COVID 19 has affected many small, large and established businesses all over the world. As well as this, corona virus has made a huge impact on people personal hobbies, lives, jobs, education and health. I was interested in finding out more about these topics, especially hobbies, therefore I asked a local athletics coach, Sarah Hewitt. She gave me an insight into her world of athletics and the problems and issues she and her athletes have faced.

1) What inspired you to go into athletics?

I was lucky enough to have a really good PE teacher who taught me how to high jump and throw. I was really good at it and just loved it.

2) What has been your favorite track and field event and why I started off as a high jumper - being tall it was a natural thing to try. As time has gone on it’s now Discus. I like how these events can be broken down and how learning each part can produce a better effort.

3) How do you think COVID going is going to effect sport long term?

I think that without the right training area - it is very hard to train for technical events. This in turn can be very discouraging as it’s hard to practice the event. If the Olympics are cancelled you could lose a generation of children who find inspiration to take up a sport. This year we lost the outdoor competition season, and it’s unlikely there will be an indoor season. When you train for a competitive event - if you cannot compete, it’s hard to find motivation to train. Ultimately long term you will have a much higher drop out rate.

4) How old where you when you started athletics?

I was 10 years old.

5) Who is your inspiration?

Daley Thompson (decathlon) and Judy Oakes. (Shot) - Judy is now one of my coaches.

6) How many hours do you train a week?

On average about 10 hours a week 7) What is your greatest moment in your athletic career?

Going to the World Masters championships in Malaga and making the final.

As a coach it was having one of my athletes win at the English Schools championships.

8) How would you rate coaching in comparison in competing?

Coaching is the teaching of an event. It’s learning how to adapt a concept and apply it to an individual. As time goes on you learn what works and what doesn’t. What’s important and what isn’t.

Competition brings all the learning together to perform at one particular moment. You can epically fail or produce your best.

Both are about understanding the breakdown of an event and what you can do to do it better. Both have elements of intrinsic or extrinsic pressure.