FAQ

Little Athletics is a uniquely Australian modified athletics program for children from 5 to 15 years, although some State Associations may offer age groups outside this range.

As the name suggests, it is based upon the sport of athletics (track and field). There is a wide range of events from running, jumping, throwing and walking and events are modified to suit the age, developmental stage and ability of the children.

Little Athletics promotes that it is important to “Be your Best” ®. The emphasis is on fun, participation, performance, technique and getting involved with your family in physical and healthy activity. The motto of Little Athletics is ‘Family, Fun and Fitness”.

Across Australia, more than 100,000 girls and boys enjoy the activities of Little Athletics. Little Athletics is the “Foundation for all Sports”. All sports use the skills developed at Little Athletics.

Children between the ages of five (5) and Sixteen (16) years can register, although these age groups may differ in some State Associations. Parents, grandparents and friends can also be involved by helping with the various events.

Little Athletics is primarily a summer activity, generally running from October through to late March. We also conduct cross-country during the winter months, taking place during April to the end of July. Please contact Altona Little Athletics via email at altonalavic.com.au for registration dates, season dates, and key event dates.

Altona Little Athletics Centre is located at George Nevitt Reserve located at the end of Sugargum Drive in Altona. We conduct our 15 week program here every Saturday morning throughout the Summer Season. With our cross Country (winter) program this is conducted at numerous locations around the local area sometimes in conjunction with other local Centres.

Altona Little Athletes offers a range of athletic (track and field) events in any given weekly program. The number and combination of events will differ from week to week, and usually work on a rotational basis throughout the season.
Some of the events include: Sprints, Hurdles, Middle Distance, Race Walking, Relays, Shot Put, Discus, Javelin, Long Jump, Triple Jump, and High Jump. Note that some events have age restrictions on them.

Safety and fun are of the utmost importance at Little Athletics; hence equipment is modified to suit the age and developmental stage of the athletes. For example, it may be lighter (e.g. discus), made from modified materials (e.g. foam javelins, or elastic high jump bar), or of a smaller height (e.g. hurdles), to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our Little Athletes.

Our emphasis is on Family, Fun & Fitness. Children can join with any level of skill or fitness. Children are given plenty of encouragement to achieve personal bests (PB’s). Altona Little Athletics recognises that children vary widely in shape, size and athletic ability, and thus is one of few sports that successfully caters for all.

Little Athletics is very reasonably priced, and provides great value for money for children’s sporting activities. Please contact us at altona@lavic.com.au or the Little Athletics Victoria website for information regarding fees.

If your child would like to take part in Little Athletics, you need to register them with online here. It is suggested that prior to registering online to contact us to ensure that you have all the specific centre information available to you.

Age groups are determined by the year of birth. Please refer to the Age Group Calculator in the Resources section of the LAVic website for details.

We offer a 2 week come and try session for your child. This is a free trial and will entitle your child to participate in all events programmed for these two days. After this time if you decide to join you will be required to register your children via the online portal and then purchase athletes uniforms.

Because Little Athletics is a totally voluntary sport, Centres cannot operate without the assistance of parents and other adult volunteers each week in fulfilling the many and varied duties required. These include officiating at an event; managing an age group; recording results; working in the canteen; just to name a few. Each week we have a parent duty rosters in order to share the load. Additional assistance is always required on the Centre committees and all parents are encouraged to become involved. Little Athletics is one of the few sports where parents can become fully involved in their child’s sporting interests.

Yes we do have a uniform for their weekly intra-Centre program and these can be purchased at the Centre at any given time. All registered athletes must wear an approved Centre uniform when competing in Little Athletics competitions against other Centres. Our Club representative will be able to tell you how much their uniforms cost. Footwear must be worn in all events, by all competing members.

Our Club has qualified coaches or parents who offer training session/s during the week. These sessions include Sprints and long distance training, throws training for beginners and advanced, jumps coaching for long and triple jumpers.

Yes, at the beginning of the season we offer a orientation day education program for all Athletes and Parents. This will cover competition rules for marshalling events and education on the basic techniques as a starting point for all new Athletes. As mentioned above we offer free training throughout the season to be able to hone the Athletes skills at.

Altona Little Athletics Centre offers a unique environment and a grounded community based feel. We like to describe our Club as a grass roots facility that focus on Family Fun and Fitness that provides an engaging and social atmosphere. Our track has a grass surface and offers a number of advantages over the more modern synthetic tracks. Over time we have discovered that running on grass is the best surface to run on while those little bones are growing and developing. Running on grass will provide a slightly slower time than synthetic tracks, this works as an advantage once at Regional, state and National events as our athletes will find the synthetic tracks faster under foot.