The Doncaster Centre Council wish you a very warm welcome to the
Doncaster Little Athletics Centre

The emphasis at Little Athletics is on participation and skills development.  It's an ideal first sport for children.  The running, jumping and throwing activities help develop balance, flexibility and strength.

With the emphasis on participation and development, athletes are encouraged to compete against their own "personal best" time or distance.  In this way, athletes do not have to focus on winning but on improving their own performances.  All athletes are fostered and are given the opportunity to compete at Regional carnivals (both relays and individual) and many progress through to state level against the best athletes in the state.

Take a look at the Doncaster and LA Victoria photo galleries.

The Doncaster Little Athletics Centre (DLAC) meet at Rieschiecks Reserve, George Street, East Doncaster (Melway Map 33, J11) and boasts an all weather track with excellent facilities for athletes and spectators alike.

The T&F summer season runs from October thru December and resumes from January thru March. This is followed by the Cross Country season which is run on Sundays during winter from April thru July.

The athletics program is divided into two groups - Athletes Under 6 & Under 7 participate in the On Track program and Athletes Under 8 to Under 15 compete in the Inter-Club Track & Field program.

The On Track Program is a skills based program where the children learn the basics of running, jumping and throwing in a fun atmosphere with lots of opportunity to participate. We encourage parent participation as well.

Track & Field events conducted for the U8-15s are: 70m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, Hurdles, Long, Triple and High Jumps, Discus, Shot Put and Javelin (U11-U15 only). See the Track & Field program and the Track Map for more details

On Saturdays On Track runs from 8:30am to 10am and the U8-15 Interclub competition starts at 10am. There are also a number of Friday night Twilight sessions commencing at 6pm where the U6-7 compete with the U8-15s (and the Clubs bring out their BBQs...)

See the Calendar and Track & Field program for more details.

Training is on Wednesday afternoons from 4:30. See the Coaching Page

Doncaster Little Athletics is made up of the Centre Committee and Six Clubs

Meet the Doncaster Centre Council . We thank them sincerely for their time, effort and commitment to ensure all of our children have a great time at Little Aths.  If you have any ideas or would like to become involved please contact one of the committee

Officials, timekeepers, recorders, marshals etc are drawn from athletes' parents.  All parents are rostered to perform some kind of duty, approximately once every third week.  You don't need special expertise to be a helper.

It is a condition of registration that parents perform their rostered duty

see the Parents' Charter   ...now that's out the way...  

DLAC has no paid staff - everything depends upon the efforts of volunteers to prepare & run the events and pack-up afterwards. All of the officials, timekeepers, recorders, marshalls etc. are also athlete's parents. Because of this, a competition day at Little Athletics isn't only about the kids. All the events our children take part in are run by parents whose children are also participating. The kids enjoy it and their parents get to have fun, too. Little Athletics cannot operate without the volunteer assistance of parents and other family members and the more helpers we have determines the success of our programs for our athletes.

So, to keep the events running each week There is a Duty Roster. Each Club rosters parents to help run the On-Track and Competition events that they are responsible for. The details of the roster depend upon each Club, but it's typically every 3 weeks, or so.

Events are managed by one or two Key Officials familiar with the conduct of the event and they supervise parent helpers with appropriate tasks. The tasks don't require any prior Athletics experience - this handbook describes each event & how you can help.

The handbook also gives hints about becoming a qualified official - that's entirely up to you, but we're happy to have more trained members to help out - that's where our current officials came from! The more trained helpers we have determines the success of our programs for our athletes.

The Duty roster gives parents a chance to have fun being involved with the athletes, cheering them on and guiding them. Kids get a kick from having their parents officially measuring their throw, run or jump and most people find it's more fun to occasionally have a hand in their children's events than just watching.

(If you have difficulty being available for duty please don't hesitate to speak to your Club's Parent-Organiser or Club President)

Note: for insurance reasons, the person performing the duty must be either a parent/guardian on the athlete's registration, or must provide their name on-the-day for our Centre records.

Little Athletics Victoria (LAV), our state governing body, has produced excellent reference booklets to help parents participate.  Please read how you can help

• Level One - How to Help - Officials Program - The basics of helping at each event is described in this booklet

• Level Two - Officials Program  - This booklet describes in detail the rules of each event

• Parent Handbook - This handbook is produced by LAV and provides brief history and overview of the structure of VLAA including Codes of Conduct.

