The Invisible Factors of Sports Performance

Why Young Sporting Athletes Should Reflect with Purpose 🏉🚴⚽️🎾🏏⛳️ In sports, we teach young athletes how to train hard, perform under pressure, and learn from mistakes. But how often do we teach them to reflect? Not just a quick “How did that go?” — but real, thoughtful reflection. As coaches we may ask: ✅ What did you do well today? ✅ What challenged you mentally or physically? ✅ How did you respond to that challenge? ✅ What will you do differently next time? Reflection builds self-awareness, resilience, and growth. It turns every game or training session into a chance to learn, not just perform. At the weekend I decided to use random cue cards (pictures) and asked the players in a group setting to reflect on their season and link the most relevant picture to their season. There were some outstanding powerful reflections but none more so than the player who reflected on this picture and said “The stone being dropped into the water causes ripples and commotion but notes they soon settle and the water quickly becomes calm and still”. He then further linked this to himself, saying “I should have taken more risky chances during the games as even if it may have been a poor decision, he notes the water and ripples soon settle after the stone intially hits and can relate this to mistakes being easy to forget, as everything settles pretty quickly during a game and maybe next year he should take more risky chances with his play options, rather than worry about the consequences of a wrong decision.” When used with purpose, cue cards can guide athletes to explore their experiences from new angles. These small prompts create space for big insights. Over time, they help athletes develop a strong inner voice — one that isn’t only focused on outcomes, but on effort, intention, and mindset. Don’t forget to build the habit of reflecting with purpose and to think outside the box— not just to become better athletes, but more thoughtful, resilient humans. #YouthSports #AthleteDevelopment #MindsetMatters #ReflectWithPurpose #SportsPsychology #GrowthMindset #CoachingTools

Every coach knows the feeling. Your team had an off game. The stats don't explain it. The film doesn't reveal it. And when you ask them what happened, you get shrugs and 2 -3 word answers. You're coaching blind. Here's the uncomfortable truth: We've revolutionized how we measure speed, strength, and every physical metric imaginable. But the single greatest predictor of performance—mindset—remains invisible to most programs. Traditional athletic data tells us WHAT happened. It doesn't tell us WHY. 🤔 Why did a talented athlete underperform? 🫣 How confident was your team going into competition? 🙂↕️ What intangible qualities did your players bring to the field? Until now. The gap between physical performance and mental acuity is costing programs their competitive edge. That's why we built myPerforma—a platform that quantifies what you've been guessing at for years. Mindset Performance Indicators (MPIs) transform subjective athlete mindset into objective, actionable data and captures what no stat sheet can: the athlete's confidence on the field, their perception of preparedness, the intangible qualities they brought to competition, and the mental barriers holding them back. This isn't soft science. This is performance intelligence. When athletes consistently track their mindset through structured post-game assessments, three transformations occur... ✅ Athletes gain self-awareness that connects their mental state to performance outcomes ✅ Coaches gain strategic insights that replace intuition with data-backed development plans ✅ Teams gain cultural cohesion through transparent communication and shared understanding The programs winning championships aren't just training harder. They're measuring smarter. You cannot improve what you do not measure. You cannot measure what you do not track. The question isn't whether mindset matters. It's whether you're serious enough to measure it. #PerformanceIntelligence #CoachingRevolution #MindsetMatters #AthleticDevelopment #CompetitiveEdge Video in the comments ⤵️

Emotional Intelligence in Sports and Elite Athletes™ In the world of elite sports, talent and hard work set the foundation, but emotional intelligence (EI) often separates the good from the great. EI is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions while reading and responding to the emotions of others. In high-pressure environments, where the margin for error is razor thin, emotional intelligence becomes the ultimate competitive edge. Athletes with high EI know how to: 🏀 Stay composed when everything’s on the line. 💪🏾 Channel emotions into focused energy, not frustration. 🤝 Connect with teammates, building trust and cohesion. 🔥 Lead with empathy, not ego. 🎯 Recover quickly after setbacks and maintain perspective. At the elite level, mental mastery is just as critical as physical preparation. Emotional intelligence helps athletes regulate stress, sustain motivation, and build resilience through injury, loss, and uncertainty. It’s not just about reacting, it’s about responding with intention. When athletes understand the emotional game, they elevate not just their own performance, but the performance of everyone around them. EI isn’t fixed, it can be trained, strengthened, and refined through self-awareness, mindfulness, reflection, and consistent feedback. The result? A stronger mindset, deeper focus, and leadership that lasts beyond the scoreboard. Because the best athletes don’t just perform under pressure, They transform through it. #EmotionalIntelligence #SportsPsychology #EliteAthletes #MindsetMatters #Leadership #MentalPerformance #Resilience #NTAFitness #FuelMoveConquer #TeamCulture #PerformanceMindset #AthleteDevelopment

🏃♂️ "I believe that activity is key and consistent activity, whether it's cycling, running, CrossFit, swimming... keeps your mind focused." This insight came up during a recent DFW Running Talk episode, and it perfectly captures something I've observed throughout my career in community building and business strategy. The parallel between physical consistency and professional success is undeniable: 👉 Daily running builds endurance → Daily customer touchpoints build relationships 👉 Consistent training prevents injury → Consistent processes prevent business breakdowns 👉 Regular activity sharpens mental clarity → Regular strategic review sharpens decision-making In my work building communities at companies like Tanium, I've seen this principle play out repeatedly. The most successful community programs aren't built on sporadic bursts of activity—they're built on small, consistent actions that compound over time. Whether it's: - Daily engagement with community members - Weekly content creation schedules - Monthly strategic reviews - Quarterly goal assessments The magic happens in the consistency, not just the intensity. Physical activity doesn't just keep our bodies healthy—it trains our minds for the discipline required in business. When you commit to showing up for your morning run regardless of how you feel, you're building the same mental muscle you'll use to execute strategy when motivation wanes. What daily activity keeps your mind sharp and your business moving forward? #Leadership #CommunityBuilding #Consistency #BusinessStrategy #DFWRunningTalk #MindsetMatters

