Coaches Corner - Liz Gray

Where passion meets performance. In this series, we shine a spotlight on the incredible work of coaches across our athletics community. Celebrating the stories, successes, and impact they have on and off the track. From grassroots to greatness, these are the people shaping the future of our sport.

Our Coach today is Liz Gray.

Liz is one of the loveliest people you will meet, make sure you say “Hi” if you see her around! Liz has over 25 years of coaching experience and was part of the Australian Athletics Women in High Performance Mentoring Program.

Tell us about yourself?

My name's Liz Gray,  I’m coaching as part of the Tasmanian teams, working as a team manager, and coaching, and I mostly coach middle distance and sprints. I have two athletes at nationals one Junior and one U20.

How did you get into coaching?

I feel into coaching through my kids when they were at school, and people knew I used to do athletics myself and asked me to help with their kids. I started coaching in Melbourne, till I moved to Tassie ten years ago.

What do you love about coaching?

I think just helping the kids become the best that they can be and achieving their potential.
I think it's more than just about the actual running. It's about making them decent people and just teaching them a lot of life lessons. I think having someone else that they can come to, I have a lot of kids tell me things they may not even tell mum and dad. I find coaching really valuable, I think the kids are great and love helping them achieve what they can is really valuable.

What advice would you give to anyone looking at getting into coaching?

I think it's really valuable, I get so much out of doing what I do. It's an absolute passion of mine and I think for me, having some mentors over the last couple of years has been invaluable. It's really helped me gain confidence in what I'm doing. I'm now a qualified level 4 High Performance coach and it's helped me take the next steps. I think just getting someone to help you is a really valuable, so I recommend that.