Meet Ady Gray, Children’s Coach of the Year
Inspiring Story by Ian Slattery
UK Coaching’s 2018 Children’s Coach of the Year discusses his achievements to date and his aims for the future. Unsurprisingly, Ady's karate students are his priority
Karate coach Ady Gray won Children’s Coach of the Year 2018 at the UK Coaching Awards in November. It was the culmination of a very busy year.
During 2018, Ady:
- took on a new role as President of the World Shotokan Federation – England (WSF)
- attended his first International World Championships and European Championships with medal-winning athletes
- saw his Byakko Shotokan Karate Association go from strength to strength.
But although that list gives a flavour of Ady’s triumphs and versatility, it doesn’t represent Ady’s success and popularity with the students, new and long-standing, who attend his classes.
They are Ady’s key priority – and who he focuses on when he discusses his achievements.
All my students, of all levels, are pretty chuffed with the award, because when they come to the dojo it’s their dojo, so any success we get – be that in a competition, or someone gaining a new grade – we all celebrate it. So those successes aren’t just theirs and my award isn’t just mine."
Putting his students first
One of Ady’s personal coaching highlights was being asked to be involved with the Inclusive Multi-Sports Festival in Dunnington, in recognition of his high level of success in coaching students with physical or social/emotional challenges. Over 200 students attended the festival to enjoy an action-packed day of physical activities.
Ady is the first to acknowledge and embrace that his students have different reasons for attending his sessions – and the importance of acknowledging those differences as part of supporting their development.
“90% of my students aren’t interested in competition. They want to do karate for everything else they can get out of the sport.
“We have children who take part in our main sessions, who aren’t in the mainstream school system, who have special education needs, but as a coach you just have to tap into their imagination to see them excel in those sessions,” he explains.
Ady is also clear that safeguarding, as a coach and in sport, is of paramount importance.
As karate has no national governing body, Ady worked closely with North Yorkshire Sport to create his own set of safeguarding policies for his club, and then to roll them out across his other clubs in the UK.
North Yorkshire Sport and its staff have expressed how impressed they are with Ady's efforts to promote and create a safe training environment for all his students and instil these disciplines in his assistant coaches.
Full-time coaching
Ady has a primary student base of attendees aged 4-16, and regularly sees new faces at his sessions.
Given the broad range of ages, Ady asserts that tailoring his coaching for specific age groups is crucial. For his youngest students (aged 4-6), Ady developed a Karate Tigers Class, unique to his Karate Dojo clubs.
“I don’t think I’m anything unique as a coach,” Ady says, “I am just able to fit a lot of thinking and planning time into my week, which is naturally going to help make sessions more successful.”
Ady’s approach to coaching is one that is constantly evolving. He is always keen to find new ways to connect with his participants and help them achieve their goals.
It’s hard work, both to get here and to keep things going now, keep improving myself, but it’s always worth it."
“That’s where being a full-time coach helps so much – I know lots of other great local coaches who have a full-time job and just don’t have the time to think about and plan new ideas and methods for every session.
“There’s a basic template of how to run a club and coach a session, but they are never perfect so I’m always looking for new ways to teach something or improve someone. I’ve got a session tonight where I’m going to be trying some things that are new to the group, with a view to getting a better result from the students.”
Coaching the person in front of him
Ady’s approach is undeniably person-centred.
I take everyone I teach as an individual, rather than comparing them to someone else of the same age or who started the sport at the same time.
“They have to want to take part for themselves, so I look for improvements in that individual as a whole,” Ady says.
This finds strong support among members of Ady’s club.
“Sensei Ady is brilliant with the young ones and keeps them engaged and focused so they have a great time,” enthused the parent of one of his six-year-old students.
Ultimately, it’s clear from speaking to Ady that at least some of his success and popularity is due to the attitude that he brings to his sessions – a combination of selflessness and drive. Not that he’s interested in hearing praise.
“I’m lucky really,” Ady muses, “I don’t ever regret the job I do.”
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