COACH PROFILE: Steve Whelan
Published Sat 18 Jul 2020
18 July 2020
The athletics club coach is a rare factor in track and field. They are key to drawing into the sport a close group that train and compete together. Steve Whelan, at the Hills Athletics Club, is a fine example of this with a squad of about 100 athletes.
Steve Whelan’s launch into coaching is a familiar story.
“I started training with Hills Athletics when I was nearly 18 and after about 15 years competing I realised that there was a shortage of middle to long distance coaches at the club and so I started doing some coaching with a couple of club mates and its pretty much grown from there,” recalled Whelan who has now been coaching for over 20 years, while still competing himself.
Coaching alone can be demanding, and with such a large squad, Whelan logically co-shares the responsibilities with Ray Marvin.
“Ray is a much more qualified coach than me and is a very different kind of coach than me. He has a good knowledge of anatomy which is great for diagnosis and treatment of injuries from a lay person point of view. He also loves writing a training programs. Having two coaches allows us to have two sets of eyes on the runners and we are then able to consult with each other.”
Whelan coaches primarily middle to long distance events at the home of Hills Athletics Club, at Roxborough Park in Castle Hill. “It is quite possibly the best grass track in Sydney.”
His 100-person squad, of which some he and Ray Marvin only see on a few occasions each month, is rather diverse. They have a group of emerging talent to masters world champions. National schools steeplechase medallist Elena Koudasheva is joined by 15 minute 5000m athlete Jacob Crew and 400m sprinter Mitch Olbrich. The Masters runners are spearheaded by Don Mathewson and Rosemary Roediger who have been world champions for most of the last 20 years.
Coaches are special people who give enormous amounts of time to their athletes. But what drives Whelan?
“I like to pass on my experience, I like to see people enjoying running, I don’t like it when good athletes just give up never to be seen again. Too often the training and racing experience becomes less enjoyable and I don’t see why it should be as a coach I feel it is important for athletes to be around for a long time, make friends and pass on their experiences.”
The club bond is also important for Whelan.
“I believe in the club aspect for athletes. The club has a large number of coaches and we work pretty well together. Quite often some of the athletes from other squads train with me and vice versa.”
He has some advice from his wealth of experience.
“Enjoy what you do, don’t be afraid to take advice and trust yourself and your athletes. There are no shortcuts to distance running, it takes time, don’t think you can run a marathon after three months of running without consequences.”
He has been mentored by some of the great, Ron White who sadly passed away recently and his first coach Colin Smith – a British international athlete.
Away from the track, Whelan has a busy life with family, work and hobbies. Married to Tracey for 30 years, they have three children and recently a grandchild. A qualified accountant, he works as a contract manager with Sydney Metro. A life member with the Hills Athletics club, and currently the President, he has seen the club grow enormously, noting the membership was 40 when he joined. An allrounder as a junior, who competed in hurdles, and decathlons, finished on the podium in the national university cross country championships. A big fan of music, he collects vinyl, gramophone records, tapes etc and has over 40,000 CDs. He even has a lifetime double pass to see singer Kate Miller Heidke anywhere she performs in the world.
Thanks Steve for you decades of dedication and hard work. Your impact on your squad and hundreds more in your club is significant and appreciated by the sport.
David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Images: Steve Whelan and his group
