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June 11, 2025
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From budding athlete to chartered high-performance coach

High-performance coach Ben Davies reflects on his sporting career as he celebrates gaining chartered status.

Born and bred in Cambridgeshire, Ben Davies was a talented athlete who competed at national championships in the long jump and at club level in many other sports.

Although a very accomplished athlete, Ben soon came to realise that he wasn’t going to reach the level needed to succeed and earn a living from being a high-performing athlete.

A huge sports enthusiast, at the age of 18, Ben started studying for a coaching and sports science degree at Solent University in Southampton.

I had to make sure the athletes of the future had access to the resources and support I wish I’d had as a junior

“I accepted I wasn’t going to make it as a world-class athlete, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be a world-class coach.

“My degree taught me very quickly where the gaps were in my development as a young athlete, most of which were avoidable had I had access to more knowledgeable practitioners and the use of better facilities.

“That’s where my career started. I had a goal, I wanted to become a world-class coach, I wanted to be part of a team that delivered world class athletes. To do that I had to make sure the athletes of the future had access to the resources and support I wish I’d had as a junior.”

Ben went on to become an honorary member of the Solent University High-Performance Programme, where he met some major influences on his career in his training partner Matt McInnes Watson, strength and conditioning coach James Grant, physiotherapist Benn Digweed and jumps coach Eric Little who was a national coach mentor at the time.

“Seeing them all work together was invaluable for me, it helped me discover what a multidisciplinary team looked like and aided my understanding around the support individuals would need to drive them forwards in their careers.

“This gave me the platform for my first role out of university as a strength and conditioning intern because it gave me the confidence to walk in and do a presentation and say ‘this is my understanding of athlete support and development, and this is how I want to work’.”

A pinch me moment that was hard to comprehend

Ben’s career continued to go from strength to strength as his intern position progressed into a permanent role as sprints and power events coach at Oaklands College. As part of this role, Ben worked under head coach Ryan Freckleton, who invited him to be assistant coach of an elite group of sprinters based out of Lee Valley Athletic Centre.

“These were primarily people who had transitioned out of their college academy and were making waves in England and GB teams. I was part of a coaching and support team, putting several athletes on the plane to major international events each year which was an amazing experience, a pinch-me moment that was hard to comprehend in many respects.

“Again, practitioners with different expertise worked together to form an integrated multi-disciplinary team that included an osteopath, strength and conditioning coaches, sports therapists, technical leads and more.

About the performance sport industry

Employs 140,711 paid employees across 4,941 organisations
Paid workforce has increased by 12.7% since 2018
Turnover has increased by 68.1% since 2018
Estimated growth (in both annual turnover and number of staff employed) is 1.5% per year
Best estimate total GVA (Gross Value Added) is £5.7 billion as of 2024
Estimated GVA per employee is £40,692

GVA is the measure of the value of goods and services produced by an industry. It is used as a metric for the economic contribution of an industry.

The most advertised high-performance sport roles in the UK in 2024

Sports coaches
Academy coaches
Performance coaches
Head coaches
Skills coaches
Swim instructors/coaches
Football coaches
Personal trainers
Strength and conditioning coaches
Gymnastics coaches

Source: The Data City, 2024.

“The opportunity to be mentored by Ryan and his team taught me how to take athletes from good to great, and I learnt the value of being a multidisciplinary coach.”

Producing athletes at a national level and in time, at international level

Still based out of Cambridgeshire, Ben then reconnected with his local club where he had trained previously to get involved with coaching juniors in horizontal jumps and sprints.

“Dealing with a variety of abilities from juniors to elite athletes gave me a really unique perspective of how I can take my experiences from a high-performance environment, adapt it and put it into practice to benefit those at the start of their career.

“I started producing athletes at a national level and in time, at international level.”

Ben went on to collaborate with and be influenced by many other well-respected names in the UK Athletics team, including the likes of Gordon Bosworth and Rob Hill, who had been part of teams that supported the development of world-class athletes. As such, this further exposed Ben to increasing levels of expertise.

The ALTIS Apprentice Coach Programme followed in Phoenix, Arizona, where Ben had the opportunity to shadow legendary coach’s Dan Pfaff and Stu McMillian as they worked with athletes who were not just making world championships, but medalling. To see the difference served to reinforce Ben’s desire to work in that development space in the UK and drive improvements by bringing professional support to amateur sport.

Discover opportunities in high-performance sport

Performance sport is a highly competitive, fast-paced and innovative industry area.

It offers practitioners employment in a variety of roles such as providing support to the highest level of athletes so that they can achieve their goals, supporting with the delivery of international competitions or making sure spectators are safe.

Learn more about the careers and occupations below and discover typical working patterns, potential earnings, skills and behaviour requirements, career paths and progression opportunities, relevant courses and qualifications and more.

Coach

A coach will improve a participant’s experience of sport and physical activity by providing specialised support and guidance matched to the participant’s individual needs.

Find out more about becoming a coach

Swimming teacher

The role of a swimming teacher is to plan, deliver and evaluate a series of swimming lessons and provide a safe learning environment.

Find out more about becoming a swimming teacher

Coaching assistant

A coaching assistant will improve a participant’s experience of sport and physical activity by supporting a coach to provide specialised support and guidance aligned to their individual needs.

Find out more about becoming a coaching assistant

Take a look at the Careers Hub for more career and occupation opportunities within sport and physical activity.

A sense of recognition that felt so rewarding

Upon his return to the UK, Ben continued his work at Oaklands College. Through supporting Ryan with para-sprinter Maria Lyle, he met Molly Kingsbury, a para-long-jump athlete with cerebral palsy.

