Craig Hilliard: Commonwealth Games coach profile
Issue: Volume 29 Number 1
Athletics coach Craig Hilliard considers the Melbourne Commonwealth Games a ‘breakthrough event’ for all of the athletes he coached.
Walker Nathan Deakes broke his own Commonwealth record to defend his 20km walk title from Manchester and followed it up by smashing his Commonwealth Games record in the 50km walk by almost ten minutes to also defend the title he won in Manchester in 2002.
Fellow walker Luke Adams, the silver medallist in Manchester, repeated his feat of four years ago, also posting a time well under Deakes’ 2002 Games record.
Long jumper Kerrie Taurima overcame a long string of injuries to take a silver medal in her first Commonwealth Games and first Australian senior representative role.
Tim Parravicini also overcame a bad run of injury following three major operations in 18 months to record a long jump of 7.91metres. Such was the depth of the men’s field in Melbourne, that Parravicini’s seventh-placed jump would have won him silver at the Manchester Games.
Hilliard says he was confident that his athletes were prepared as best they could be in the lead up to the Games. ‘There were some injury worries for a number of my athletes in their preparation which we had to deal with.
‘Nathan, for example, has had problems with hamstring injuries over the past few years and keeping track of his preparation was about ensuring he didn’t overdo anything, [and] so reducing his volume but making sure his sessions were high quality. He’s a senior athlete and I am definitely not managing him everyday. Sometimes you just have to let nature take its course.’
Hilliard describes Deakes’ performances as ‘emphatic’. ‘What he did was incredible and there’s no doubt that he’s now number 1 in the world over 20km.’
Hilliard says Taurima has also had hamstring injuries that had kept her from qualifying for the Athens Olympics and the 2005 World Championships. ‘Kerrie and I both thought she’d jump further at Melbourne but she had bruised the fat pad in her heel and that did hamper her.’
Fellow long jumper Tim Parravicini has also had a nightmare run with injuries with operations on his back and hip affecting his pre-Games preparation. Hilliard says it was ‘an amazing effort’ to have qualified and to have posted such an excellent result.
Hillard says with the diversity of their disciplines, ages and seniority it was sometimes difficult to have all the athletes ‘rocking and rolling at the same time’.
‘They’re a diverse bunch and it does become chaotic at times juggling the different aspects of their maturity, their personality types, their injuries and allowing for the emotional aspects as well,’ Hilliard says. ‘In the end it comes down to preparing them in the best way that you can. I’m not one for getting in with the big motivational speeches. I just make sure that they’re performing well, they’re happy in their lives and that they carry that attitude into competition with them.’
