Sharon Hannan on the secret to Sally's success

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Sharon Hannan on the secret to Sally's success Sharon Hannan divulged the secret to World Athlete of the Year Sally Pearson’s success, at an Athletics Australia and VicSport hosted Coaches Talking with Coaches forum at Wesley College.

Coach Hannan, who was joined by Scott Draper, Tennis Australia National Acadaemy Manager, told the attending coaches of how she started out and the step-by-step process of taking Pearson from Little Athletics to gold at the World Championships.

She said: “I first saw Sally at the State Championships in March 1999. Her mum asked me to start coaching her that weekend.

“Her mum was rarely at training. Because of that or of the type of person her mum is there was never any interference.

“Her mum always said that ‘Sharon was driving the bus’ and she told Sally to come and talk to me. She was always supportive and that groundwork to the relationship.

“It is really important in the development of an athlete not to specialise too early. Last year Sally became famous for winning three national titles at one national championships. Don’t be surprised if in the next Olympiad you go to a Majors and you don’t see Sally doing the hurdles, but a sprint instead.”

Hannan was also quick to highlight the winning attributes she believes Pearson brings to the table. Those being:

-       Consistency
-       Confidence in the coach
-       Commitment
-       Competitiveness
-       Competition toughness

And in a lighter moment the world-class coach confessed: “She (Sally) sacked me for about six hours in February last year in an off the cuff rage!”

Hannan also passed on some top tips for coaches, both in and outside of athletics.

Early lessons for a coach:

1)   Prepare to be questioned
2)   Grow ahead of your athlete.
I don’t believe in having to motivate an athlete, they have to motivate themselves but you have to find a way to keep them interested.
3)   Set boundaries and rules.
If you break (false start) in training then the session is over. That’s my rule. Sally loves to train so you can imagine that she learnt very quickly!
4)   Be knowledge hungry
5)   Have a mentor or a dozen