In this conversation, Olympic Gold Medalist, Anna Hopkin shares her journey from a competitive swimmer to a performance lifestyle advisor and her role with AP Race post retirement. She discusses the importance of balance in training, the influence of coaches on her development, and the significance of maintaining variety in sports. Other topics included:

• Specialising too early in a sport can hinder development.
• Variety in training helps maintain motivation and enjoyment.
• Coaches play a crucial role in supporting athletes' journeys.
• Open communication between athletes and coaches is essential.
• Transitions between different coaching programs can be positive.
• Maintaining other sports can enhance swimming performance.
• Education should be prioritised alongside sports. also touches on the importance of breaking taboos surrounding female health and creating a culture of understanding and support within the coaching community.

Anna will be presenting to coaches at the AP Race London International 2025 as part of our Coach CPD, which you can find out more and register for here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/ap-race-events/ap-race-london-international-2025-coach-cpd-saturday-24th-may-coach-cpd/e-ajmlre

Contact the podcast team here: ⁠https://forms.gle/d1A2giJs2ir3eUnS7⁠

Head to the AP Race homepage here:

⁠https://aprace.club/⁠

We have a wide range of support for coaches and you can find out more about our face to face CPD’s via our coaching website. These CPD’s run across the year and are generally available 2-3 months prior to each event.

Our coaches landing page can be found here: ⁠⁠https://coaches.aprace.club/⁠⁠

We have a drop in Zoom call once a month for coaches which we then upload onto YouTube afterwards for those who cannot make it to join the live discussion - Sign up to our mailing list to hear about this and much more: ⁠⁠https://coaches.aprace.club/contact/mailing-list/⁠⁠

We also have a free mental health and wellbeing check-in which we would urge you to sign up for.

Register for our coaches wellbeing check-in here: ⁠⁠https://coaches.aprace.club/wellbeing/⁠⁠

We have a resources page on our website we are constantly adding to: ⁠⁠https://coaches.aprace.club/resources/⁠⁠

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