Athletics is definitely in Joel Kidger’s blood. As a former Sussex athlete himself, he now coaches some of the county’s top talents, including his sister Beth. Kate Matthews caught up with the Joel for a chat about his coaching and how Covid19 has been affecting him and his group.
Kate: Who are you?
Joel: I am Joel, I am a coach at Brighton Phoenix. I am 40 years old and have been coaching for about 10 years or so.
Kate: Which athletes do you and have you coached?
Joel: I coach a number of athletes, mainly at Brighton Phoenix, from youngsters at the club, through to developing and elite level International athletes.
Athletes I coach include:
- Archie Davis, he's 22, mainly 1500/800 (3.40/1.48), 5th in British Champs last year, 5th in Euro Juniors and a number of age group medals over 1500m. Represented GB and England.
- Beth Kidger, Welsh International, 1500m British Finalist for the last 3 years and with great range from 1500m to 5k.
- Almi Nerurkar - a top U20 athlete, 4.20 1500m, 9.21 3km, finalist at Senior British Champs last year over 5k - watch out for her!
- Robbie Fitzgibbon – I’ve recently started working with coach Geoff Watkin in supporting with Robbie's coaching. Robbie is a top athlete, 3.36 guy, Euro Indoor Finalist.
- Ricky Harvey - 3.42 1500m, 14.04 5k road
My development group includes some really promising up and coming athletes such as Liam Dunne, Leo Brewer, Tom Eames, Oliver Johnson, Ben Connolly, Lukas Harber and Atticus Jackson.
Kate: How long have you been coaching and how did you get into it?
Joel: Just over 10 years or so. I got into coaching off the back of my own athletics career. After I retired from competing myself at the age of about 27, I brought my sisters along to train at Brighton Phoenix. I started by just helping out with Jon Bigg and Paul Collicut’s groups at Phoenix and just got more and more involved. I was helping support Jon with some of his main athletes at the same time as taking on a few of my own athletes, such as Archie and Beth. It just developed from there really.
Kate: You say you started coaching after being an athlete yourself, what were your distances and how does coaching compare to the thrill of being an athlete yourself?
Joel: I competed myself over various events - as a junior I was mainly a good cross country runner, then as I developed seemed to get more speed so moved to 800/1500m.
800m ended up being my main focus, highlights being representing England at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where I made the Semis. Other highlights include 2 x bronze medals at British Champs and also winning British U23 champs.
Coaching and competing are quite different, although having competed at a decent level certainly helps in terms of understanding what an athlete is going though. As a coach, you still experience the same thrills and same stresses, and I think overall I actually enjoy coaching more 
than doing it myself! As an athlete you have to be quite selfish sometimes, but as a coach it’s about helping others and seeing them succeed, which makes you feel proud and happy when they do well - just a different sort of thrill.
Kate: How often do you coach? Types of sessions etc?
Joel: I am coaching most days, typical weeks involve one or two track sessions (mixture of types, speed, endurance, speed endurance), long runs, hills, tempos. As well as that I coach S&C sessions in the gym as well as drills sessions (hurdles / speed development etc).
Kate: What are the highs and lows of being a coach?
Joel: The highs are obviously when you see your athletes achieve their goals - win medals, make teams, run PBs. I've learnt from my own experience as an athlete it’s really important to saviour those winning moments and make the most of the highs, as you often get more races you are not happy with than ones you are!
The lows are clearly when you see an athlete not get what they have worked very hard for. Athletics is a tough sport, you don’t get a second chance when the race is over, it’s over, it’s not like going 1-0 down in a game of football. It’s also hard and challenging when an athlete gets injured and then your job is to keep them motivated.
Kate: What is/are your proudest moment(s)?
Joel: My proudest moments are generally seeing my athletes and other athletes I have helped compete at a high level, representing their 
countries, some at major champs. In particular, seeing Archie and Beth progress through the ranks consistently year on year. I think it’s the process I feel proud of - regularly seeing athletes progress. One special moment was seeing Archie finish 5th in Euro U20 champs after having a knee operation about 6 months before and spending most the winter/spring on a cross trainer! Seeing my sister Beth really progressing well makes me and the family proud always.
Kate: What have been the hardest moments?
Joel: Watching how upset athletes are when they miss out on their goals - like how upset Beth was when she missed out on top 3 at British Indoors last year 🙁
Kate: How do you motivate your athletes to keep going and focus etc?
Joel: The key for me is to create a great environment - that's both competitive and fun. The team I have like to turn up to training as they want to progress and do well, but also because its good social environment and they can train hard but also have a good time. I think the real motivation and desire has to come from within, I just help provide the right platform and environment to allow that to thrive. I also think variety is quite important - training sessions, venues, training camps etc - keeps the athlete stimulated. Training plans are provided to help keep track of what they are meant to do and actually do!
Kate: What has coaching athletics brought to your life?
Joel: Coaching athletics has brought a lot to my life, it’s a massive part of what I do. It has allowed me to meet lots of people, learn lots of things, travel to some amazing places (I’ve been to Samoa, South Africa, Kenya, USA, all over Europe in the last few years), either to races or on training camps. It’s also taught me a lot about success and failure and perseverance. There are a lot of other things you learn along the way, like the importance of individualisation and also about patience.
Kate: Has coaching changed over the years?
Joel: I think the art of coaching is still very similar to what it has been for years, it’s just now coaches have a lot more access to tools, data, science and technology that can make our lives easier, but also a lot more complicated in some ways!
For me though, I think it’s important to keep things simple and the main thing about coaching is understanding the athlete and trying to individualise their training to suit their needs, their strengths and weaknesses. That’s the same whatever level the athlete is.
Tools such as new s&c equipment, training peaks, video analysis, enhanced physiological testing, access to altitude etc have all developed, but the fundamentals of good coaching remains the same.
Kate: What are the main difficulties that face you and your athletes in normal times?
Joel: Depending on the athletes, but the more elite guys the challenge is to balance that professional athlete life with the need to earn a living! Most athletes have to work and train, very few get the funding required to be fully pro. With the younger guys, it’s just about trying to balance training with life (school / training / social life / family)!
Kate: What have been the main difficulties facing you and your athletes during Covid19? How have you overcome these? Is it getting harder to manage the more lockdowns we face?
Joel: Main challenges are just trying to keep the group together and run multiple sessions whilst keeping to the rules. Things like linking people up in pairs! Also been challenging maintaining the S&C with limited access to gyms. We’ve been fortunate to still be able to access a track and I have managed to supply access to some S&C equipment for some of my team. My team are still very motivated and I think running has given them a focus when there’s not much else to do!
Kate: Would you encourage others to become coaches and why?
Joel: Yes I would. It’s rewarding seeing how a process can help develop individuals and seeing the positive impact sport can have on people’s lives. Particularly when you see how sport can help youngsters in all aspect of life - confidence, socially, mentally, physically and so on. It’s also given me some great experiences, you learn a lot and get to travel to lots of places you wouldn’t go. You also meet a lot of great people.
Kate: How could the world of athletics be improved for both athletes and coaches?
Joel: Athletics needs to evolve with the times like some other sports have. We need to find ways to attract more sponsorships, make events more fun and bring it into the mainstream. Some of the events I have been to on the continent are really good - music, food and drink, entertainment, lots of events in quick succession, under the floodlights. Worthing AC did some good ones last summer - more like that needed!
For coaches, maybe just some more support in areas like equipment/travel, so it’s not all self funded, help bringing in more volunteers, developing coaching skills/ learnings.