Athletics team hope to keep competitive spirit alive

The Kingston University athletics team are hoping to start an online challenge for members to compensate for lack of competition this semester.

The team haven’t been able to meet at all since the second lockdown in November. The current situation with the coronavirus pandemic means that it is unlikely that any further competitions will take place this semester.

President of the KU Athletics, TiJesu Akeredolu said: “Our participation numbers were decent. The majority of our competitions were expected to be from January till May or June, which of course won’t be going ahead.”

The government has only allowed elite sports to continue, which means that all local sports club, such as the athletics club, won’t be able to restart until mid-February at the earliest.

The idea hasn’t been fully confirmed yet, but Akeredolu wants to make sure that it is something that works for everyone involved in the club, as well as something that encompasses running.

He said: “As of right now, we haven’t finalised it, it’s something we are talking about in the committee about the best way to organise it. I know the sports side of the Union is doing potentially something similar in terms of a running event.”

The club encourages anyone who is interested in running, from those who just run casually to those who want to run more competitively.

Other University sports clubs have provided online lessons, such as Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwando. Akeredolu says that they are trying to do the same, but it hasn’t been straightforward.

He said: “We are trying to implement a challenging activity for our athletes to get involved in a way to keep some form of fitness and have that competitive spirit maintained but it has been quite difficult as you can imagine.”

Lack of activity along with the fact that students are not currently on  campus means that encouraging students to keep fit is a challenge.

Akerdolu said: “With a lot of our athletes, they have gone back to wherever they call home. It is difficult even to motivate people to be outside and train in winter months, let alone with a pandemic.”