My Story
A coach from 16
Growing up in the United Kingdom, sport was never too far out of reach. Both my parents were sports mad- my father a cricketer & hockey player whilst serving as a Royal Marine and my mother competing in athletics & lacrosse at a national level.
I first started coaching at 16 and when the realization that I wasn’t going to fulfil my lofty dreams of becoming an international rugby player struck at 22, I immersed myself in coaching.
Undertaking a degree in teaching, I spent five years teaching English Literature & sport to 5-9th graders- gaining a deeper understanding of teaching craft & pedagogy.
Combining this whilst coaching elite athletes concurrently accelerated my education & without doubt, shaped the coach I became.
An International Coach at 23
I became an international rugby coach aged 23 with the Kenya national sevens team who competed at the pinnacle of the sport.
At 27, I became Head Coach for the first time- tasked with preparing the team for a Rugby World Cup.
It dawned on me pretty quickly that no matter your ability as an assistant coach, it’s a daunting experience being thrust into a head coaching position & being left to just ‘figure it out’.
Mentors provided fragments of help & advice but rarely the solutions & strategies that I craved for.
Staying afloat was a challenge in itself- forget about being a competent leader able to focus on my continued growth.
After five years in Kenya, I moved to Asia coaching Hong Kong’s national men’s & women’s teams before being again appointed as a head coach in a vastly different culture & organization.
Having an opportunity to coach in the USA- the mecca for sports entertainment- provided further opportunities to hang out with some leading lights in both sport & education. As coach of New England, the team achieved back-to-back Championship titles in Major League Rugby.
Coaching Through an Alternate Lens
On top of my own coaching experience, I have been working with other head coaches for much of the last decade- both informally & formally.
During this time, I have travelled to all corners of the globe to visit dozens of the most successful sporting organizations & hang out with some of the most distinguished coaches, academics & leaders in their field.
I’ve attended countless conferences, spoken at coach development seminars & even worked with Harvard’s faculty of Teaching Innovation.
In order to help head coaches achieve deep change & sustained growth, I combine the concepts I teach with solutions to the common challenges that coaches in other sports have encountered & overcome.
I believe there is much to learn from other sports & leaders in other fields.
Every head coach I work with is an expert of their context.
Their commonality, however, is a shared aspiration to reach another level in their performance.
They understand that investing in their growth is the greatest competitive advantage available to their team.