Introducing Me
Hello, I’m Simon Ward, Triathlon Coach and High Performance Human.
Actually, I no longer refer to myself as a triathlon coach. Instead I call myself a life coach for people who train for triathlon. Why? Because the biggest obstacles to them achieving their triathlon goals are generally not a lack of motivation, or willingness to train. It’s not lack of fitness either. Life “issues’ are the biggest problem. Work, family, and travel. In 25 years of coaching I have helped people like you overcome all sorts of roadblocks, sometimes by good advance planning, to reach the start line and ultimately the finish.
If you are the sort of person who wants a coach who has gone sub 10 hours at Ironman or won their age group at the world championships, then I’m probably not the person for you. I could tell you how many Ironman events I have finished or my best times, but I really don’t believe this is what makes a good coach. (I do have a good triathlon CV and you can read more about this below if you are interested). To be quite honest I think it’s more important that you know about what qualifications and experience I have to help you. I started coaching triathletes back in 1995 which gives me over 20 years in the sport as a full-time coach. I made a commitment to do this for a living. I’m not part time and I don’t have a “day job”. Here I am 24/7 (well, not quite. I need sleep as well) to help you achieve your goals. In those 20 years I have helped 1000’s of athletes to achieve their goals, whether it’s:
- Finishing their first sprint triathlon
- Taking part and reaching the finish line of their first Ironman (over 500 of these now!!)
- Qualifying for GB age group teams
- Qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman
- Winning a world age group title
- Turning Pro
I’ve also shared my knowledge and experience with other coaches. Writing and delivering the BTF L3 coach education course for the last 8 years. One final thing, back in 2002 my business partner, Jack Maitland and I looked after the talent ID programme for the north of England. Our role was to find and recruit talented young swimmers and runners with the goal of creating Olympic medalists. In the 4 years of running the programme we had the privilege of working with some of the UK’s most talented junior triathletes including 2 brothers from Leeds, the Brownlees, and also a very good cyclist from York, Phil Graves.
Outside of triathlon I also worked for 5 years as fitness conditioner for Yorkshire Cricket during the Darren Gough and Michael Vaughan era. Before this I had a spell in the same role for Huddersfield Giants Rugby league club. The point about the last couple of paragraphs is not to big myself up. It just provides you with an idea of the depth of experience I have in dealing with athletes of the highest calibre, to solve their problems. At the end of the day coaching is about working with people and finding solutions. The more varied problems you face, the deeper your knowledge bank and the more tools you create. It is this experience that I offer to you.