Cycling South Africa is pleased to welcome Alasdair Garnett as the new Coaching Commission Chair.
Garnett attended Parktown Boys High School, UCT and WITS Universities and built a career in Information Technology from 1995 to 2005. He received Provincial (2003, 2004, 2005) and National (2003 & 2005) colours for Road Cycling, winning multiple races and tours in the process. “I have since split my focus between Road and MTB, and still compete in single and multi-day events,” he added.
He then turned his focus to coffee retail from 2006 to 2012.
From 2012, Garnett built up The Practice (a lifestyle, rehabilitation, wellness and high performance facility based in Gauteng) and coached as a primary profession. He achieved a UCI level 1 (April 2015), a UCI Level 2 (December 2015), a TrainingPeaks Level 1 (2016), a TrainingPeaks Level 2 (2017) and will be completing a UCI level 3 at the World Cycling Centre in Switzerland in August this year.
His first primary long term objectives would be to: spread the simple pleasure of riding a bicycle, getting more people in Africa onto bicycles; identify untapped talent (as there are many more World and Olympic champions in our midst).
He would also like to establish a structured but flexible coaching infrastructure in South Africa which is professional, efficient, reliable, predictable, resourceful, effective and sustainable, and focused on Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) to establish a clear pathway for all cyclists from youth development to international success
“We have the talent (coaches and athletes), resources and drive to deliver more champions onto the world stage, both athletes and coaches require support and infrastructure to be able to achieve their goals and aspirations,” he said.
In terms of immediate objectives, Garnet hopes to: create a national coach database that is readily accessible; organise regular regional, provincial and national coaching seminars to encourage, network, collaborate and further educate all those involved.
“I look forward to be part of a committee that is headed in this direction, that is transparent, accountable and successful,” he concluded.
