Meet The Welfare Officer - Sophia Maynell
We want to introduce you to the Club Coaches & Officials. Here is our next in the series of “Meet the….”
DISCOVERING OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING
I began CrossFit in 2015, and this was my first real taste of barbell work. I found I really enjoyed the workouts involving the barbell and also these were the workouts I was better at.
Previously, I had competed in athletics and rugby and as a result had used weight training as part of my training programme but was a beginner with respect to Snatch and Clean & Jerk.
Charlie Stone was the Weightlifting Coach at Crossfit Cheltenham so I went along to the weightlifting specific sessions to learn the techniques.
I was competing in CrossFit, particularly in Masters (age 35+ 40+) events and when I learned that there is also a Masters framework in Olympic Weightlifting I decided I would focus more on that, which has been since April 2020.
I have two teenage boys and believe that participation in physical activity and in particular, strength based sports can have a significant positive impact on physical and mental wellbeing when navigating the journey to adulthood.
Young people are the Olympians and World Medallists of tomorrow, and so it is important that they have the opportunity to be inspired, learn, develop and feed into appropriate talent pathways in a safe environment.
However, in reality only a very small percentage will reach the Elite levels and so we encourage and support all athletes of all abilities to achieve their respective goals.
Not everyone wishes to compete, and there are so many benefits from being involved in the sport as athletes, coaches or officials on a volunteer or professional basis.
I am proud to be a part of SSW Club to promote the benefits of the sport.
MY QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
B.Sc P.E, Sports Science & Maths - Loughborough University.
I have previous experience of coaching both young people and adults in sport in particular rugby & gymnastics. I have worked with those aged 6 - 14 and so was already familiar with the importance and necessity of safeguarding.
I hold a Safeguarding & Protecting Children certificate and have a DBS background check registered with BWL.
COMPETITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS
My Competitive achievements to date:
Lifetime C&J PB 70Kg
Lifetime Snatch PB 56kg
2022 IWF European Masters Competitor in Poland W40 87+KG
2022 BWL British Masters Silver Medal W40 87+KG