Remember that try saving interception Paul Sackey somehow managed in the Guiness Premiership final on Saturday? You can credit Margot Wells for that. Have you ever marvelled at Danny Cipriani’s meteoric rise through the ranks to replace Wilkinson? Margot again. And were you astonished by Andy Gomarsall’s remarkable comeback from the rugby scrapheap in the World Cup? Yes, you guessed it, Margot strikes again!
The Scottish speed specialist is responsible for nurturing, developing, and fulfilling the potential of 28 rugby players, 3 hockey players, and 2 Athletes. With a wealth of expernce and a tough love approach, Margot Wells has transformed good players into world-class athletes.
Born in Fife during the 1950’s, her passion for running began from an early age; “I have always been fascinated by pace. I nearly drove my dad nuts because I wanted to know why I could run faster than everybody else”. As a talented sprinter, Wells represented her nation in the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, but when watching her husband Alan Wells also run for Great Britain, she realised “I got more pleasure watching him run than running myself”. Supporting him at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, she came under the spotlight when a BBC crew filmed her crazed reactions during the 100 metres final her husband took gold in. Although Wells was aware of her own perceptive and critical eye for technique, it wasn’t until 1988 that speed improvement became her job. London Irish originally asked Alan Wells, but Margot turned up instead and repaid them with success. Since then, Wells has dedicated her professional and personal life to speed, explaining “I had the ability to be world-class, but I wasn’t world-class. I wasn’t born with a sprinter’s head. You can make the body. You cannot buy the head. I have a coach’s head.”
There is a reason why Margot Wells is held in such high esteem; not only does she get results, her straight-talking no-bullshit approach has commanded respect from some of the fiercest competitors in sport today. When interviewing the speed expert, the thick Scottish accent demands authority down the phone: not in a rude way, but enough to make you shut up and listen. Evidently, her players realise this: “We do have a laugh and a joke after it and stuff but if I am on the track, I ain’t messing about,” the no-nonsense Scot says firmly. Delivered in her direct manner and tone, inspiring words such as “Just stop, look back, and you will see that you have achieved a lot” can’t fail to motivate. Wells says what she means and means what she says and, although some advice can border on a Year 9 PE lesson, her understanding and depth of knowledge of the physical body is evident and invaluable to many.
Interestingly, Margot sees herself as a surrogate mother to her protégés. When asked how she would describe her relationship with them, she replies “a family sums it up really; not everyone gets on and you have the odd skirmish, but because I’ve been there, done it, and bought the t-shirt; the guys have a huge amount of respect for what I say”. The admiration is mutual and the caring coach is obviously proud of her charges. During the interview she enthuses about Paul Sackey’s “most natural running ability” and how “Cips” [Danny Cipriani] works so hard on the fitness side of his game: “He’s such a phenomenally talented player”. Success is measured on results, and Wells is convinced her players can now “do things that no one else can do. Cipriani can go when he wants to go, sprint when he wants to sprint. Waldouk, Haskell, Sackey [all Wasps team-mates] and Gomarsall can all do it”.
Claiming “I just fuel the talent”, Wells believes it is her job is to “give them the physical qualities to do what they do on the pitch, so they can play the game the way they want to play”. Her unique style has seen success at the highest levels and received high praise. Over six years, England and Wasps winger Paul Sackey has been forking out £400 a month for her services and recently described her as “my rock, she is absolutely amazing”. Margot’s objective is to increase speed and acceleration, but she is irritated by the misconception that this can be achieved by just standing on a track and telling someone to lift their knees higher, “People think I just do a bit of running, which is not true. I teach them the whole package”.
This “whole package” can be divided into three key elements:
• Technique
Margot has a trained eye for weaknesses in technique. Having had the talent for many years, she recalls her husband Alan asking after races “What was my pick-up like in the third set?’ And I could tell him. ‘What was my knee-lift like?’ And I could tell him”. Precociously-talented Usain Bolt, a 21 year old Jamaican sprinter, shocked the athletics world recently by smashing the 100m world record in New York, clocking 9.72. His raw talent is often hindered by poor technique, but experts believe an improved technique could see him surpass Michael Johnson as the greatest sprinter ever.• Physical strength
It is imperative to be as fit as possible. “Your arms control your legs, so make your arms stronger!” advises Margot on how to run faster. For speed endurance, the ex-professional sprinter recommends practicing running flat out, “Nothing takes more out of the body than running flat out”.• Mental strength
Margot believes success depends on motivation, explaining that “sports people in general seem to have a higher work rate level and a massive amount of dedication”; and find positive responses to situations, describing athletes as “not necessarily the most confident people. It is this lack of confidence that strives them on to [perform] better, because they are never happy with what they’ve got”.
Using this knowledge, Margot Wells is currently setting up a new company ‘Wellfast’ which aims to educate PE teachers and coaches on how to replicate her methods on lower rungs of the sporting ladder. The pioneering Highlander insists that there is a “repeatable recipe, and you can just follow this recipe”, explaining that “The first thing I do is teach him how to run properly. By doing that he immediately runs faster. And then I look at his body and say, ‘Right, where are all the weaknesses?’ And then I go about fixing them. Bad spelling jumps out to some people; bad bodies jump out to me. It’s a step-by-step system to follow”. The confidence in her methods is plain to see as she boasts “In ten minutes, I can get anyone running faster”.
Throughout her successful career, Margot has adhered to the basic formula ‘Power = strength x speed’, whilst maintaining her belief that “there’s always something you can learn and change, always a way of making the body work more efficiently”. It’s not mere luck that has seen good players transformed into world-class athletes. Remember the name and next time an England Rugby star makes a try-saving tackle or a Great British athlete sets a record, you too will be able to say: Margot Wells did that.