ON Friday evenings at the Orange Little Athletics club nights, it is a sea of children and parents at Waratah Sportsgournd.

The Orange club is at capacity with 270 registered athletes this season.

Three seasons ago the club had 180 registered athletes but that has increased over the years to 202 and 246 before reaching its peak this season.

Orange Little Athletics president Michael Gray believes there are a number of contributing factors as to why the club has boomed.

“I think parents want their kids to be more active,” Gray explained.

“We offer training now as well, so when the kids come to club nights, the events aren’t a mystery any more.

“Things like the running events are pretty straight-forward but other things like triple jump can be quite tricky if you haven’t done it before.”

This season the under 11s girls are the biggest group with 23 children registered.

The club has also extended its upper age limit, with the introduction of the under 17s age division.

Eight girls have registered in the under 17s division which means the club has a large age range, with the youngest division the under 5s.

With so many children, organising things for the massive group can provide challenges.

“It has caused us some logistical headaches but it’s great to have so many kids,” Gray said.

Gray said the club cannot take any more kids this season but hopes they can accommodate them next season.

In order to do this they will need more volunteers helping out.

For now the capacity field can train on Mondays from 5.30-6.30pm and enjoy club nights on Friday from 6pm at Waratah Sportsground.