Hi. I’m Simon Harling.
I started my working life studying Chemistry at Loughborough before transitioning to Sport and Exercise Science at Cardiff. I worked extremely hard during that transition, publishing research cited over 60 times, and spent the next 20 years in elite sport, including first-team coaching at Brentford FC.
I built a 10,000 sq. ft. facility from scratch: a purpose-built lab, conditioning space, and room to play. It became my testing ground, my playground, and for many years, the love of my life.
I learned the hard way that building a business at scale while developing as a coach is a choice to be good at neither. Despite my clients achieving what they thought impossible, I was guilty of showing only glimpses of what I could achieve, pulled off course by the demands of running a large coaching business.
What was my coaching for? In a bid to get my story straight, I quit coaching contracts and coaching qualifications—shedding the validated, qualified, proud coach identity I’d worked so hard to build.
Then, I liquidated the practice itself.
After all, if you don’t get your story straight as a coach, who will?
Now, I’m the author of Good Coach Bad Coach, founder of Coach Camp (an unconference for coach development), and a grassroots youth football coach in Cardiff. I write weekly about coaching philosophy, creativity, and personal growth.
I look forward to our connection.
More of the good stuff:
Pick up a copy of Good Coach Bad Coach here
You can find out what I am working on here
Pick up my weekly newsletter here
Check out past projects here