Sarah Wignall
Hi, I’m Sarah, aged 26, born in Cumbria but moved to the Isle of Man at a young age, so I consider myself Manx.
Without realising it until adulthood, my life has always revolved around coaching. Following in my family’s footsteps, from a young age I was eager to help coach the youth teams at my local football club.
This then led into coaching Manx Youth Games teams, and from there into working as an MSR community coach (PE teacher). By starting in youth coaching, I developed the skills and confidence to coach adults.
Sport and fitness has defined who I am from day one…
In my youth, I competed for the Island in football, swimming and hockey, but I always wanted to do more. Eventually, this led to running and triathlon. It became my hobby and obsession to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible about sports, fitness and health.
Eventually, I earned a football scholarship in the US and graduated with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science. The course included a year’s mentorship with the college’s strength and conditioning coach, working with basketball players, footballers, baseball players, etc.
This experience prompted me to ask the question “how does work in the gym help performance?”
After finishing my degree and four years of intense US college football, I completed my L2 Gym Instructor and L3 Personal Training courses and I am now working through Level 4 Advanced, which will give me Active IQ accredited Advanced Personal Trainer Certification, plus a lot more tools in my coaching toolbox.
Wishing to continue developing my football and build a career, I moved to the UK to play for Crawley Football Club and work as a personal trainer at Hard Fitness. However, moving back to the Island, and being given the opportunity to join Steve’s team working under his mentorship was the perfect next step in my coaching journey.
In March 2022, I was diagnosed with ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), resulting in a major lifestyle change, as it forced me to stop all training, including football, triathlon and gym sessions.
Going from training six times a week to zero naturally came with many negatives. However, the positives were unpredicted.
A year of practising to recognise the body’s indicators of overtraining, planning your day around energy balances and knowing what to do when they are too low, and following the best diet to maximise energy.
Of course, this condition doesn’t define who I am, but it does provide me with first-hand experience and new attributes which I can use to better understand client needs and experiences.
Despite being unable to train, my love for sport and exercise has actually increased, giving me the desire to push myself through it and wanting to help others as much as possible.
I’m currently in my 4th year of coaching, I’ve worked with a wide variety of wonderful and challenging clients – and I’m looking forward to helping many more in the years to come.