Behind the Scenes: Coaches and Support Staff

The success of our athletes is, in part, made possible by world-class support from a team of dedicated professionals. As well as developing our student talent, our Cardiff Met team support high-performance athletes throughout Wales to reach their potential; many of whom also use our facilities to train and compete. Our coaches, sports analysts and graduates play a crucial role in preparing athletes for the Olympic and Paralympic stage, while others work behind the scenes to make the Games a success.

Dr Karen Howells – Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Dr Karen Howells will join the Athletes Soul House to participate in a distinguished panel discussion being held during the Olympic Games in Paris.

Gareth Baber – Cardiff Met’s Director of Rugby Systems has been appointed as the National 7s Programme Manager for Fiji Rugby for this year’s Olympic Games. Gareth and Fiji are hoping history will repeat itself after the Welshman led the islanders to only their second-ever Olympic Gold medal three years ago at the Tokyo Games following a 27-12 win over New Zealand in the final.

James Thie – James is a Lecturer in Sports Coaching and Performance at the University and will draw on his experience of coaching Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth team athletes again as he joins the GB Athletics Team coaching staff in Paris.

Joe Towns – Innovation Lead for Sport Broadcast Media in the Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences, Joe will be working as a Senior Television Producer for Olympic Broadcast Services (OBS) during the Paris Games.

Harry Lowe, Harvey Rutherford & Alex Goddard – Three of our Sport Performance Analysis course alumni join FIFA’s Technical Study Group Team to deliver match-by-match analysis, detailed statistics as well as an appraisal of each team's performance at the Paris Games.

Elliot Jennings – Elliot is a Sports Performance Analysis Academics Associate at the University and will be supporting the Men’s GB Wheelchair Basketball at the Paralympic Games.

Sam Marshall – Graduate and former staff member, Sam will be in Paris providing performance analysis for the Australian Women’s Hockey team.

Chris Fry – Chris is a Performance Analysis Masters Graduate and is joining Team USA’s Hockey squad as a performance analyst.

Harrison Kingston – Graduate and Director of Performance Analysis for the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Harrison is with the Moroccan Men’s Football providing performance analysis at the Games.

Richard Owen – Richard, an MSc Sports Performance Analysis graduate is the Canadian Women’s Rugby 7’s Performance Analyst, who won a silver medal with the team in Paris 2024.