Coach Schulstad on track to reaching goals

New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) Gen32 Athletics coach Debbi Schulstad described her appointment to the 66-strong Australian team of student athletes competing at 2025 FISU World University Games as an opportunity to help the athletes perform at their best.

Schulstad, who competed in the 100m hurdles event at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games (under her maiden name, Edwards), is thriving in the AIS National Generation 2032 Coach Program, an intensive coach development program for aspiring pathway and early career high performance coaches.

“Being with the team in Germany is an opportunity to show how I can operate in these kind of environments as a coach,” she said of being a member of the UniRoos’ coaching staff that’s in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.

“It’s a chance for me to bring the skills and the experience I have into a high performance environment, and to also help the athletes to perform at their best.

“My role in this team is to be a conduit between the athlete and their personal coach because there’s just not the space to accommodate all of them. So, my role is to be in contact with the coach and ensure a continuity of training into competition.

 “I’m not there to change anything. I’ve spoken to the coaches about different cues that they use and what they want worked on with the athletes leading into competition. It’s just a matter of bringing that through – as well as making it an easy comp for the athletes; one where they don’t have to worry about anything.

“Ideally, they’ll just turn up and train, compete, and do their best without any stress.”

Among the Uniroos Athletics squad are NSWIS scholarship holders: Delta Amidzovski  (Long Jump & 100m Hurdles), Isaac Beacroft (20km Walk), Luke Boyes (800m), Sam Dale (Long Jump), Lianna Davidson (Javelin), Kristie Edwards (200m), Chris Ius (200m), Hayley Kitching (800m), Alex Kolesnikoff (Shot Put), Connor Murphy (Triple Jump), Desleigh Owusu (Triple Jump), Allanah Pitcher (20km Walk), Erin Shaw (High Jump).

Schulstad, who was a NSWIS scholarship holder in the 1990s, said being in the Gen32 program – which aims to develop world-class coaches in the leadup to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games – allows her to explore coaching opportunities she’d only dreamt of.

“It’s a great job because this role allows me to focus my attention on developing as a coach, a person and into the coach I want to become,” said Schulstad, who’s ultimate aims to one day coach a high performance hurdle squad along with a development squad.

Schulstad (pictured above), who is a firm believer in the impact the ‘little things’ can have on an athlete’s performances – and career – is a source of tremendous advice that athletes could benefit from, including:

1. If I had my time over again as a hurdler?

“I’d change things around the prehab/rehab. I was often injured and it’s interesting to have been in the performance support area for quite a long time [as a soft tissue therapist] and now, in coaching, to see how those areas have changed. The areas of testing strength and prehab and ensuring athletes are physically capable of performing the task that’s required of them is an area where I would’ve benefited.

“The mental side has also improved. When my career ended it came suddenly and it hit me very hard. Having some kind of preparation – conversations even – about post-career whether through choice or not, would’ve made a big difference to my life after athletics.”  

2. Is what you’re doing a sacrifice or choice?

“It’s an interesting question because I don’t necessarily view it as ‘sacrifices’. I think if this is something the athlete truly wants to do; they’re not necessarily sacrifices but choices.

“I believe athletes choose to go down a certain path. But, I also see athletes as ‘whole’ people, and I want to coach the person, not just the athlete. It’s because of that I think it’s important to take into consideration what other things they have going on. However, if athletes view it as sacrifice, then I believe there’s an element of: ‘I’m missing out on something else’ rather than a case of being all in.”

3. Mum was right – ‘everything does happen for a reason!’

“I hated hearing it in the time – ‘everything happens for a reason’.  That’s because it was hard to hear because when you’re injured you feel so low and don’t want to hear there’s some big plan. But I believe it 100 percent now! 

“As a therapist I acknowledge sometimes when an athlete is injured, something has caused that injury and the time you’re sidelined allows you to correct or fix whatever it was. No time is a good time for an injury, but it can be an opportunity to work on something that will potentially prolong your career and perhaps give you great results in the future.” 

4. Do the little things well

“Your nutrition, your treatment and strength all contribute to a greater outcome. And you can do the, the technical work, the strength work, all of that – but so does everyone else. So, it’s the so-called ‘little’ areas where athletes can gain advantages over their competitors, whether it be visualisation. It contributes to success.”

5. Enjoy the experience

“It can be hard when you’re fighting injuries, but outside of that I’d say ‘yes, I enjoyed every moment.’ I did athletics because I loved it. And I’m a big advocate that athletes should be doing it because they love it . . . being good at something is awesome.

“But if you’re not enjoying it, then getting out of bed every morning, doing the hard sessions, would be really, really tough. And, in that case, even if you were successful, the outcomes wouldn’t . . . couldn’t . . . mean as much. They might mean something different, but you’re probably not going to look back on those with fondness and think that it was a worthwhile time spent.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS