Coaching Bio
In 2004, I was clinically obese.
With the assistance of a great PT, over the next two years, I shed 27kg and uncovered a physique that surprised me. A friend was a multiple World Champion Natural Body Builder and suggested that given a couple of genetic attributes I had, I should try competing. Deborah sourced me a new preparation Coach, specific to growing muscle and shedding the remaining body fat under the WADA code. I set about an 8 month plan to stand on stage.
I worked hard and through strict dietary discipline and 27 short training sessions per week, I won my first competition to become Mr Victoria in 2007, recording a body fat composition of less than 4%. I won again in 2008 and also won the Mr Australasian Title in the Masters Division of 2008. (Some photos are attached at the end).
Why tell you this? Well, I understand what athletes go through to achieve goals.
Hefty goals.
I have set some very big ones physically and through the guidance of others, I achieved way beyond what I thought was possible. The human brain is 20 times stronger than the body.
Fast forward a little from Body Building to 2009 and a new relationship complete with a step daughter who by chance could run. Fast. Tracy’s speed was discovered at a House Sports Day at her new school. Tracy won every event in her new Year 5 class. The PE teacher told me the news at school pick up. Tracy began Little Aths a few weeks later.
The Club Coach saw this new kid turn up and start smashing club records. At the time I didn’t know a great deal about the technical aspects of Athletics so Tracy began training with this Coach. The first period of Coaching was remarkable, the PB’s were flowing for several months, and then it all suddenly stopped. Off the back of success at Club, Regional and into State level, Tracy’s training program had become incredibly heavy for a young girl transitioning into and through puberty. The program got heavier, some weights were added which ironically goes against my Body Building philosophy for young athletes and Tracy began to slow against the clock. She was a kid after all . She would leave training in tears, begging for an ice bath, she’d leave race meets in tears off the back of her perceived poor performance, so I began some really detailed research of my own to understand it all. She didn’t deserve the treatment this ‘Coach’ was handing out.
I gathered all the information I could into a massive matrix. I searched the World, making contact with the coaches of Asafa Powell and US College Track Teams. I attended at the World Speed Summit, I then used my spread of friends, colleagues and associates to assist me in determining what of my training matrix should make up the plan for Junior, Youth and into Senior running. The primary pool of Professionals I called on included:
Stawell Gift Winner 1993 - Jason Richardson
Stawell Gift Winner 1995 - Glenn Crawford
Commonwealth 5000m Gold Medallist 1998 - Kate Anderson-Richardson
AFL Sport Scientist - North Melbourne Football Club. Steve Saunders.
AFL Sport Physiologist – Western Bulldogs Football Club, Ben Griffen.
From this, we established a training plan that focuses on speed without all the heavy load training plans. I will come back to the theory of this speed base later.
I have a rotation of sessions that builds technique first.
This is not a quick fix but a long term fix.
This has led to some work with paediatric doctors to rectify gait technique with several young patients. I enhance athlete strength using body weight exercise, removing the likelihood of long term damage to young bodies from excessive ‘steel weights’. I run my program to build repeat speed endurance and a strategy in the early stages of any program is to determine the ‘crash point’ in a race for each athlete. This gives me a guide to the specific training requirements needed, how hard to work an athlete and exactly where the fitness level sits. Every program is tweaked and tailored to each athlete - a doctor’s referral client is far different to a State Junior 400m Champ.
So, My Speed Theory:
Why do I focus on speed for all athletes?
No matter the distance, if you want to be the fastest from point A to point B, you need to cover the ground the quickest. The first athletes to join my squad were all sprinters - Tracy was a 100, 200 & 400m athlete and the known emphasis of my program was on her speed, so that made perfect sense. What no one knew was, I had a theory around speed and middle distance running also and many of these young athletes did not know their calling was much longer events.
Here is my theory in a nutshell:
“If you want to be the Men’s Australian 800m Champ (not a sprint race - in theory), you need to run a 1 minute, 48 second qualifying time, and a 1 minute, 43 second record time to win. Making the final requires 12.87 seconds per 100m, 8 times in a row, no rest.
So if you cannot run 12.87 for 100m at any time of the day or night, you are never going to be a chance at the Australian 800m Champ.
You must be fast first!”
It doesn’t matter if it is Track, Football, Surf Lifesaving, Hockey, Lacrosse or Cross Country, my philosophy is to teach the correct technique first. This gives the best opportunity to run fast, then the drills increase speed through enhanced biomechanics and increased strength and power - using body weight drills as juniors and specific weight programs as the bodies develop into adulthood.
My program is based on a healthy lifestyle. I will give guidance on eating the right things at the right times but it is certainly not a diet, simply an eating plan.
Given most athletes are 16 or younger, I have a very strict philosophy around drugs, alcohol and smoking and there are no second chances, that athlete and any siblings are out. My Body Building career was drug free under the WADA code, I teach this to all athletes irrespective of age. As an ageing athlete now, I still do not even use Panadol.
I promote the philosophies:
Be the best you can be, by training smarter.
There is no room in sport for cheating and I assume any victory is hollow if you do.
You will always know you didn't win fairly.
What I teach on the track builds core strength and power into the glutes, quads and hamstrings, shoulders, back and chest. This has had benefits into swimming, long, triple and high jump, Surf Life Saving in Beach Sprints, Flags, Reel, Ironman, Basketball and a multitude of other sports.
It is a very broad approach to sport, building functional strength from the right base to achieve remarkable outcomes.
I hope to see your athlete at training, achieving their PB goals soon.
Regards,
Shaun
Over the years, I have Coached some remarkable athletes who have achieved, some starting at 9 years of age:
Siena Farrell -
Multiple Junior State 400m Champion
Multiple Junior Triple Jump Champion
2022 selected in the Australian Athletics Oceania Squad (at 15)
Current Oceania U18 400m Hurdles Champion.
Current Oceania U18 Heptathlon Champion
Dashiell Muir
Junior Stawell Gift winner 2022.
National 400m Finalist 2022.
National 400m Finalist 2023
Adele Roche
Silver at Nationals (2022) in the 4 x 100 in TeamVIC.
4th at Nationals (2023) in the 400m in TeamVic
Matthew Fairchild
11th at Nationals (2023) in the 400m in TeamVic (after only 8 months of Track Training).
