Abdullah Khalid Alkhathran is the Head Coach and owner of Roots Performance. A former footballer who went on to compete as a top national CrossFit athlete, Abdullah founded Roots Performance in 2019 and now works with amateur, professional and youth athletes across a wide range of sports. He is a student with Setanta College.
Below, Abdullah discusses his path from team sport into strength and conditioning, his coaching philosophy, and his experience of studying with Setanta.
From Football to Strength & Conditioning
Abdullah’s route into coaching came through his own athletic career.
“I specialised early in football, playing at a pre-professional level. At 21, I transitioned into CrossFit and went on to compete as a top national athlete. Olympic weightlifting became a major part of my training, as it was always my strongest discipline within CrossFit, and it played a big role in my overall programme.
Through this combination of football, CrossFit and weightlifting, I’ve won several competitions in both fields. That journey — moving from team sport into individual strength and conditioning-based sport — is really what sparked my interest in coaching and performance science, since I experienced firsthand how technical, physical and mental preparation come together to build an athlete.”
Leading Roots Performance
As Head Coach and business owner, Abdullah balances programming, coaching and running the business day to day.
“On Saturdays, I usually prepare the week’s training programmes and check in with my athletes to get their feedback from the previous week. During weekdays, my mornings are spent programming — reviewing and adjusting the mesocycle plan for each athlete based on where they are in their training. In the afternoons, from around 3–5pm, I train myself, followed by coaching two or three classes.
As head coach, I also oversee the overall direction of the athletes’ programmes and make sure our coaching standards stay consistent, while running the business side — managing client relationships, planning long-term athletic progressions and keeping everything moving day to day.”
Coaching Across Disciplines
Since founding Roots Performance, Abdullah has coached athletes across a broad spread of sports.
“I founded Roots Performance in 2019, working as a CrossFit and strength & conditioning coach. Since then, I’ve worked with amateur, professional and youth athletes across a wide range of sports — including swimming, football, padel, tennis and MMA.
A real highlight of my journey has been discovering how much I enjoy working with youth athletes. Helping build their athletic foundation early on has become one of the most rewarding parts of my coaching career. Growing Roots Performance from an individual coaching practice into a business that supports athletes across so many different disciplines has been a defining part of my journey so far, and it’s shaped how I think about long-term athletic development.”
Why Setanta
Abdullah wanted to give the knowledge he had built through coaching a firmer academic grounding.
“I wanted to take the practical knowledge I’d built through years of hands-on coaching and ground it in solid theory. Having built a career through experience — training as an athlete myself and coaching others — I felt I needed a stronger academic foundation to back up what I was doing intuitively.
Setanta appealed to me because it offered flexibility, allowing me to study alongside running my business and coaching my athletes. I was hoping the programme would sharpen my understanding of the science behind performance and give me more credibility and depth as a coach, especially as I work with a wider range of sports and athlete levels.”
Theory Meets Practice
“What I’ve enjoyed most about studying with Setanta is how it took the theory I was learning and helped me apply it to real, practical coaching situations. The programme pushed me to do more research, read more widely and think more critically about my methods — and the flexibility to study anytime and anywhere fit perfectly around my coaching schedule and business.
One concept that has genuinely helped me in my career is understanding how to structure long-term athletic development properly, rather than just focusing on short-term results. It’s changed how I plan programmes, especially for youth athletes, where building a strong foundation matters more than quick wins.”
Advice for Others
“My biggest piece of advice is to always think long-term. Build a proper athletic development plan rather than chasing short-term results, especially when working with youth athletes — focus on the foundation first, because everything else is built on top of that.
It’s also important to keep learning even once you’re already working in the field; theory and practical coaching experience need to reinforce each other. Don’t be afraid to specialise in what you’re naturally strongest at, but stay open to combining disciplines, since some of my best results have come from blending different training methods rather than sticking to just one approach.”
Looking Ahead
“As a coach with years of hands-on experience, my long-term hope is to contribute to athletic development in Saudi Arabia. I’d love to work with a team to help develop athletes across multiple sports at a professional level. Right now, most of my work is with individuals, but I already coach small groups of athletes to build their overall athleticism.
My goal is to grow that into something bigger: working within a structured team environment where I can help shape athletic development programmes and support the next generation of Saudi athletes across different sports, using the same principles of long-term, foundation-first development that have guided my own coaching so far.”
