All our sessions are private and confidential.
Ultimately, my relationship will be with the child. If they ask for privacy, I will need to respect that. Where possible I will encourage a collaborative approach.
It is important that the parents, athlete, and myself work as a team to ensure success. Sessions typically start with a group meeting, and end in the same way to ensure that we are all on the same page and working to one aim.
My coaching is progressive and transformative. I have a focus on making the sessions fun, whilst I utilise the latest scientific insights to maximise the impact of our sessions. Sessions include mentoring, coaching, and training to suit the athlete.
Firstly, well done for seeking out help for your child. Mental skills training, sport psychology, or mindset coaching is becoming more and more frequently used. Elite professionals all have their personal mindset coach and there is no reason not to start early. In fact, starting early may save you years of difficulty.
My sessions with junior athletes are active and fun. We may get time to sit down, but ordinarily we will be playing basketball, table tennis, or doing something that grabs their attention whilst we can chat and integrate the skills they require.
✓ Multi-Dimensional Approach
✓ Committed Beyond the Session
Having been a junior elite, some of the coaching can include mentoring and training. Having helped many athletes win world championships and build their careers, I can help guide and structure a pathway to success. Additionally, we don't do what we don't know, therefore I also draw upon all the knowledge and practical skills included in our performance training programs. Each situation is unique, but we will find the right mix of coaching, mentoring and training that is best for your child.
My experience shows that the best results come when both parties are fully committed to your growth, which is why from day one I fully commit to your child's success even outside our face-to-face sessions. I work on a continuing relationship basis, meaning our touch points don't stop outside the session. I make myself available between sessions for check ins and important feedback when required.
Let me give you a brief background of my junior years so that you can see if I'm well positioned or not to understand and relate to your child.
I started out as a junior British tennis player, travelling and playing tournaments from the age of 6. Having to choose between sports to focus my training, I moved to America at the young age of 14 years to experience some of the world's best intensive training centres. I went on to play three world championships before stopping due to injury.
My teenage years were difficult. Managing an elite lifestyle while trying to fit in at school was complex. Having to stay motivated through injuries, self-manage schedules, and train when my peers were at home forced me to grow up quickly. Although I kept performing and seemed older than my years, I lacked the emotional and mental management, and decision-making skills required to thrive through the pressures of being a junior athlete.
The silver lining of my career-ending injuries is that they led me to become fascinated in sports psychology—how can we perform well one moment and not the next? How do we maintain a high level of performance despite the distractions of life? And so on. I studied Sports Psychology at undergraduate and postgraduate level and focused my PhD on peak performance and flow. I have trained in multiple disciplines including postgraduate coaching, nlp, counselling, neuroscience; and as part of my role at the Flow Centre I have developed training programs and I am the lead trainer to train other coaches to become Performance Coaches.
✓ Former junior athlete
✓ Trained multiple World Champions
I have been helping other athletes achieve their goals for over 20 years and worked with budding 7-year-olds to multiple World Champions. I have helped numerous athletes strengthen their mental skills and design a career that they can be proud of. My work has included helping athletes recover from injury, rise from motivational lows, and learn to invite pressure—even enjoy exams!
I have been told that it is difficult to find someone who has experience and been trained in counselling, psychology, neuroscience and multiple therapies. Equally, someone who has been a junior athlete, received coaching support themselves, and well versed in helping others.
Since our cognition is embodied, and children tend to get bored if we spend too long on 'chit-chatter', it is important that any interventions are interactive and engaging. In our sessions, we may go for a walk, play a sport, or utilise a movement room to ensure our sessions make an impact.
I have also been told that it is difficult to find a coach that has (a) the practical experience of performing at an elite level, (b) the academic and scientific knowledge, and (c) the practical experience of coaching others. In sessions, I certainly draw on my experience as an athlete, parent, scientist, mentor and coach.
We live in a modern world, which is why many of my clients (especially those living abroad) choose to do our sessions online.
✓ In-Person or Online - You Choose
✓ Mid-Session Catch Ups
My experience shows that the best results come when coaching involves continuous touch points. Accordingly, our coaching packages will involve infrequent updates between sessions to ensure accountability and continued momentum.
