Following three months of lockdown and strict social distancing rules, Ben Carling of Sports Performance Services (SPS) is keen to start coaching face-to-face again.

Like many others in the island, Ben’s business took a hard hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic which forced him to take a long pause before being allowed to press play again.

The personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach would normally see 45 athletes and around 30 general members each week at the SPS facilities, which has been operating in Tromode for five years.

Instead, he relied on virtual means to provide live classes and send out programmes for clients to follow.

’The pandemic has had a huge impact on us,’ he said.

’I have a young family to support and with 80% of my income wiped (after government assistance) as well as still paying overheads is stressful.

’My business is my life. I had a few rehab athletes that were at crucial stages of their rehab programmes so being unable to continue working on their development was tough to take.’

The initial stage of preparing for lockdown was a ’whirlwind’, he said, as he had 45 athletes to check in with as well as about 15 others who he works with at the Sports Institute - Isle of Man Sport.

The athletes either compete locally, are aiming to beat island records or take part in British championships.

He also coaches Manx swimmer Laura Kinley, who has represented the island at the commonwealth games, and Tasmin Fayle who is a British champion in discus and shotput.

Training programmes were offered to ’keep them going or offer them support in any way in case were in a bad place too’, he said.

’These athletes don’t just pass through my doors, I work closely with everyone one of them, every week.’

A number of athletes and clients offered to continue to pay, which Ben is ’forever grateful’ about. ’But the majority couldn’t and they certainly weren’t expected too,’ he added.

As of yesterday (Monday), social distancing rules have been lifted and gyms being able to return with certain regulations in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Ben, who previously played football for the island, is happy to get back to what he enjoys.

’In times like these it tells you whether you genuinely enjoy what you do. The fact that I spent three months trying to upskill myself and look at how can I make my service better for my athletes, as well as sending programmes to athletes shows that I do,’ he said.

He expects that athletes would have fallen into their old routines during lockdown, but there are concerns about injuries on the return to sport.

To prevent this, he plans to start off slow and get each athlete training at a lower level than what they were up to previously.

He will limit numbers in group work due to the ongoing virus outbreak and will also be taking care of himself.

’I used to work 12 to 14 hours a day. It would be tough for me to transition from not working - although I was still dedicated to my non-physical side of work - to going back to where we were before,’ he said.

’It’s been three months of not really seeing athletes. My head would be all over the place.’

Despite challenges, Ben is thankful for many things.

’The silver lining is I got to spend a lot of time with my two-year-old daughter and partner which made things a little easier to deal with,’ he said.

’I’m guilty of working too much normally. It’s also allowed me to study, read more and develop areas of my business that I struggled to find time for.’

Having had that time to reflect and plan, Ben is looking at opening an online platform as a way of expanding his strength and conditioning service.

Although this will benefit the business, he still believes ’the number one thing will always be coaching in person’.

’Virtual sessions definitely play their part, but the athletes I work with aren’t mostly motivated by that. We must chat face-to-face because athletes need that coaching eye.’