In the face of sports which are updating and evolving their spectator experience, athletics has to revamp how it presents its events, Euan Crumley hears
This athletics summer might be at the half-way point, but a look back through the output of the AW social media channels and website, shows a huge level of interest and engagement in the sport – that there is a feeling of momentum gathering.
It all served as a welcome reminder that all is not entirely unwell with athletics and that the potential for growth is very real. There’s just one, key problem. For that growth to happen, the audience is going to have to widen.
As athletics fans we are able to gorge on this feast but how many people outside of the sport’s bubble are aware of events unfolding?
Changing that is no easy task, with every single sport on the planet vying for the attention of not just the next generation but also potential new recruits.
How do you start doing it? One person trying to come up with an answer is Laura Hillyard.
Birmingham you were remark-a-bull.🐮
That’s all for now. I’m still recovering. 😴#Birmingham2022 pic.twitter.com/mh2fB3TK6Z
— Laura Hillyard (@LauraHillyard1) August 11, 2022
An athlete turned events director and producer, since beginning to hone her craft at the Loughborough International 10 years ago she has worked across some of athletics’ very biggest showcases – from the Commonwealth Games to the Olympics. However, she also decided to step outside of her favourite sport to see what others were doing.
This led to her working within the British Basketball League (BBL) and, in particular, revamping the London Lions team Game Nights at the Copper Box Arena and Wembley Arena. The lessons she has learned through doing so, she believes, could help athletics to re- establish the foothold it once had on the sporting landscape.
Hillyard was at both Night of the 10,000m PBs and Loughborough International back in May. She agrees both provided reasons to be cheerful but she also couldn’t escape the feeling that they were already preaching to the choir. There should be more focus, she believes, on those new disciples.
“What Highgate has done brilliantly is to tap into a community within the sport and it has reignited a fire within people to get involved,” says Hillyard, who can still be found most days at London’s Mile End track, training under the guidance of coach Chris Zah, as well as regularly competing at National Athletics League…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at AW…