It is a cold, grey, autumn day in 2005 at Thames Valley Athletics Stadium and I am sitting in the stands watching an athletics training session for Nicola Sanders (World indoor 400m Gold medallist, and World Outdoor 400m Silver medallist). I am discussing her running mechanics and injury history with her coach Tony Lester. After a very short period of time, we have come up with a relatively unique, and maybe controversial, strategy around her rehabilitation, strength and conditioning and track training program.
We are going to change her event from hurdles to 400m flat. At the time, we thought just for 1 year to help her get stronger and overcome the injury issues, but by 2006 she was showing signs of excelling as the next event, and by 2007 she was a triple world medallist.
This became the foundation and strength behind a long-lasting relationship I forged with Tony, and is testament to his ability to listen, taken on board key pieces of information, and come up with solutions for the betterment of whoever he is working with, where other coaches may have let their ego interfere and insist that Nicola stays as a 400m hurdler.
I met Tony a little over a year before that day, he was already an extremely well-established coach, having coached the likes of Mark Richardson and Roger Black to name a few, while I was relatively new to Track and Field. Despite the disproportionate levels of experience in the sport between the two of us, which meant that Tony had no reason to listen to me, a young upstart. He considered my viewpoint and engaged in a thoughtful conversation that problem solved simultaneously while delivering the session to multiple athletes.
From this point on we have both benefitted from a 20-year working relationship and friendship. We worked together at UK Athletics for 8 years, supporting and developing the careers of athletes such as Abi Oyepitan, Mark Lewis-Francis, Marlon Devonish, and Tim Benjamin. Following our time at UKA we continued to stay in touch when Tony moved to Sky, where we again collaborated with high level Executives on health optimisation and coaching strategies to maximise productivity.
Tony’s ability to blend his discipline and structure from his military days, through to his communication and forward planning skills from his Olympic sports days, coupled with his empathy and human understanding from surviving his own medical health scares, make him a unique person that anyone can learn from and benefit from spending time with.
I value him as a colleague, a mentor and most importantly a friend. If you have the opportunity to spend time with him, and learn from him, I know that this can only help you on whatever journey you are on.