Cymryd Rhan

Name: Alyson Hourihan  

Age: 60 

Club: Cardiff Athletics  

Event(s) Specialism: Throwing events 

Guiding principles as a coach: When coaching my main principles are that the athlete is at the centre of the training session. The session should be directed to the  individual. As each athlete especially the young are at different level of development and skill you I try not to compare.  

If the athlete improves that is what I find rewarding. But I always try to reinforce that it’s them who has made the improvement. I am just a facilitator. Coaching is not about me but about the athlete. 

Coaching milestones: This is hard as I see the improvement of each athlete when they succeed in doing something they didn’t think they could do as a milestone. It’s about looking forward. 

Aspiration as a coach As an athlete I realised there were very few throws coaches so my aspirations as a coach has been to pass on my knowledge and experience to enable others to be involved in athletics and to enjoy athletics as I have done.