Ben Davies

Head Coach

Head Coach

  • BSc Sports Coaching

    UKSCA Accredited Strength & Conditioning Coach

    BASES Certified Exercise Practitioner

    Diploma in Sports Massage Therapy

    British Athletics Event Group Coach

    ALTIS Accredited

  • Track & Field Athletics - Specifically Jumps and Sprints

    Amateur to Elite Athlete Pathways

    Problem solving and innovating on the status quo

  • Head Coach

    I work across all areas of the academy to provide the vision and direction for building our amateur to elite pathway.

    Working with the team, I am responsible for the training design, welfare and management for all of our athletes.

Personal

As a junior, I played most sports before settling on track and field, where I competed at a national league and championship level. Studying sports science and coaching at university, I soon realised that my childhood Olympic dream was a non-starter because of gaps in my training. The gaps were no-ones fault, just services that were not readily accessible in the local area. My journey and the thought of “what if” led me into professional sports coaching and to build the pathway and support system I wish I had access to.

I strongly believe in maintaining a broad knowledge base and practical skill set to ensure that I can converse and support across all elements of athlete development. In practice, my philosophy is to create a positive environment where my athletes are educated and hold themselves accountable through good times and bad.

Success

My successes include coaching athletes from beginner to Team England and GB selections, with representation at Commonwealth Games, Para-World Junior Championships, Schools International Championships, UK School Games and Loughborough International, winning an international gold medal and over 70 medals at National Age Group Championships, British University Championships, and regional championships in Jumps and Sprints Events. In addition, several athletes entered the ASSE, YTP and EIS pathway programmes.

In other sports, I have provided Strength, Speed and rehabilitation coaching for athletes to world championship/world cup team selection in; Skeleton, Netball, and Hockey from U23-Masters age groups. And more locally, Cambridge Utd Academy football players and competitive amateur endurance athletes from 10k to Ironman Triathlon.

Coaching Journey

I began coaching in Track & Field Athletics and then quickly branched out to support other Olympic and team sports athletes. My career highlights include my time as head coach at Oaklands College Athletics Academy, St Albans, and working for Athletes in Schools in Dubai, where I created educational resources for PE teachers in British independent schools.

In my early career, I received a professional boost through mentorship from established coaches and therapists, predominantly at Oaklands College and Solent University. I learned how a performance team works to take an individual from being a well-performing junior to becoming an Olympian. I was also fortunate to visit ALTIS in Phoenix, Arizona, where I shadowed and questioned some of the best speed & strength coaches and sports medicine staff in the world.

Then having coached my athletes from grassroots in several sports to compete at a junior and senior international level, I started Ignite performance ltd in 2021 to bring together a team and begin building a more comprehensive, more accessible athlete support service. However, I soon realised that the most impact we could make was in Track & Field, so here we are, 2023, evolved and re-focussed towards building Cambridge Track & Field Academy.