Coaches Corner - Sarah Hynes
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 Sarah Hynes.
Sarah is a passionate young coach and active athlete who’s breaking new ground by showing you can compete and coach, inspiring others to follow the same path.
Tell us about your background-
My name is Sarah Hynes. I am an athletics Level 3 Performance Coach who usually covers a lot of different disciplines. I usually work at the Little Athletics Centre for the younger athletes, but I also help out older athletes as well. Usually, my disciplines are within middle distance and cross-country-based events, but yeah, love to coach everything.
I am also still an athlete competing, I competed in the 1500m heats yesterday. It’s been really great to get out on the track.
How did you get into coaching?
I got into coaching when I was 16. I loved giving back to the community and I loved the sport more than anything. It actually came from a really awesome man called Steve Robinson. He’s a larger-than-life character who really inspired me to pursue that passion of coaching. Watching how he brought everyone together for something bigger than himself, I wanted to be a part of it. So yeah, at 16 I signed up to do a coaching course, did my Level 1, and from there just fell in love with the whole other side of the sport.
What was it like stepping into coaching at such a young age?
Difficult, because you’re young and people assume your knowledge. That can be really hard, especially when I’ve spent 15+ years in the sport, so I do know a few things. But it’s really hard trying to convey that to parents, officials or other coaches. It doesn’t take away from what you love though. You just put your best foot forward and keep going.
What did you do to overcome those challenges?
Confidence plays a really big part, which is hard when you’re young. You respect adults, but you’re not an adult yet, and you’re trying to help adults or younger athletes who have parents. It's hard to get them on your side and build trust. But connecting with people is really important. Showing them who you are as a person and athlete helps show who you are as a coach. Building trust through athlete safety and fun, because if there’s no fun, no one wants to be there anyway.
What has coaching taught you about being an athlete, and how do you find balancing both?
Coaching and competing go hand in hand. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is the art of showing up. As an athlete you have to show up, whether it’s good, bad or ugly, whether you’ve had the best day or the worst race ever, its about getting back out there. As a coach it’s role modelling in a way, showing up on the days where it’s been a rough day but you have to put a smile on but also show them it is ok to have emotion as well. It goes both ways. It’s been really interesting being an athlete and coaching, because the athletes will sometimes come and watch me which is really, really wholesome and exciting. I take tiny tots as well, so they are all under five and sometimes their parents will tell me, they watched me run they other day and they get super excited. What I’ve found and one of the reasons I wanted to be a coach is because there were not many young coaches and there is no direct pathway or inspiration to encourage others to get in to it, so I thought, why not be that person who is still competing, who is still young and wants to give back to the community and the sport, and from that it’s role modelling for athletes that there is a pathway, you can still compete, you can do both!
Best moment in coaching?
There have been a lot of good moments in coaching, a few where I’ve had athletes who struggled with self-confidence or self-esteem, whether that was pressure they put on themselves or external pressures from the outside world. But in particular there has been one or two athletes who didn’t think much of themselves and counted themselves out and through either what I’ve said or what we have done in our sessions they were able to see they actually can do what we’ve said. Seeing them perform out on the track has been amazing because of that. There have been a few in particular who have stepped up to the plate and even medalled at states, that’s great success, but PB’s are where it’s really at. I think I had an athlete do a 25s PB in the 1500m, so to see things like that is just amazing. You know it’s not about the medals, it’s not about what they can do, it’s showing this is my sport and this is what I’m here for I’m an individual who is able to achieve what I put out as a goal.
If an athlete was interested in getting into coaching, what would you tell them?
Take the leap. Go to your local athletics organisation or jump online, or go talk to someone which is best, I find, as people know people. Figure out when the next athletics course is, level one, level two, it doesn’t matter, jump in, have a go! The resources you get from that will set you up for a really good opportunity to pursue a career in coaching. Otherwise, go out to a local club and have a conversation with a coach, ask how you can help and how you can get started, there are sometimes age limits to certain courses, but you can volunteer, ask how can I help out and get involved if you can.
How can people find you?
I pretty much live at the WA little athletics center, that is where all my coaching is conducted. Including tiny tots, the younger age groups or senior boys, that’s usually where I am. Cross Country I take on my own but if you want to join me, that’s where I’ll be!