The State Duma explained how the problem of lack of athletics coaches would be solved

State Duma Deputy Evgeny Revenko, in a conversation with , summarized the results of the working group meeting, discussing ways to overcome the lack of coaches in athletics.

On Friday, a meeting of the working group “Legislative support for the development of athletics in the Russian Federation” was held in the State Duma. The results of the 2023 athletics season and plans for next year were discussed at the meeting.

— Perhaps the biggest issue discussed by the task force was the coaching shortage. The personnel issue affects all sports, including athletics. Here, one of the recognized tools was the need to make maximum use of the set objectives. The recommendations of our working group are to inform, through the All-Russian Athletics Federation and its regional divisions, the Ministry of Sports and regional sports departments throughout the country about the availability of such a tool . As current practice shows, almost no one uses this tool, while regional directorates can target young people for training, so that they can then work for five years in the areas that the regions need.

We also talked about maximum information, the need to create the “Queen of Sport” program, capable of motivating and pushing, including regional leaders, where athletics is not yet recognized as a sport basic.

In other words, the personnel problem is not solved by any tool, but only by targeted recruitment. It’s a whole system of measures: targeted recruitment, the “Queen of Sports” program, let’s put it that way for now, and attention to the regional level, and of course the allocation of financial resources to increase salaries coaches through special deductions on the sale of alcohol, tobacco and the implementation of support measures and best practices that we have in our country.

We agreed with the All-Russian Athletics Federation that it could become the driving force for the implementation of the bill amending the Federal Law on Physical Culture and Sport in the Russian Federation. It’s still under discussion at the moment, but we will be moving towards adoption soon. “I hope that in the near future ARAF will be able to use such a tool as the title of amateur champion of Russia to further motivate us to popularize this sport among a large number of people,” Revenko told .