ROB HUGHES
Importance of angling coaches
“Even Cristiano Ronaldo has a kicking coach. So why not anglers?”
ISAT on a seatbox recently for the first time in 30-odd years. It was at the wonderful Lindholme Lakes, where I was taking part in the Hooked For Heroes 150-peg charity match. We filmed it for an upcoming episode of On The Bank for BT Sport, and it will no doubt make interesting viewing.
How would a carp angler hold up in a true competitive situation? Initially I thought that if I drew an open-water peg I could sling a feeder or bomb/pellet combo around and not embarrass myself too much and have a nice day’s angling. The draw changed all that! I was given Peg 8 on Benny’s, which involves using a pole to target F1s shallow if you want any chance of catching. Eek!
Pinging pellets while trying to present a bait at the end of a 13m pole in a crosswind was not my strong point. Best part of the first hour was spent learning how to hold, ship and strike. It’s more difficult than it looks!
My saviour came in the form of Alex Dockerty, the coach at Lindholme who lent me his gear, his faith and his expertise. He sat with me for the full match and I’m pleased to say we ended up with a fifth in section and a weight of 123lb. Not bad for a first go.
The credit is all Alex’s. As a coach he’s superb, but there still seems to be a stigma about coaching within angling. Golf, tennis, swimming and other big sports all utilise coaches very well, yet in angling it’s sometimes seen as a weakness. Why, I don’t know – even Cristiano Ronaldo has a kicking coach.
For me a good coach is worth his weight in gold, and Alex in particular is a real treasure.