A drive to thrive
One member of a high-performance West Cork family is blazing a trail in the world of elite motorsport.
While both her brothers Conor and David Harte have represented Ireland at the Olympics in hockey, their sister Emer Acton is now Lead Physio and Pit Crew Performance Coach at McLaren Racing Formula One Team.
While Emer is a former Ireland international hockey player herself, she now operates at the peak of the testosterone and petrol-filled world of F1, which was showcased in the Netflix series ‘F1: Drive to Survive’.
She is thriving as a high-performance female coach, using her experience as a former international hockey player and clinical specialist working with the military.
“I got approached by McLaren about two years ago now, initially in a physiotherapy role, and then transitioned into the pit stop performance coaching role. As a physio looking at things from the physical performance perspective, I saw an opportunity for our pit crew to have perhaps a more sustainable structure and risk averse pathway.”
The Ballinspittle woman specialises in biomechanics which has helped her take McLaren’s pit crew to the next level, she explained. “Coaching a pit crew is about injury prevention, optimizing physical performance, and being able to look at a body or movement and identify a person’s strengths. Our pit crew have built so much strength and depth, for example, all of the physical prep that our jackman has been doing allows him to physically withstand the force that comes through the car.
“My pit crew at the moment are all male, and they’ve never made me feel anything but an equal part of the team,” she added.
“Coming to McLaren has been wonderful. It's an incredible team. They've been wonderful to work with, and I certainly haven't at any point felt held back as a female. If anything, I think McLaren have given me a little bit more power.”
Action was previously a clinical specialist physiotherapist working with the military in the UK, a traditionally male dominated space, but says this has helped her develop her communication skills.
“We're all different, whether we're male or female, but certainly males driven by competitiveness like those in the military are ambitious to a fault, which is fantastic, but for me it was therefore about knowing when to put an arm around their shoulder or have a laugh with them.”
She believes exposure and role models are key to getting more women into F1. “I feel very strong about that. I don't want to get a job just because I'm female, I want to get it because I'm the best person at the job.”
To help women to break into male dominated areas, her advice is to throw your hat in the ring. “Don't be scared to believe that you have something to offer in this space. We just keep pushing. The opportunities are there, and it's certainly not as hard to get into the sport as people think.”
“My daughter sees me working in a male-heavy environment, and she I hope she'll grow up not even thinking that that's a thing. I think we just have to be a bit patient in this space. It’s going to come,” she added.
To start your coaching journey, head to ukcoaching.org to find out more. Emer worked with UK Coaching in the past.