Team Athletics Conference closes with focus on DNA’s future
17 October 2022

Modernisation and athlete enthusiasm for European Athletics’ ground-breaking Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) competition format emerged as key themes in the final session of the online Teams Athletics Conference, which examined the development of all aspects of the DNA concept and the roadmap for wider implementation in the coming years.

For Day 2 of the conference, officially titled “The Sport’s New Offer” and co-hosted by European Athletics and the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), the programme blended video from international DNA events staged to date with live discussions featuring participants from those competitions and members of the DNA project team, including European Athletics vice presidents Cherry Alexander and Libor Varharnik.

It followed the previous day’s opening session presentation of a comprehensive case study of how the RFEA has adapted DNA and successfully implemented it at all levels of the sport in Spain, a two-year project called “Jungle Athletics” that was supported by a grant from the European Commission.

After a powerful video statement expressing the need for change and innovation in athletics, which was also shown on Day 1, the more than 90 participants heard in-depth analyses of how the creative but true-to-the-spirit-of-the-sport aspects of DNA, combined with relatively low-cost digital communications, add a new dimension that supports rather than threatens the sport’s classical competition format.

In most of the other featured videos, athletes, coaches and team leaders from both club and elite national teams expressed great enjoyment of their DNA experiences and eagerness to take part in future DNA events.

Of special interest was a live conversation with social media expert Mica Moore and digital marketer Mike Lawrence, who shared their insights of European Athletics’ communications strategy for DNA.

In addition to working as a social media content creator at various European Athletics competitions since 2019, Moore was selected to compete for her native Wales in last February’s inaugural DNA indoor showcase event in Glasgow, Scotland, giving her a unique, double perspective of the concept.

She explained that the team aspect of DNA and the more relaxed atmosphere of DNA events – including encouragement for athletes to share live social media content from the infield as the competition is in progress – were especially attractive for both participants and young media audiences.

Lawrence described how, despite a restricted budget, he and colleagues had been able to empower teams and athletes to promote themselves and the live-streams of DNA competitions, supporting them with messaging ideas and quality digital assets to share as content on their personal social media accounts.

He said the success of the efforts and the 2022 growth of online interest in DNA among younger age groups were such that the streaming audience for the DNA U20 Clubs event in September more than matched the figure for February’s high-powered DNA showcase in Glasgow, which featured senior stars representing six national teams, indicating that the sport has additional tools to grow interest among Generations Y and Z in the future.

In the open discussion period, which was meant to be a chance for members of the online audience to say how they want to see DNA develop, project leaders announced that a DNA exhibition match for six national U20 teams would be staged as the final test event for the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

Originally planned to take place before the 2021 European Indoor Championships in Torun but rescheduled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the competition is meant to be a chance for all Member Federation leaders present for the championships to witness a DNA match in person and judge for themselves.

It was also announced that following the success of this year’s DNA U20 Clubs event in Castellón, Spain, a second edition is planned for 2023 and that federations will be invited to submit applications to host the competition as further information becomes available.

The project team revealed that its report on the product development phase of the DNA project will be made to the European Athletics Council in November and that results of a survey of conference participants to be conducted in the coming weeks will be included in the report, giving survey respondents a further chance to have their say in shaping the future of the concept.

Following the report, the Council will decide how European Athletics will support the roll-out and further development of DNA in the future.

Watch the complete recording of the conference session here:

Teams Athletics Conference – Day 1 report
14 October 2022

The Teams Athletics conference kicked off with a comprehensive case study of how European Athletics’ Dynamic New Athletics (DNA) concept has been adapted and implemented in Spain, a two-year project supported by a grant from the European Commission.

Officially titled “The Sport’s New Offer” and co-hosted by European Athletics and the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), the two-day online conference has been promoted as a chance for participants to help shape the roll-out of DNA at both the elite and grassroots levels.

After a powerful video statement expressing the need for innovation and modernisation in athletics, RFEA president Raul Chapado opened the programme with a discussion of why his federation’s project to adapt DNA for use on the national level, entitled “Jungle Athletics”, was as one of just five selected from more than 140 applications submitted in response to the Commission’s call for proposals to find new forms of traditional sports for grassroots participants.

Chapado, who also chairs the World Athletics Competition Commission, said that DNA is now an established element of Spain’s competition system and encouraged other countries to seriously consider integrating the format into their programmes.

Several RFEA staff members and event organisers, joined by European Athletics’ DNA Project Manager Marcel Wakim and supported by a number of animated and competition-action videos, detailed the delivery and impact of the project’s various elements and activities, including the creation of a Jungle Athletics smartphone application.

A key message repeated by several of the speakers was that DNA and its grassroots variations are not meant to replace the sport’s traditional athletics competition format but rather to sit alongside classical events and add a new dimension to athletics, using the team element to attract and retain young athletes.

Special guest Alina Shukh from Ukraine, the 2018 World Athletics U20 champion in the javelin and 2017 European Athletics U20 champion in the heptathlon, said she believed grassroots DNA competitions would be a very valuable tool for developing a western European-style club system when peace is restored after the current war in her country.

She added that since the Ukrainian team took home the gold medal from the first-ever DNA competition, held at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus, her country’s top athletes already have a great interest in and support for the format.

Day 1 of the conference wrapped up with a lively session in which a panel of Wakim, RFEA Competition & Events Director Luis Saladie and the RFEA’s Deputy Sport Director Josu Gomez fielded questions submitted by members of the online audience.

The second and concluding day of the conference will start today at 14:00 CET and focus on the road map for the future of the DNA project, including showcase competitions for elite athletes and the development of European championships for top club teams.

Watch the complete recording of the conference session here: