Hi. I’m Simon Harling, and I help coaches build extraordinary coaching practices. You see, I have been coaching for over 20 years, achieving incredible accolades, creating extraordinary experiences for my clients, and assisting hundreds in achieving their goals.
I studied Chemistry at Loughborough University and, a few years later Sport and Exercise Science at Cardiff University of Wales (UWIC). I worked so hard at transitioning from a chemist to a sports scientist, that I published a research article in the prestigious journal Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise that has been cited over 60 times. To further validate me, I became an accredited applied sport and exercise scientist with BASES and a recognised strength and conditioning coach.
I was so passionate about sharing my ideas and my dreams that I built a platform for them. I could not find what I wanted, so I created it from scratch – a purpose-built facility, a sports science laboratory, and a conditioning space with room to play. It became my testing ground, a playground, and for many years, the love of my life.
I learned the hard way that starting a business at scale while developing a coaching career is a choice to develop neither. Being pulled off course by the demands of running a large coaching business, and feeling frustrated within the circle that I had created, I was guilty of showing only glimpses of what I could achieve.
Despite this, my clients achieved what they thought impossible – competing at major games, achieving recognition in their chosen sports, and creating life-changing course corrections. Truthfully, I struggled with them, learned, led from the front, and owned my mistakes. Not always a good coach, not always completely focused on the job at hand, but always works so damn hard to make it work.
When you work so hard to gain something, quitting of your own volition is powerful, not to mention difficult. I quit coaching contracts, and coaching qualifications, shedding my skin of a validated, qualified, and proud coach. I also liquidated my coaching practice, no longer able to justify propping it up with personal sacrifice.
Although I fear change, I excel in transition. I’ve avoided confrontation all my life and yet look for sparks from which to start a fire. People know me as a successful coach and a trusted companion during challenging times.
If you can relate to my struggles and success then we should have a conversation.