New Ladies S&C First Team Coach Joining Set Up!!

The Whitehaven Ladies First & “A” Team continues to go from strength to strength, and whilst player recruitment and retention has went really well, creating an exciting feel at the club, off the pitch has seen a number of strong appointments. Building on that, Callum Waldron has now stepped into First Team Strength & Conditioning Football Coach role full time!!

First Team Manager Rob Campbell gave his take on Callum joining the set up “We’ve been speaking to Callum for around a year now. We initially met when PureGym who are located in Whitehaven become one of our supporters, and the ladies enjoyed some free sessions to help them in the second part of the season and it helped contribute to a strong end of the campaign, finishing respectabe mid table position and a County Cup Final.

However as myself, Tony Bedford (Coach & Social Media Expert) and Callum got chatted we all shared a real vision for how to improve and build on what we started. For me I wanted Callum to take us to the next level with our female athletes and come on board as a full time coach with us, and I wanted him to have the space and freedom to build a robust program designed for female footballers, more than just a fitness program, something to gain the 1%’s needed to compete and get to Regional football and beyond.

Callum was excellent and shared the same thoughts and he took the offer up. He has been with us a few weeks now and already we are seeing huge benefits from the work he is doing with not only the First Team which is his primary team but supporting our “A” Team also.

We caught up with Callum to find out a bit more on our new coach!!

Shortly after graduating from UCLAN with his Bachelors Degree in S&C Callum moved to Manchester alongside studying for his Masters in S&C in search of opportunities as a S&C coach.

At the same time he started my own PT business, as he wanted to be coaching & in a gym environment as much as possible, which quickly changed as the country went into 2 more lockdowns following the Covid outbreak. “ I managed to keep on coaching & completed the first year of my Masters, as restrictions were lifted I had the opportunity to take on an Internship as a S&C coach at Wigan Warriors in the academy alongside their current S&C coach.

During my time there I was able to really develop myself as a coach working alongside extremely skilled & talented coaches in a professional set up with teams at the top of their sport.”

After spending a season there Callum decided to move on & devote all his time & energy into personal training, specialising in coaching women that feel out of place in the gym, who lack confidence and belief that their goals are possible, to transform their body, become confident & capable in themselves, showing that those goals which once felt impossible are “Within Reach” for them. “I’ve put a lot of time & effort into my education & understanding when it comes to coaching women, the differences in there anatomy, how hormones impact their training physically & psychologically, this is the key to getting long term results that last. After spending 5 1/2 years in Manchester me & my partner decided that it was time to move back to Whitehaven in February this year & that pretty much brings us up to now”

You obviously started last year with some taster sessions with our ladies at PureGym, how did they go?

“The taster sessions were great. The core group of lasses that came into the sessions were there to work. The sessions were definitely different to what the type of gym work the girls had done before, but that was met with great attitude, learn & be coached which isn’t always the case. It wasn’t just the willingness to work that made the sessions so great, it was the atmosphere that the girls brought to the session, as a team they get on really well & were also up for a laugh. Sports Science has come a long long way over the past 2 decades, it isn’t about flowing athletes & just running them or training them hard within an inch of their life. Athletes are made better with a plan & structure, meaning they can get the work done, improve as athletes & enjoy it, further strengthening the bond as a team. that’s a coaches dream.”

Your coming into Whitehaven as a coach, specifically working on S&C and Nutrition which is something the ladies have never had before to this level of detail, what are you looking to bring to the set up?

“My time at Wigan not only did I learn so much but I got to experience first had working with teams & athletes that are at the highest level in their sport. I had the opportunity to coach young, highly talented athletes some of who play for the first team as well as assist with the coaching of the first team. I got to see how these professional clubs set up & run, how they help develop athletes that go on to do this for a living at the highest level. That’s what I want to bring to the set up at Whitehaven, to develop them as athletes & improve their performance, reduce the rate of injuries & improve the speed & level they return to play at when injuries do happen, educate them on fuelling their training, bodies & recovery and as well understand how their hormones & menstrual cycle impacts their performance at different stages and strategies to keep them firing at 100%. Just because they aren’t at the top top level doesn’t mean we can’t train & act like we are. I want them all to see clearly how they can develop as an athlete & feel like a pro.”

What’s attracted you to the role, how do you see the project at Whitehaven Ladies.

That first contact with Rob Campbell, seeing the passion he had for the team & vision he’s got for this season was a big reason. As a coach he’s driven & ambitious just like me, he wants everything to be at the top level. A lot of coaches are still stuck in the mindset that fitness is running players into the ground after a bad game & pushing them as hard as they can, but Rob doesn’t think that way, he sees the value in Sports Science and S&C coaching, sharing these beliefs, philosophies & mindset is essential. I think the set-up here is incredible & he’s adding more here that is unheard of at this level. I’m excited for this season and my role as a coach for the team, to help them go into this season and challenge for the league which I’m certain is what’s in-store for this season.

You completed your first session a couple of Thursdays ago, there was some tired bodies but also smiles, howd you think it went?

Incredible. I don’t think it could have went any better. Thursday was testing, seeing where the girls fitness levels are so that I can go away and build their pre-season programme to get them fitter, faster & stronger. It was great to see that the way the core group of girls from the taster sessions showcased what the culture of the full team is. From the get go it was clear they were there to work and keen to develop as athletes while also keeping the energy around the session up. The coaching staff were brilliant as well I wouldn’t of been able to get through all the testing in the time or as smoothly without them and they were all invested in knowing & understanding what we were doing, why we were doing it and what that means. It’s clear the values & philosophy you have is the same through all the coaching staff here. Hopefully we will still be seeing some smiles as the hard work picks up in the coming weeks.

Outside of your role at Whitehaven your very active with PureGym and your own bussiness “Within Reach”.

What do you focus on, what type of customers can you help and how do people find you online?

Yep, I’m also the head coach of Within Reach Coaching. We work with women who feel out of place in the gym, like they don’t belong there, who’s confidence has been rocked by comparing themselves to others & are on the verge of accepting their goals are impossible. To realise they are actually “Within Reach” for them, coaching them to becoming confident & capable in the gym, to transform their body & find a place they finally feel like they belong. We have an amazing community right now of over 25 women that celebrate each others wins, give each other pep talks when motivation is low & offer a shoulder to cry on when they need support. The community we have built here in the gym & in Whitehaven is something you rarely see from PT programmes. A lot of “Within Reach” draws on how I use to feel around the gym & training which is where the passion comes from, I’ve felt out of place in the gym & like my goals were impossible for me. We’ve recently started a free monthly Run Club in Whitehaven we carry speakers, blast tunes & keep running enjoyable. To help women run their first 5K, meet people & make a few new friends along the way.

• The best place to find me online is Instagram @callum.withinreach, there’s 100’s of pieces of content on there to help women in their journey, as well as updates for the run club & you can also find me in PureGym Whitehaven