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The app for junior athletics coaches

Cross country in winter, indoors in February, the track from April. U11s who try everything, U13s and U15s who start to specialise. Ugo keeps the competition calendar, entry deadlines, your athletes’ times and distances and your messages to families.

Try UgoHow to use Ugo in a junior athletics group

An app for junior athletics coaches has to follow a long, fragmented season: cross country in winter, indoor meetings, then the track season with open meetings, league fixtures and county and regional championships. In junior athletics the youngest do multi-event, fun-based activities, while U13s and U15s start to test themselves in sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws and middle distance. Every competition has its own timetable and its own entry deadline.

Ugo works on WhatsApp with your calendar, inbox and the sheets where you record times and distances. Ask which competitions there are in May for the U15s, who you need to enter for the long jump, what time Grace runs on Saturday; after each competition you dictate the results and it updates the record of personal bests. Notices to families go out from your WhatsApp Business after you confirm.

Ugo doesn’t replace your coach’s eye and doesn’t write training plans for you. It takes the admin off your hands: deadlines, timetables, results history, messages to families. That leaves more time for the coaching itself: watching young athletes run, jump and throw, and correcting them at the right moment, from the block start to the long jump run-up.

What complicates a junior athletics coach’s job

The stopwatch measures everything, except the time you lose organising.

Competition entry deadlines

Every meeting closes entries days in advance, with limits on events per athlete. Missing a deadline means leaving at home a young athlete who had been preparing for weeks.

Timetables that change

The timetable comes out a few days before and is sometimes updated. Working out when each of your athletes competes and telling the families is a puzzle.

Times and distances all over the place

Results on the meeting website, notes in your notebook, interval times on your phone. Piecing together an athlete’s progress over the season gets difficult.

Distant venues and early starts

Cross country in parks, a track in another county, meeting at 7:30. Clear directions and realistic journey times are essential for whoever is driving the athletes.

How to use Ugo in a junior athletics group

Four examples from a junior group’s season.

This month’s competitions and deadlines

Ugo searches your email for invitations and competition programmes, gives you a summary with dates, age groups and entry deadlines and creates the events in your calendar for the ones you choose.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. What competitions are there in May for the U13s and U15s?

  2. From the county association’s and host clubs’ emails: 1. Saturday 8 May – open meeting in Leeds, U13 boys and girls, entries close Wednesday 5 2. Sunday 16 May – U15 combined events in Sheffield, entries close on the 12th 3. Saturday 29 May – junior trophy meeting, all age groups, entries close on the 25th Shall I create the three events in your calendar, with a reminder for each deadline?

The history of times and distances

After the competition, dictate the results: Ugo adds them to the season’s Excel sheet and flags new personal bests. At any time you can ask how an athlete is progressing in an event.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. 🎤 Voice message (0:16)

  2. I’ll add today’s meeting to the “Results 2027” sheet: • Megan F. – U15 girls 75m hurdles – 11.85 (new PB, previously 12.10) • Luke D. – U15 boys long jump – 5.42 m • Sarah P. – U13 girls 800m – 2:38.4 Shall I go ahead?

The timetable for families

When the timetable is published on the meeting website, Ugo reads it and tells you when your athletes compete. Then it drafts a notice for each family with the meeting time and their child’s events, which goes out after you confirm.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. Read the timetable for Saturday’s open meeting on the Valley Harriers website and tell me my U13s’ times

  2. From the “Timetable” page on the website: • U13 boys 75m, heats at 15:20 – Tom, Kevin • U13 boys javelin at 16:00 – Ethan • U13 girls 800m at 16:45 – Grace, Aurora Shall I send each family their child’s event time, with a meeting time an hour before?

Cross country in the park

For cross country races, Ugo finds the most convenient park entrance, works out journey times with traffic and gives you a Street View image to send to the parents who are driving.

Skills used

Ugoonline

  1. Sunday cross country at Temple Newsam, main entrance. Meeting at 8:30, we’re leaving from the track on Kirkstall Road

  2. From the track on Kirkstall Road to the Temple Newsam entrance: about 12 km, 20 minutes with current traffic. Leaving at 8:05 you’ll be there with a few minutes to spare. Shall I send you the Street View image of the entrance to share with parents?

An athletics coach’s day with Ugo

Work, track, results: a mid-season day.

  1. 7:00

    Scheduled task: Ugo reminds you of the competition entries closing this week.

  2. 9:30

    You ask for a summary of the email with the rules for the regional championships.

  3. 13:00

    At lunch you ask for Megan’s 75m hurdles results since the start of the year, to decide whether to enter her for the long jump too.

  4. 17:00

    At the track you ask for the session plan you wrote on Drive for the U15 group.

  5. 19:15

    End of training: a voice note with the interval times and the sheet is up to date.

  6. 21:00

    You send families the meeting time for Saturday’s competition, after reading it over.

An athletics group’s tools

The stopwatch stays yours; you connect the rest to Ugo.

Results history in Excel

A file on OneDrive with a tab per athlete or per event: date, competition, time or distance, wind where recorded. Ugo adds the rows and sends you the tables as an image, handy to show the athletes.

The competition calendar

Cross country, indoor and track in a Google or Outlook calendar, with entry deadlines as separate events. Ugo creates events from emails and reminds you with scheduled tasks.

Training plans on Drive

One document per group per week, written by you. Ugo reads it to you when you’re at the track and adds the notes you dictate after the session.

Competition websites

Timetables, rules and travel information are often on web pages: Ugo reads them with Company websites and answers you, quoting the page.

The skills to switch on

The most useful Ugo features for this job, starting with the first one to turn on. You switch them on from the portal in a few minutes.

FAQ about junior athletics

What’s the best app for a junior athletics coach?

For times and distances some coaches use timing apps or spreadsheets; for organising you need a calendar, email and communication with families. Ugo keeps it all together on WhatsApp: it reads competition emails, updates the results history in Excel and sends notices to parents after you confirm.

What are the age groups in junior athletics?

In the UK the junior age groups are U11, U13, U15, U17 and U20, and events and distances change with each age group. The U11s mostly take part in fun, multi-event formats rather than full track and field. Up-to-date rules are published by England Athletics and UK Athletics.

Can Ugo enter athletes into competitions?

No. Entries are made by the club through the governing body’s or organiser’s systems, and Ugo doesn’t access them. It can, though, remind you of deadlines, give you the list of athletes to enter for each competition and, if the organiser accepts entries by email, draft the message for you to send after you confirm.

How do I track a young athlete’s progress?

Record every result with date, competition, conditions and, for jumps and sprints, the wind reading when available. Looking at the trend over several months matters more than a single result, especially with athletes who are still growing. With Ugo you dictate the results after each competition and it updates the sheet, flagging new personal bests.

How should I keep families informed about an away competition?

Send the venue, meeting time, each athlete’s events and what to bring in good time, plus an update if the timetable changes. Ugo reads the timetable, drafts a message for each family with their child’s events and sends it from your WhatsApp Business only after you confirm.

Where does my athletes’ data end up?

It stays in your own tools: Excel on OneDrive, calendar, email. Ugo reads it when you ask, only answers verified numbers and keeps its own data on servers in Frankfurt. In your sheets it’s best to keep results and parents’ contacts, not health information.

Useful references

Associations, bodies and official sources for the sector: external websites, independent of Ugo.

More time on the track, less in the office

Connect your email, calendar and results sheet and try Ugo with your next competition.

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