The manual defines athletics as a sport; characterizes athletic exercises; provides a classification of types and exercises of athletics; shows the place of athletics in the system of physical education, the place of athletics in the GTO complex. The textbook is intended for students of full-time and correspondence departments of the Institute of Physical Education in the academic discipline "Easy Athletics and Teaching Methods", teachers of physical education of secondary schools . The content of the textbook was discussed and approved at a meeting of the Department of Sports Disciplines of the Institute of Physical Culture of the Ural State Pedagogical University and recommended as an educational publication .