Seb Coe to Review Regional Development Centres and Introduce E-Learning to Support Member Federations if Elected IAAF President

By Robert Fawdon from St Kitts & Nevis, April 4, 2015: IAAF Presidential candidate Seb Coe has promised to review the role of IAAF Regional Development Centres to ensure they better meet the needs of the IAAF’s 213 Member Federations. He has also promised to embrace new technology such as E-learning to support athlete and coaching development world-wide.

Speaking at the CARIFTA Games 2015 which is currently taking place in St Kitts and Nevis and involves junior athletes from across the Caribbean nations, Seb Coe said:

“Being here at the CARIFTA Games, seeing so many nations across the Caribbean compete and having spoken to many Member Federations, I do believe that we can better support athletes and coaches with the use of modern technology such as E-Learning. The benefits of this would be particularly relevant to geographic regions such as the Caribbean and Oceania that have many islands spread across large areas of ocean.

If elected IAAF President this is certainly an area that I will commit resources to as well as seek a relevant commercial partner that can help deliver a cutting edge global IAAF E-Learning platform.

“It also links to my promise to ensure a wider review of the role of the IAAF Regional Development Centres [RDCs] which are currently used to host the Member Federations.

During 2014 there were around 60 RDC events and I want to see their role evolved and enhanced. One possible solution could be the introduction of mobile RDCs, built around skilled people rather than buildings, better able to connect with Member Federations year round.

This, together with E-Learning, could be a much more agile and useful way of connecting directly with aspiring athletes across the globe.”

“The CARIFTA Games also shows the importance of elite competition at a young age. These Games are treated extremely seriously by the youngsters who compete and by the politicians from the islands and are rightly seen as a stepping stone to senior success.”

Please go to www.sebcoe2015.org to read Seb Coe’s IAAF Presidential election Manifesto ‘Growing
Athletics in a New Age’.

Note: IAAF Member Federations will vote to decide the President of the IAAF on 19 August 2015 at its Congress in Beijing.