Sports performance coaching

How do you guarantee performance when it matters most? In sport, fitness and technique are only half the story. To really perform at your best, you're just as dependent on your thoughts and emotions. Mastering this inner game can make a good performer reliably great.

It’s not just something we dabble in: we're accredited sport psychologists with a long history of working at international and Olympic level. Jonathan and Hugh have worked with various Olympic teams since 1992, while William supported Team GB and the British Canoe Slalom and Sprint teams as they prepared for Beijing. And the run up to 2012’s keeping us on our toes as well...

How does our coaching work?

We concentrate on the athletes themselves, and their coaches and support teams.

With individual athletes, we’ll develop a Personal Performance Plan to help you think straight. We'll teach you skills to build your confidence and resilience, while staying focused under pressure. It’s different for every athlete, but we’ll help you develop techniques to:

  • Access your ideal performance state – that confident state where everything just flows
  • Develop goals that really focus your energy and get you motivated.
  • Improve your imagery skills so you can visualise yourself performing well in training and competition.
  • Manage the day of competition effectively, paying attention to what’s important and ignoring the distractions.
  • Challenge nagging doubts in your head and create an internal voice you can believe in.

But even in sports where a single athlete stands alone, they're still reliant on their support team. That's why it's so important to foster the relationships between team members and strengthen that support network. We can:

  • Help you define specific team goals – and make sure everyone knows their role in achieving them.
  • Improve how you communicate within the support team.
  • Help you build strong relationships that stand up under pressure
  • Help you understand how your team works from both the coaches’ and the athletes’ perspectives.

How long does it take?

We tend to work on longer term projects with athletes – it helps them see the benefits over time, and it helps reinforce the behaviours and techniques we introduce. Depending on the size of their support team, that could mean anything from a single session through to regular meetings before, through and after a competitive season.