• Codes of Conduct - This applies to Administrators, Officials, Parents, Spectators, Coaches and Little Athletes

  Please note that during competition the centre of the arena is for Officials only and parents are not to approach Officials during competition for disputes.  This must only be done through your Club Team Manager who will follow up either with the Chief Official or Competition Director if appropriate.  Any other complaints or disputes must be directed through your Club Team Manager or Club President.  Under no circumstances should a parent approach an athlete about a complaint.  Inappropriate behaviour is unacceptable and may lead to suspension or expulsion from the centre

Little Athletics emphasizes personal improvement and athletes are rewarded with ribbons throughout the season as they reach set numbers of "personal bests" or PBs across a range of events.  Medals and trophies are also presented at the conclusion of the season at each club's Annual General Meeting

At the conclusion of each event, athletes are given a performance ticket recording their time or distance.  The athletes will need to take these tickets back to the appropriate Club Recording Table so each Club can record events completed and performances achieved.  Each Club's end of season recognition trophies are based on the events completed and personal best performances.  If the records are not complete, the end of season awards will not properly reflect the athletes' performances

At the time of registration each athlete receives an Achievement Book into which they can paste their performance tickets.  This book is an excellent record of achievements over the season

Athletes can see their performances Here

Dual Registration - Dual registration provides the opportunity for U12, U13, U14 and U15 athletes to be registered, train and compete with an Athletics Victoria (AV) Club.  Doncaster Little Athletic Centre (DLAC) athletes usually dual register with the Doncaster Athletic Club , (also known as DAC or Seniors)

The Doncaster Centre conducts a number of Special Events during the season.  These special events provide variety to the program and are always warmly received by the athletes

• The RCH Challenge - a fun way to raise much needed funds for the Royal Children's Hospital
• DLAC Open Day - see below
• Handicap Event - athletes are handicapped according to their best performance during the season
• Centre Championships - determines the age Champions in each event for the season

Little Athletics can be as little or as much as you want it to be!  For many it's participating with our Clubs at Doncaster, being with friends, learning new skills and improving  Personal Bests (PBs).  For the keener Athletes (and Parents) there are many opportunities to to meet new friends while representing Doncaster at other Competitions.  These competitions include...

Relays are a highlight of the calendar and a great way to get to know boys and girls in your age group, and families from other clubs at Doncaster.  Teams are formed to run 4 x100m, 4 x 200m, Mixed Aged Medley, Medley and Mixed Sex Medley Races.  This year these events include:

• Box Hill Invitational Relays (held at Doncaster this year)
• Regional Eliminations @ Doncaster
• State Finals
• For more information see here and the LAVic Calendar

If you would like to join a team, please contact our Centre Team Manager or Centre President

Do you love the competition and can't get enough athletics? Open Days may be for you.  Open Days are just as the name implies - Athletic Centres send an open invitation to all LAV athletes to compete at their centre.  Often Open Days are the first opportunity for athletes to compete against athletes from other centres.  With medals on offer, these are lots of fun and a great preparation for major events.  There are entry forms for each Open Day, a closing date for entries and a cost to enter each event. This is the athlete's responsibility if they wish to compete. 

Doncaster usually holds an open day as the last event in the December Calendar (There is no cost to Doncaster Athletes for Doncaster's Open Day)

In the past we've had over 400 athletes enter their favourite Track & Field events with approximately 140 of these coming from as far away as Sale, Leongatha, Bacchus Marsh, Melton, Geelong, Romsey and Kilmore to compete in a fantastic competition

Doncaster's program is a "day/nighter" with events starting at 1:30pm and concluding at about 9:00pm.  At this time the lights go out and the fireworks finale takes over.  These fireworks are as good as you'll see anywhere and a highlight of the calendar

Entry for Doncaster athletes is free but you must complete and return an entry form.

Open Days for other Centres are regularly being added to our calendar

The Eastern Metropolitan Region's qualifying round for the State Championships are held at the Nunawading Track.

This is a wonderful opportunity for athletes to test their skills against athletes from all over the eastern region and hopefully the state.

Winners of events automatically qualify for the State Championships and all other athletes may progress through to State level based on their times or distances.  You must qualify at region to compete at state.

More information Here

The Multi Event Championships is the little athletics equivalent of the pentathlon or decathlon.  Athletes compete in 5 events in a day and score points based on their performance in each event.  Events contested are 100m, Hurdles, 800m, Long Jump and Discus.

This event is always held in regional Victoria.

More information Here

The Cross Country Season runs from early April thru to the end of July on Sunday mornings at various venues within the Eastern Region.  Cross Country is a great way to keep fit during the winter months, prepare for school cross country events, and have fun with other athletes from Doncaster.

For more information see our Cross Country page

Cross Country offers the opportunity to progress to Region and State