“Molly, who was 15 or 16 at the time and already held the long jump British record for her classification, had sustained a major back injury and was struggling to return to training.

“I remember in our first meeting, she turned to me and said ‘I want to do the London World Championships’. I remember thinking to myself ‘this is going to be a fun challenge’. Not only could she not currently run, she also had her GCSEs coming up and they would demand a lot of her time.

“With a massive amount of support from her dad, who acted as a taxi driver and coach for sessions that she did at home, we cracked on and got Molly sprinting again and eventually jumping. Whilst she didn’t make the London World Championships, she did make the World Junior Championships a month later. For a girl that couldn’t run – let alone jump – a few months prior, I’ll take that.

“The following year Molly ended up in Australia, on the Gold Coast, competing for England as part of the para-sport programme at the Commonwealth Games. I remember her calling me after she was selected: “Ben, I can’t come to warm weather training anymore… because I’m going to the Commonwealth Games!”

When the time came, I was sat in a hotel bar in Barcelona watching Molly on some foreign sports channel, her dad sending me pictures of her family also watching at home, it was pretty surreal. I had that moment of realisation, a sense of recognition that felt so rewarding because I helped her get there.”

Better support is an absolute necessity

The pandemic gave Ben some downtime, which he used to diversify into offering remote support to his clients through creating 500+ exercise videos to enable them to train independently. Not only this, but Ben also studied to gain a better understanding of business planning and project management that would give him the confidence to take the next step in his career.

“I spent a lot of time looking at cash flow from at UK Sport, Sport England, national governing bodies, local authorities and clubs, and compared that to the journey athletes take from grassroots to getting onto a funding programme. It was really evident there was, and still is, a gap in terms of effective performance support at the developmental club-level stage of the pathway.

“That solidified it for me. I had the right experience and skillset, along with the business acumen. I needed to fill that gap because it was an absolutely necessity if our aspiring athletes of the future were to achieve their potential.

“The Cambridge Sports Performance Group was then born with the goal of working with clubs, organisations and individuals to implement professional services and processes into the athlete development pathway.

“For nearly three years we have been consulting with schools, colleges and sports clubs that utilise our clinic to establish a performance pathway of support service. These help athletes of any age or level repeatedly find success in their sport and form a positive lifelong relationship with physical activity that improves their mental health and reduces their risk of long-term health conditions.

“We’ve had a good level of success in different environments and sports so far.”

Chartered status sets me apart

Ben is one of the latest elite individuals to have gained chartered status as he was able to demonstrate true excellence, innovation and impact as a high-performance coach.

In acknowledgement of his exceptional quality and elevated level of expertise in planning and delivering services within the high-performance environment, Ben has gained the ultimate status in sport and physical activity. His status as a chartered professional will enable him to utilise post-nominal letters to gain the recognition he deserves as one of the best that the sector has to offer.

“I have already done the work, so why not shout about it? Honestly, it’s the best £300 I could have spent in terms of marketing myself and offering parents, volunteers and the wider public the reassurance they need in my ability to coach in a high-performance environment.

“Chartered High-Performance Coach is a status that offers recognition of everything I have achieved, whether that be education and qualifications, experience or results. I’m young and might not necessarily have the same length of service as some of my peers, but I hope this status shuts down a lot of those comparison conversations.”

“With post-nominals it will make certain conversations easier and serve to acknowledge my status on marketing collateral such as my website and business cards.

Talking about the whole process of applying for chartered status, Ben revealed he was initially a little hesitant and questioned if he had the right experience to warrant chartered status.

“I wasn’t sure if the experience I had would meet the criteria, I wasn’t entering the process from a traditional national governing body-employed coach position, but after speaking with CIMSPA’s professional services team, it became clear I could evidence a lot more than I gave myself credit for.

“The whole process was not only straightforward but also really useful. It gave me the impetus to pull together a record of everything I had accomplished in my career to date, a lot of which I had kind of forgotten about.”

Endorsed high-performance sport training courses

1st4sport Level 2 Certificate in Coaching Multi-Skills Development in Sport

Youth Sport Leaders Award

SEQ Effective Teaching of Swimming Skills and Strokes

Looking to find out more about chartered status?

Chartered status is a mark of distinction awarded to those who have demonstrated true excellence, innovation and impact within their field.

A chartered member or fellow meets the sector standards with qualifications, experience and expertise that underpin their multiple areas of discipline, outstanding competencies and wide-ranging capabilities.

“I’m excited to see the impact I can have over the coming years”

Ben concluded by telling us where he anticipates the next steps in his career to take him.:

“I’m 32 and in theory I shouldn’t have the experience or have made the progress that I have done to this point. I think that comes down to me knowing what I wanted to do and going after it. I didn’t want to be part of a bigger company or organisation because I didn’t want to help maintain the status quo. I wanted to make a difference, and I’m open to consulting with more sports or organisations that share that mindset.

“I’m continuing to throw myself into any opportunity I think can benefit my development, recently I’ve become part of the European Athletics Coach Mentoring Project, and taken on the position of consultant coach for England Athletics on their talent pathway and on Team Staffs.

“I want to continue my journey to become a world-class coach. I want to take an athlete from grassroots to a world championships or Olympics. It’s very hard to do that but I have a couple of athletes that have stuck around long enough and could achieve that in 2028.

“Ultimately, I love coaching the jumps, I love the multidisciplinary problem solving of athlete development and performance pathways as a whole, and most of all I love mentoring others. Working as an independent coach and consultant offers me flexibility to juggle multiple interests. I’m excited to see the impact I can have over the coming years.”