Olympic Team Coaching

Bill Barry, co-founder of 121partners, is a coach to athletes in the UK Olympic rowing team as well as a coach to business leaders and their teams. He combines a unique track record as an Olympic silver medallist with a business career that led him to be Chief Executive of an international publicly listed advertising company.

With this unique pedigree, 121partners is the only company able to offer team development through a rowing experience with Olympic and world champion rowers as well as a top level sports and business coach. This is an inspiring combination of sporting and business experience and provides an excellent starting point for team development discussions.

 

This is a proven 121partners event that has been used successfully with many senior Board level teams over the past five years.

Click here to find out more about our Olympic Team Coaching event

 

Coaching an Olympic Athlete

‘What is your goal?' – this was the first question that Bill Barry asked the novice sculler, Alan Campbell, when the two first met five years ago. ‘I want to win an Olympic gold medal' replied Alan somewhat cheekily. Yet Bill's instinct told him that behind this bravado lay someone with unique commitment, focus and determination. Someone he could trust and someone who loved sculling enough to push himself through the pain barriers necessary to achieve the ultimate sporting goal. At that moment a partnership was forged between coach and coachee that has led them, five years later, to the brink of achieving a shared dream……

Click here to learn more about Bill and Alan's shared mission to win an Olympic gold medal -Coaching an Olympic Athlete

 

 

 

Alan wins Silver Medal – World Championships 2009

We are delighted to announce that, in August 2009, Alan and Bill's unique coaching relationship reached new heights when Alan won the silver medal at the rowing World Championships in Poland.

 

In a thrilling final, both he and the ultimate winner, Mahe Drysdale, broke the existing world record as they battled all the way to the line. The Olympic silver medalist, Synek, was a distant third. In so doing, Alan and Bill laid to rest the disappointment of their injury-ridden Olympics in 2008 and set down a clear marker for their goal of Olympic gold at London 2012. Click here to watch the race

Speaking to the BBC after the race, an elated but exhausted Alan said "It could have been a world record on any other day but one man was in front of me, I'm going to push him even harder over the next three years between now and London."

Alan and Bill are available to share their story via conference presentations, workshops and team events. Their speaker profile can be downloaded via Bill Barry / Alan Campbell Speaker Profiles

 

Press Articles and Other Resources

• ‘Boardroom’ magazine interview with Bill Barry and Alan Campbell
• You Tube video of Alan’s Beijing Olympic final and BBC interview