In a small, sunlit gym hall in Bournemouth, Pat Mathie is preparing for what she is calling “Aristotle night”. The 60-year-old gymnastics coach is leading her best squad in their final rehearsals before a weekend competition and, to calm their nerves, she will be reminding them of the often misattributed adage: “Excellence is not an act, but a habit.”

She is setting up, wheeling mats around the room and dragging springboards across the floor. “They get tired of my speeches,” she says. “But I’ll be quoting Aristotle and saying you don’t need to think about it because you do it automatically.”

Motivational speeches are just one string to Mathie’s bow. The founder of Avonbourne Gymnastics Club and full-time gymnastics coach is also a somersault safety…