How Ipswich Helped Shape Jaz Taylor as a Sports Professional
I grew up in Colchester, Essex but travelled to the Suffolk Dry Ski Slope weekly to train with the race club from around 11 years old. This was the first major influence Ipswich had on me, it was my happy place, and I lived for those ski training sessions on a Monday night and Saturday morning. The “Suffolk Vikings” are still running today, with many great skiers and lots of potential. It was always my dream to be a full-time skier and Ipswich provided me with that very first step.
My parents moved to Ipswich when I was 18 years old and it felt like suddenly my world had opened up. Previously we lived in a village so to find yourself in Ipswich felt quite exciting! I was starting out as an athlete at this time and needed some guidance. My sport is not Olympic so we don’t qualify for UK Sport funding, it means I had to create my own program. My Mum suggested contacting the local university “University Campus Suffolk” as it was known then, now “University of Suffolk” to offer myself as a guinea pig for fitness testing. I needed some data and seemed fair they that could use that data to help with their research too. A man, called Gavin Devereux, introduced me to nutritional support and someone who would go on to have a massive influence on my life and career, my Sport Psychologist; Manos Georgiadis. Manos introduced me to Dan Donnelly, my then Strength and Conditioning Coach and there I found myself a team of experts able to guide me in the right direction.
I remember making contact with Ipswich Town Football Club, the CEO at the time was Simon Clegg. He invited me for a meeting and helped me forge contacts with the local media. In a very short space of time, I had a network of support, and it seemed to come quite easily. People are just so willing to help.
I then went on to study Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Suffolk after Manos encouraged me to develop myself as a person (not just athlete) and I also received a lot of support from the university itself. I now train at Perform for Sport which is an excellent Strength and Conditioning (and Physiotherapy) gym for sports people in Ipswich. I live in Ipswich during the summer months, and I really cherish my time at home. I love spending time with my family and friends and just being local to everyone closest to me.
I’m also proud to be sponsored by local business enable.services – I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about software but I have met a lot of people over the years, and to me it seems like everyone at enable emulates the same easiness of making it happen that I’ve experienced since moving to Ipswich. A huge thank you to enable.services for all of their support.
