Peta fears unseen impact of pandemic
Coach fears a generation of runners could be lost
The Times health and well-being columnist Peta Bee believes a whole generation of young runners could be lost because of the widespread impact on lifestyle brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peta, who founded Cookham Running Club several years ago, fears there’s already been a big, and in many ways unseen, impact on children’s mental well-being with young people having seen their activities severely restricted over the past 12 months.
She’s also worried many young people will have dropped out of sports such as running and athletics and haven’t had the support they need to guide them through challenging years when growth spurts and growing pains can put them off playing sport and exercising.
“I think we could have lost a whole generation of runners,” she said this week. “It’s just gone on for so long and it’s a struggle to keep them motivated.
“Lots of clubs have continued but kids thrive on competition and it’s the same in any sport. We’ll have lost quite a lot.
“Just because of some of the things they go through while growing up.
“As a coach you can help them deal with their growing pains. But because we’ve had such little contact you can’t keep track of that and explain to them that they will come out of it at the end.
“My son, who is now 15, grew six inches in one year. It’s a massive change and it can affect how they perform and it’s a tricky age to keep them engaged anyway. There’s usually such a huge drop out from sport, but with the pandemic it’s going to be worse.
“I know a lot of children who have stopped and coaches who have quit because they could see
that all of their kids were drifting away, and they thought it’s not worth it.
“Every club has missed a whole intake of a particular age group as well, because it’s a year since we had proper competition.”
Cookham Running Club have now resumed outdoor training sessions for juniors and, while the club hasn’t yet seen a big drop off in membership, Peta believes other larger running clubs will have experienced this.
She’s been busily scheduling in events and competitions for the club’s runners through the spring and summer and said that they
thrive on this to give them an edge and keep them engaged.
She said: “We’re quite small as a club, and we’ve managed to keep people engaged with Zoom calls every week and things like that, but a big club it’s going to be really tricky to maintain members, I think.
“I’ve recently done the fixture list for the first time in a year, and lots of events have been booked in for that.
“The season will be a bit later than it usually would, but it doesn’t really matter because we’ve got things to head for and aim for.”