Gulgong Little Athletics take a look on the brighter side despite COVID-19 impacts

On Thursday, October 15, 2020, GLA had their first training session of this year, and while things may not seem ideal, Gulgong Little Athletics treasurer Tim Papworth says time without competitions can prove to be an advantage for athletes, giving time to perfect skills.

"This year is going to be a bit different. At this stage, there's no zone or regional competitions which makes it hard for the kids to go any further," he said.

"We're just going to concentrate on a bit of fun at training. A few of our older athletes can concentrate on the events they like instead of the ones they don't. It should help if next year or after Christmas things change."

Given the circumstances, Papworth says the committee are content with the number of athletes they have, and didn't consider holding off on this year, unless required to do so, to dismantle any threats of permanent closure.

"Our numbers are pretty much the same as last year but we do have a few new faces turning up, a lot of younger ones this year which is good," he said.

"Under the circumstances of this year, we're pretty happy with the numbers we've got because there's a lot of mucking around with COVID stuff.

"We were always going to go ahead, if allowed to do so, but it adds so much more to the committee, it's a lot of work.

"But we thought if we don't run it, sometimes when you stop clubs they don't go again. We've been going for six years from the first time it shut down, it's just one of those things.

"We're setting things up over the next couple of weeks with getting the kids adapted to the COVID stuff but it should be a fun-filled season for us."