Up Close … with athletics coach and IAAF lecturer Giovanni Fanny |10 March 2020

Coach Fanny

‘Love and enjoy the sport discipline first, then you can decide if it is really your calling or not’

By Roland Duval

Conventional wisdom says that great athletes do not always make good coaches and throughout sports history there have been examples of this. Many legends on the field of play have found it difficult to transition to life on the sidelines.

But as human beings, it is easy to assume that because a person was a great athlete, they would definitely make a great coach.

Nonetheless, it has been proven that there are successful coaches who were once great players. Italian Antonio Conte captained the Juventus team that won the UEFA Champions League, as well as five Serie A titles, among other honours, before leading them to win three consecutive Serie A titles as a coach. He became the manager of Chelsea in April 2016 and led them to the Premier League title in his first season in charge, later winning the FA Cup in his second season with the team.

In the local context, such feat will perfectly suit ex-hurdler turned coach and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) lecturer Giovanni Fanny.

Many among the new generation of athletes, including the successful ones, started with him from scratch, before being moulded into champions.

A famous character on the track in the 80s and 90s, Giovanni, other than his good reputation for being the country’s best hurdler at that time, was also famous for his Jheri curl which was a permanent wave hairstyle that was popular among African Americans during the 1980s.

Fascinated by science since his early days which he spent at Pointe Conan in the Anse Etoile district, Giovanni has clocked 35 years of service as a chemistry laboratory technician with the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development.

Being in schools around young children is the perfect opportunity for him to detect talents, thus nurturing them to become future athletes.

Always on the move, most of the time busy with training, Giovanni, who has garnered over 100 medals, both at local and international competitions, did not hesitate to share some of his athletics adventures.

Early days

Giovanni spent his childhood days at Pointe Conan in the Anse Etoile district, before moving to Les Mamelles, then Mont Buxton where his family settled.

He started his primary education at the St Paul’s School in Victoria (now the Camion Hall Building), before passing his entrance exam and being accepted at the Seychelles College.

Giovanni then spent two years at the ex-National Youth Service (NYS), before joining the Seychelles Polytechnic in the Math and Science department.

After completing his education, he joined the then Ministry of Education as a chemistry lab technician where he is now into his 36th year.

Science was his passion since his younger days where he used to experiment with electronic gadgets and chemicals.

Discovering athletics

“To be honest, I did not discover athletics, but it was rather the other way round,” says Giovanni, who explains that he is from an athletic-based family.

His first ever competition was during the Athletics National Inter School Championships when he was only ten years old.

“I took part in long jump and I did not win anything,” he recalls.

The next year he took in relay and once again he came out empty-handed.

“It was only when I reached Seychelles College that I began to shine and I won the bronze medal in the 400m race for the under-14 category and from then on, medals kept coming from everywhere,” he says.

As a track specialist, Giovanni specialised in 400m hurdles, an event which is regarded as one of the most demanding of all events in the sprint-hurdle group, as it requires speed, endurance, and hurdling technique all along with unique awareness and special concentration throughout the race.

Through the 400m hurdles, Giovanni became the first Seychellois athlete to bring home a track event medal from a continental level competition.

He brought home a bronze medal from the Zone Athletics championships held in Zimbabwe.

Though not sure of the exact year, Giovanni remembers his final time which was 51.27 seconds.

“This is one of my most cherished medals among the over 100 hanging at home,” says Giovanni who notes that he really worked hard for the peace of silverware.

“I have won many other medals at regional level as well and for me they are all glory,” he adds.

Describing how sports shaped his life as a human being, Giovanni says if he was not in sports, he would have been a sailor “as I wanted to see the world”.

“All the countries and places I have visited through sports, with my own money it would have been impossible,” he explains.

“There are a lot of benefits in sports, but it is the approach that is important,” notes Giovanni who explains that during his days, life was different from nowadays and sports was one of the few, if not the only, ways for some people to travel.

He however noted that competing internationally was way more important and meaningful to him than the free airfares.

“Nowadays kids will skip school just to accompany their parents to South Africa, Dubai or Singapore for three days, so they do not need sports, or any other commitment in that line to get the chance to travel,” notes Giovanni who adds that the few athletes available today are involved because they have sports at heart.

“Nowadays young athletes are getting paid to train and compete and this is something which did not exist during my days,” adds Giovanni who also says they competed with their heart.

Inspired by Edwin Moses, an American former track and field athlete who won gold medals in the 400m hurdles at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics, Giovanni competed round the globe in his heyday.

Among the various international competitions he took part in are the Reunion Championship in 1989 where he won gold, the Reunion Open and the Mauritius Championship in 1992 where he also brought home the gold medals.

He also competed at the Goodwill Games in Moscow in 1986, the All Africa Games in Kenya in 1987, the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand among others.

Becoming a coach

“I was a coach even when I was competing,” explains Giovanni who says he was involved in training athletes at school level since he is a staff member.

He started formal coaching in 2003 where he underwent several training, climbing up the different levels.

Giovanni did his level one coaching course locally, before moving to Kenya to complete his level two, three and four.

He then went to South Africa to complete his level five.

In 2012, Giovanni was again Kenya, this time to be trained as an IAAF lecturer at Kenya’s athletic development centre.

“Coaching is more than just sharing your experiences as an ex-athlete to your students, as I firmly believe that performing is one thing and teaching is clearly another,” Giovanni affirms.

There are characteristics that all great coaches need to have and leadership is one of them and Giovanni believes that coaching is about bringing out the inherent talents of your individual athletes.

Being the head coach of the Shooting Star Athletics Club, Giovanni divides the club into two segments, with the elite athletes in one group and the younger ones in another, naming it his feeder club.

This, he said, is very important for the future of athletics.

Among his greatest achievements as a coach, Giovanni who has been at two Olympic Games – 1992 in Barcelona Spain as an athlete and 2012 in London, United Kingdom as a coach – said helping Leeroy Henriette set and maintain the national record in the 200m (21.10 seconds) tops it all.

Bringing up Sharry Dodin from scratch to winning three medals – two silver and a bronze – at the last Indian Ocean Island Games in Mauritius, is also among his greatest achievements.

“Keep in mind that we train locally and we compete against athletes who train internationally, all over the world,” notes Giovanni who is dreaming of seeing one of his athletes competing in the IAAF Diamond League.

Advice for the youth

Despite being a renowned coach, none of his children has taken up athletics.

When asked about his advice to the youngsters who want to practice any sports discipline, Giovanni’s answer is simply “Love and enjoy the sport discipline first, then you can decide if it is really your calling or not”.

“You cannot follow your friend, just because you think you want to do such and such sports discipline, but you have to love it and be committed to it,” adds Giovanni who says this is the only way to succeed.

Commenting on the country’s level in sports, Giovanni says there are no major improvements, but rather a shift.

“In the days of the late Danny Beauchamp, Beryl Larame and Lindy Leveau, we were strong in field event and weak on the track, but now the situation has switched and there are many good sprinters and we are weak in field events,” explains Giovanni who says that his biggest target for 2020 is to lead sprinter Stephano Bibi to break the 400m record (47.07seconds) belonging to Joseph Adam.