Shanara Hibbert

ATHLETICS

What was your sport and how did you get into it?

I compete in Triple Jump, and have competed in Athletics for over 20 years now which feels surreal to say! I have two 'origin' stories. From my point of view, I had reached quite a competent level in swimming and when faced with continuing swimming, trying diving, karate or Athletics I chose Athletics. From my Mum's point of view, a teacher noticed I was good at Triple Jump at school and suggested that my Mum took me to try Athletics. At that age, girls were not allowed to compete in Triple Jump, so I initially gravitated towards 100m, 200m and Long Jump. It wasn't until my final year of University that I tried Triple Jump again. I realised I was very close to qualifying for the British Championships, and over the next couple of years switched events.

Tell us about the highlights of your sporting career?

My biggest highlight has to be from this Summer - Winning my fourth National Triple Jump medal at the UK Athletics Championships with a huge personal best of 13.25m. Before this season, my legal personal best was the 13.03m I jumped in 2020, before my achilles rupture and surgery. So this result meant a lot to me, and also those who have been on the recovery journey with me - My coach, friend and fiance were out of their seats!

Other highlights have been breaking my 100m, 200m and Long Jump personal bests all in one day in 2014. Plus also winning my first National medal and jumping over 13 metres for the first time at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships in 2020, after having overcome mental health challenges in the years prior.

What were some of the challenges you experienced and how did you overcome them?

One of the hardest challenges I've experienced has been dealing with mental health challenges. Particularly circa 2019 when I was balancing training, competing and working full-time managing my own department. I reached out for professional support, spent a lot of time in therapy and then also made a lot of personal and lifestyle changes to help recover.

My second biggest challenge stemmed from rupturing my achilles and sustaining a talus bone bruise during the European Indoor Trials in 2021. I was on crutches for 6 months and signed off work completely for 6 weeks, with an additional phased return over the following 2 months. As well as the physical injury and learning to walk again, I had a lot of fatigue after surgery, and as a self-funded athlete most of my support was initially through the NHS. I accepted and reached out for a lot of further support during this time, did a lot of research into my injury and recovery and started listening to my body better. This includes working with my coach to tailor training around the menstrual cycle, working with nutritionists, sports psychology and more frequent osteopathy and sport massage sessions. I learned so much about navigating the psychological and social side of injury that I integrated this into my previous role as a Performance Lifestyle Coach at UK Athletics for the Olympic and Paralympic programmes. As mentioned, I've also since jumped a huge personal best too, which I'm very proud of!

What have been your highlights while working at the Trust?

I'm very new to working with Trust so you'll have to ask me again in a few months' time! But so far the training has been a great refresher on different learning and leadership styles.

What do you do now alongside working for the Trust?

Outside of training and competing, I'm a Careers, Wellbeing and Executive coach, TEDx and keynote speaker and facilitator. In my business 'Shanara Coaching', I work with leaders and change-makers through one-to-one coaching, bespoke talks, workshops and consultancy. In particular, I'm passionate about helping people achieve more than they believe they can, both in and outside of their careers, while protecting their wellbeing. My career background is varied, but I specialise in wellbeing, inclusion and career success.

What life advice would you give a young person?

With my coaching hat on, I prefer not to give outright advice before understanding a bit about someone's situation! However, I'd say to anyone that it's always worth listening to your body, and also figuring out what path you would like to take rather than just doing what you think you 'should' do. If taken note of and nurtured, what makes us unique can be our gift and our superpower.

Competitive
Record

Four times National Triple Jump Champion