by taking part in these types of activities, they start to understand that it’s more about taking part and enjoying the sport than winning.

These are just a few of the points which are important to note when it comes to how these activities can boost children’s health. A good point to remember is that children get bored incredibly quickly with most sports as they end up being the same thing repeatedly whilst athletics offers a wide variety of sports to take part in.

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Designing a School Athletic Facility

When it comes to designing a school athletic facility, it can be incredibly overwhelming and complicated at first. You may not know what type of surface you want or how to structure the track properly. We at Soft Surfaces can solve those worries for you and make it ten times easier to decide on what you want and need.

Over 20 years of experience makes our advice and services nearly unbeatable by any other company operating in the industry. Ranging from commercial to residential, we have dealt with all sorts of clients and always received great feedback about our work and staff.

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If you have any questions or queries that you would like to be attended to, then send us an enquiry and one of our team will get back to you quickly. We can give more information on the benefits of athletics for schools to help you decide what you need. Whether it’s the design process to the installation process, our team will be more than happier to assist you.

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