FAQ

I coach because I love sport and love working and developing individuals to be the very best they can be; wether that be at amateur level or Olympic level my values will never change. I want to positively affect change in individuals that they may never learn in a class room or in life  but using the tools they learn through sport to help them in the classroom or in life. Everyone is different, some people learn how to behave and conduct themselves through a classroom environment and others myself included learn discipline, focus, and the beauty of working hard through sport. It saved me, so I want to save others. I use coaching as a tool to prime people for life, to become better individuals. There is no better feeling than coaching someone and you see their progress; you see them become a better person and become successful in life whatever that may be. It may be a father, coach, business manager, or even an Olympian if they choose to stay in sport. Its a wonderful feeling helping others become a better version of themselves because you helped them see how god they could be if they have good morals and values. It almost feels like you are on the journey doing it with them.

My goals as a coach are to coach kids or adults at any skill level and use my philosophy and methodology of training to make them a better individual on and off the track. I would also love to coach at the Olympic level, to take an athlete or possibly my son or daughter, if they were interested in track and field, coach them to the best of their abilities and live the dream with them as a father or a coach. My purpose is to develop good values and attributes in people and if they have already got good traits then help evolve and develop them even more so. I want to instil a mentality of chasing excellence in my athletes because it is never a finished product and no human is perfect but chasing excellence allows the athlete the capacity to become great but also allows them to have the same mindset out in the working world. 

I value trust, honesty, respect, discipline, motivation, commitment, accountability, good work ethic, empathy, communication, people person, sense of humour, passion, confidence, team work, composure, logical thinking and evaluating, vision, creativity, people taking on their fears and having the will to win. There are so many things I value because I feel you have to have a bit of everything and be a well rounded circle as an athlete.

I coach the way I do because of my values and philosophy also because of my background and where I have come from in my life. I am quite a passionate and driven coach but have empathy as well. I feel this stems back from my childhood coming from a run down area full of drugs and alcohol in Scotland to making the right choices and using sport as my way out of that world. Sport taught me fundamentals that have saved me from wasting my life away like some of my old friends have to drugs. And I coach the way I do because I know how powerful a strong role model can be for kids in tricky situations. I want them to use sport the same way I did to find their way in life.

I would say sometimes intense when you have to work hard, really trying to get the best out of the athlete but also before and after sessions I think its fun and jokey. Light hearted banter to keep everyone upbeat. I would say that I do push peoples buttons to see how they respond and how they tick but I feel thats okay because you are learning what works and what doesn’t for each individual. So come competition time or a time trial in training you can fire them up correctly for a great performance. By no means though do I think I am for the faint hearted, I feel when I’m coaching I’m fully present and what my athletes to be in the moment also. I know I take a different approach to kids in pre school but for athletes who want to “make it” I’m making sure they know what it takes to be great.

Success is like the saying, “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” and true to that is success. What I think is success is someone else’s farfetched dream or another’s failure. However, I define success through developing good human beings, fathers, mothers, who ever it may be to have the necessary tools to go out into the working world and make a living for themselves whatever that may be and provide for their family and be a good role model for their sons or daughters. And using sport as a means to develop good characteristics in individuals to make good choices and positively impact others is a success to me. Obviously I would love to be at the Olympics and win Olympic gold but sometimes these huge dreams don’t work out the way you thought but like they say, “sometimes the beauty is in the attempt” and in the process of trying to achieve these goals you learn the fundamentals of being a good human being along the way.