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OBITUARY: SARAH YOUNGER

by | Nov 6, 2019 | Articles, News, NEWS FEED, Obituary | 0 comments

Sports psychologist and executive coach

Eve Turner remembers a ‘unique’ friendship with Sarah Younger – world sporting record holder, elite sports psychologist and an exceptional leadership coach

 

To say Sarah was inspiring and passionate is an understatement. A superlative sports psychologist and executive coach, she was so much more – and it was this that made her unique.

I’ve never had a friend before who held three world records, and as I have a fear of heights, to learn they were for paragliding was, well, awe-inspiring. This was alongside her medals from World and European championships.

Sarah had also competed, and won events, in other sports such as equestrianism, triathlon and sailing.

After undergoing chemotherapy, she challenged herself to do fire walking and wing walking. But she always had time for friends and was warm, fun, generous, wonderfully balanced and someone you could count on, 100%.

Sarah was such a positive person and it was infectious. Her attitude was that things were problems to be solved. For example, she also had this wonderful phrase about performance anxiety: “There’s nothing wrong with having butterflies beforehand, it’s normal. The key is to get them to fly in formation!”

An example of both is in her TEDx talk (2012) where she describes overcoming the challenges of breaking a world paragliding record and the planning and preparation that delivered it. It is an example of her inspiration and that passion, to be the best she could be.

And she held those around her to similar expectations, with remarkable results. One friend, Caroline Levine, recalls Sarah inviting her for a weekend of sailing off the Isle of Wight. Caroline thought this was going to be a G&T hospitality bash on a yacht. Instead she found herself squeezed into a wetsuit and out on the trapeze wire of a catamaran in a race!

Sarah retrained as a sports psychologist and then business coach after many adventures, including running an equestrian yard in France and backpacking around Africa. She gained an MSc in Sport & Exercise Psychology and BSc joint honours (1st) in Psychology and Sports Science, but her desire to continuously improve took her to Meyler Campbell where co-founder Anne Scoular recollects: “Sarah graduated from what is now the Mastered Programme, in 2006; she was already an experienced leadership coach and chartered sports psychologist, but typically, put herself through a bespoke programme to raise her game further, and coach executives at the very top. Sarah’s motives for this were primarily not financial – she wanted to make a significant difference. Focused on working only with CEOs who were leading their organisations to be ethically or environmentally aware, she was ahead of her time.”

As well as working with CEOs and athletes up to elite, world level, Sarah also supported extreme expeditions.

In an article for Coaching at Work (2010), she describes a couple’s ‘Rivers of Ice’ expedition, attempting a fully unsupported north to south crossing of the Southern Patagonian Ice Cap. She reveals the huge pressures and lessons learned in the short calls, via satellite phone, that supported them; at one point may well have helped them survive. Indeed, it was while having a medical prior to supporting and taking part in an expedition to Everest to do medical research, that Sarah’s initial diagnosis was made.

Sarah found lasting happiness with her husband, Adam, who also loved travel and adventures. There were 200 friends and family at her funeral, representing the many worlds she touched. Sarah chose the readings.

One, by David Weatherford, ‘Slow Dance’, reminds us to enjoy life to the full, but to do so in a balanced way, to slow down and “hear the music before your song is over”.

 

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