Who is Ali?
.JPG/:/cr=t:15.12%25,l:0%25,w:100%25,h:74.99%25/rs=w:1209,h:605,cg:true)
After years of unfulfilling jobs, I decided that the way forward for me was to break free from the corporate wheel and forge my own path. I was no longer suited to the ‘behind a desk wearing a suit’ type job and I wanted to take more control of my life
So, I thought to myself - Well, what the *duck* am I going to do then?
I was always good at working with a range of different people and being able to understand them. I would always find myself doing staff training and teaching others because I can communicate and portray things well. At the same time, I was competing in Duathlon, Triathlon and long endurance races and understood the world of sport. Therefore, the conclusion I came to was to mesh together my useful personal traits and skills with a sport I was interested in
I decided to become a coach and set my sights on making it my profession. It’s never easy starting up something on your own but as Arnold Schwarzenegger said as a route to success - “have a clear vision” and “don’t listen to the naysayers”. My vision is clear, and I am focussed on getting a step closer every day. There will always be naysayers in life, and I am a realistic person, and I choose to ignore them. I am just as motivated, as a coach, as the people I work with and seeing their athletic development unfold gives me an incredibly satisfying feeling
I am an age-group athlete myself, which has aided my understanding of the sport and its culture. However, I believe that there is little correlation between being a good athlete and a good coach. One doesn’t go hand in hand with the other and therefore, I tend to keep ‘athlete me’ and ‘coach me’ separate so I can fully focus on one thing at a time
.jpg/:/rs=w:1209,h:605,cg:true,m/cr=w:1209,h:605)
I am proud to be a Trisutto Certified Coach and my journey with them, as an athlete and a coach, has developed and taught me so much. I strive to always improve, be the best I can be and so learning from the best coaches is important for this process to happen. I take my Continued Professional Development seriously and make a pledge to myself and the athletes I coach to always strive to learn more and develop, just like they do
Having spent a few years teaching the Swim England 'Learn to Swim' & 'Learn to Train' framework, I have now put together a team of young people to develop as potential future athletes to compliment the work I do with adults and to further develop myself as a more well-rounded coach