💡 Weekly Insight Series | Week 1 | Why Mindset Is the Missing Metric in Athlete Development Athletic Departments track almost everything... 📊 Stats. 🏋️ Training loads. 🎥 Film breakdowns. But one metric is still missing from most programs—mindset. Mindset isn’t “soft.” It’s the difference between: 🔹 Confidence or hesitation at crunch time 🔹Team chemistry or fragmentation 🔹Growth or burnout Here's the truth: If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it. That’s why the most forward-thinking programs are now tracking mindset alongside performance—giving ADs, coaches, and athletes real data on the mental side of the game. With myPerforma, athletes rate areas of performance, focus, role clarity, preparation, and resilience in minutes after every competition. Coaches see the patterns. ADs see the big picture. Everyone gets better. Mindset is no longer invisible. It’s measurable—and it’s the new competitive edge. 👉 DM us today to see how myPerforma helps your department track mindset and lead the future of athlete development. #AthleticDirectors #AthleteDevelopment #MindsetMatters #HighPerformanceCulture #SportsInnovation #CoachLeadership #myPerforma

A key takeaway from Evolutionary Psychology for Sport Coaching 👀👂🤸 How do athletes really learn? Our brains evolved to use intrinsic feedback systems, such as sensory cues like vision, proprioception, and sound, to refine movement. In sport, this means athletes don’t just “follow instructions.” They learn best when they’re tuned into the perceptual cues of the game: Tracking the flight of the ball ⚽ Reacting to an opponent’s movement 🏀 Feeling balance and timing in their own body 🏋️ As coaches, the challenge is simple: 👉 Are we giving athletes environments that engage these natural feedback systems, or are we overloading them with words and corrections that bypass how humans were designed to learn? #Coaching #SkillAcquisition #LearningInSport #CoachDevelopment

THE WORLD HAS BEEN BRAINWASHED ABOUT “COACHING.” Somewhere along the way, coaching became about repeating drills… not developing humans. Clipboards replaced intuition. Session plans replaced understanding. And “work harder” became the lazy answer to everything. Modern coaching has sterilised football. It’s creating robots - not players. Here’s the uncomfortable truth 👇 Players don’t need more cones. They need better coaches - ones who understand movement, the body, and the individual in front of them. Most sessions today: 🚫 Ignore how athletes naturally move 🚫 Overload without fixing dysfunction 🚫 Teach patterns, not adaptability 🚫 Chase fitness, not flow This is why so many players plateau early or break down. It’s not bad luck. It’s bad coaching. For thousands of years, athleticism was built through instinct and environment. Now it’s crushed by over structure and ego. Most won’t change. But the few who do? They build players who thrive when others break. ⚡ #FootballPerformance #Coaching #PlayerDevelopment #Athlete #FootballEntangled #MindsetShift #Movement #HighPerformance Football Entangled Omar Jassim

Motivation Wavers. Commitment Anchors. In elite sport, motivation is fluid. It spikes after a win. It dips after a loss. That’s human. That’s expected. Commitment, on the other hand, is different. It doesn’t ask how you feel today. It asks what you're anchored to. One framework that many high performers seem to resonate with is Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle:   - What: the outcome or external goal—stats, contracts, accolades   - How: the process—training, preparation, development   - Why: the purpose—what makes the pursuit meaningful and worth continuing when results waver The why isn’t just philosophical. It’s foundational. It shapes how setbacks are processed, how consistency is built, and how athletes and coaches respond when things don’t go according to plan. Not every athlete starts with a clearly defined why. But when it’s explored—and clarified—it becomes the anchor point for consistency, resilience, and long-term development. What have you found to be helpful in supporting athletes as they define their “why”? Let’s open the conversation.

The Number One Thing I've Learnt from Coaching Athletes First of all, that whilst their feats might seem superhuman, they themselves are very much flesh and blood like the rest of us. So it's not that. Have you considered how many mistakes an elite sportsperson makes? In their training, diet, matches, recovery, time-management... It can be as simple as a misplaced pass, taking the wrong medication or a misjudged comment. Not only that, but the potential cost of these mistakes? Deselection, funding, relationships, status, the respect of others, self-confidence, sponsorships... Imagine carrying around the knowledge of that, and still being asked to perform. How would you do it? Genuinely, ask yourselves for a moment, how would you do it? So what can we learn from what athletes actually do? In my experience, they use something we all have access to and is completely free. Their mindset and mentality. Ok Joe, but what does that mean and how do they build that? 🏅 First visualisation - mentally rehearsing elite performance, in doing so building neural pathways and priming the body and mind for success. 🗣️ Positive self-talk - affirmations of who they are and how they want to show up in specific situations. 🌟 Process-orientated goals - sure we would all like to win Wimbledon or the World Cup, but we are not in control of that. Instead athletes focus on shorter-term, specific, controllable behaviours that collectively lead to high performance. 🌋 Acknowledging pressure - understanding that they have the power to dismantle it through their mental strategies, such as controlled breathing, grounding techniques, and participating in simulated practice. These are things I work on with sportspeople and athletes of all levels, but also bring to the other forms of coaching that I do too. In the end, whether it’s sport, work, or life, the key to you being at your best, isn't talent or luck, it's mindset and having the tools to unlock it. #Coaching #InnerHero #Mindset #SportsCoaching #Athletes