Oceania Athletics Association update

The Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) continues to be a voice and champion of gender equity at all levels of Athletics by supporting the delivery of gender leadership programmes. These programmes are to ensure there is a sustainable pool of women with the necessary skillsets to take on senior leadership roles within the Member Federations, the Area Associations and World Athletics.

The Gender Leadership Programme undertaken by the Oceania Athletics Association (OAA) online in May through World Athletics helped over 15 women from the region prepare for leadership roles within national, area and global federations, creating an equal playing field at the decision-making levels of the sport.

During the online Gender Leadership Moderators Seminar, participants were trained to become moderators who could then go back to their National Federations and conduct Gender Leadership Seminars. We look forward to watching their progress and sharing their knowledge.

In preparation for the Oceania Area Championships in Mackay in June, OAA also hosted an on-line Team Management Seminar for all team managers attending the Championships in Mackay. The seminar provided existing and potential team managers the opportunity to discuss the major issues involved in the role and to learn from experts in the areas in which a successful team manager will require a certain level of knowledge and expertise. This will ensure a successful Area Championships for all participants.

We are looking forward to our education activities that will be conducted during our Oceania Area Championships in June, these activities range from coaching, athlete discussion, technical official education, Para training, wellbeing to recovery, and injury prevention. These activities provide necessary professional development for our Member Federations.

The ‘Kids Athletics Day’ was a huge success with all Member Federations promoting healthy active lifestyles for our next generation of athletes. We look forward to this program growing.

The Oceania Athletics Championships – which is the pinnacle event within the Oceania Area for Athletics – will see the best athletes head to Mackay from June 7 to 11, 2022.

The Championships will take a new and exciting format and will be the first Area Championships to be inclusive of all age groups and abilities. The Senior, U20 and U18 Championships will take place in their traditional format, with the Area Championships in 2022 an important steppingstone for athletes wanting to compete at World Championships, both in Eugene (Senior) and Cali (Under 20) later in the year.

The U16 competition, will take the format of Teams Competition, with teams able to enter through clubs or schools, regions, states or member federations. An introduction of a full range of Master’s events to be contested will be a first for Oceania Athletics and the Oceania Masters Athletics Association.

In world first for international athletics competitions, Para athletes will compete for Oceania Championships medals at the same time at the same venue as the able-bodied athletes.

The City of Mackay has been a terrific partner as host of the Championships, and with the Mackay ARC being completed in 2019, the facilities for the athletes will be first rate, and with a history of major sporting events already having been held in the region, Oceania Athletics is looking forward to being together as a community in-person for the first time in three years.