About Me:
Sport has been a big part of my life from a young age. I was naturally competitive as a kid and loved taking part in athletics at Southbridge Primary School, but everything changed when I got a wooden tennis racquet for Christmas at around eight years old. I left it out in the rain, the strings broke and the racquet warped — yet I just kept playing. My older brother often stepped in as my coach during school holidays, helping me figure things out, and that’s really where both my love for tennis and my journey into coaching began.
Playing Tennis & Coaching Journey
Tennis became a major part of my life through my teenage and adult years. I represented Canterbury at NZ Interdistricts and played many years at premier provincial level. Alongside playing, I moved into coaching roles including Canterbury Regional Coach and Strength & Conditioning Coach for Canterbury Junior Tennis.
Tennis also gave me the opportunity to play and coach overseas in Germany, Italy, France and Australia, which was an incredible experience both personally and professionally. For the last 10 years I have been living and continuing to coach tennis part-time in Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand.
Running & Endurance
Running came back into my life in my late 20s. My first marathon was the Christchurch Marathon, and my first ultra was the NZ 24 Hour Track Race on a 400m track – which went horrendously! But I stuck with running for fitness and continued competing in several half marathons and marathons while still focusing mainly on tennis at that time.
When I moved to the West Coast, running became a much bigger part of my life with so many trails and mountains to explore. Over the last few years I have completed multiple ultra marathons in competition as well as many more as training adventures. Endurance sport is where a lot of my focus sits now.
Currently I typically run around eight times per week, strength train twice per week and hike once per week, although this changes depending on what I am training for, where I am in a training block and our challenging weather!
Study & Coaching Philosophy
I am currently studying a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Science (Exercise Prescription) through Otago Polytechnic to further develop my knowledge in improving health for all people, as well as developing athletes and ultra endurance athletes. This may lead into Masters study in the future if time and life allow.
My coaching is based on real world experience, education, and years of working with athletes and everyday people. I am passionate about helping people improve performance, health, and confidence through structured, realistic and sustainable training.
Health Coaching & Working in Primary Care
Alongside coaching sport and endurance athletes, I also work as a qualified Health Coach full-time.
Much of this work focuses on supporting people with lifestyle changes such as increasing physical activity, improving nutrition habits, managing stress, sleep, weight management and long-term health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions. A big part of the role is helping people set realistic goals, build sustainable habits and make changes that actually fit into their lives.
This work has given me a much broader understanding of health beyond just sport performance. Not everyone is training for a race or competition — many people are simply trying to improve their health, move without pain, have more energy, or prevent future health issues. Being able to work in both the health space and the performance space allows me to coach a wide range of people, from complete beginners through to endurance athletes.
Over 49 years I’ve experienced a lot of the highs and lows that come with sport, training and health – competing, injuries, setbacks, weight and body challenges, motivation struggles and trying to balance training with work and life. I don’t just coach from textbooks; I coach from lived experience as well as education. If you’re starting out, getting back into exercise, chasing a performance goal, or just trying to get healthier and more consistent, my experience might be exactly what you need to help support your journey.
I’m looking forward to hearing your story and how I can help with the next chapter!