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Gillian Cooke, has been a member of the East of Scotland Institute of Sport since its beginnings in 2001.
She has been a successful track and field athlete, competing in two Commonwealth Games in pole vault and long jump.
In 2008 the Edinburgh 26 year old made a change of direction to bobsleigh after responding to an advert from Nicola Minichiello for a brake woman. The pair formed a partnership with the Vancouver Olympics as the main target - four months later, in Lake Placid, they became World Champions.
Gillian successfully transferred her strength, power and speed to the new sport. In terms of the right body type for her new role she was already pretty close. She has just needed to make some minor tweaks to her Strength & Conditioning programme, which is overseen by her athletics coach, John Scott, the person who encouraged her to become a bobsleigher.
Changing sport and starting it at the highest level of competition, has been a huge mental challenge. Gillian acknowledges the continued support and commitment from ESIS, in particular their belief that she would succeed, particularly when she was untested in the first two months. The support was unbroken right through the changeover.
ESIS psychologist, John Marchant’s support has been ‘invaluable’, helping her through her transition, in particular preparing her for the mental demands of starting a new sport at a level she has never experienced previously. Now, in her second year of competition John is working with Gillian to ensure she reaches the start line fully prepared.
Gillian has been working with ESIS Performance Lifestyle Advisor, Ruth Coker. She helped her through the transition of working part time to joining the competition circuit as a full time athlete, and a funding gap of two months.
As an ESIS athlete for almost a decade, Gillian has seen the benefits of using a wide range of services. With maturity she has become more skilled in determining the type of support she needs. She has used the ESIS nutritional support, particularly for training and competing at altitude. Her medical support is now more tailored to prevention than treatment of injuries.
