A Coach Dave Story for Athletes and Parents At the beginning of this year, one of the athletes I work with was on the verge of a breakthrough. Their training numbers were skyrocketing. Conditioning was sharp. Confidence was high. Every session felt like another step closer to the kind of season athletes dream about. You could feel momentum building, like everything was finally clicking into place. And then, in one moment, everything shifted. During a routine workout, they felt a strange little “off” sensation in their ankle. Not a sharp pain. Not something that screams stop now. Just a whisper, the kind athletes usually brush off because they’re so used to pushing through discomfort. That tiny whisper turned out to be a stress fracture… a serious one. Within hours, this athlete went from preparing for their best season yet to sitting in a doctor’s office hearing words no athlete wants to hear: “You’re in a cast. No weight bearing. No running. Six weeks minimum.” The physical injury was real, but the mental impact was something far deeper. The Mental Battle Most Athletes Don’t See Coming When an athlete gets sidelined, it’s not just the body that takes the hit.It’s the identity.The routine.The sense of progress.The feeling of belonging. For this athlete, every emotion hit hard and fast: - Frustration - Sadness - Jealousy watching teammates train - Fear of falling behind - Worry about losing everything they had built And parents, you see it too.You see the shift in their mood, their motivation, their confidence. Injuries can rattle even the strongest kids. One of the hardest moments for this athlete was scrolling through teammates’ workouts… seeing the runs, drills, practices they wanted to be part of. They were happy for their friends, but they were hurting on the inside. And that’s normal.Every athlete goes through a version of this when the sport is suddenly taken away. But injuries also reveal something important: When the routine cracks, you see what your foundation is really made of.

When no personal emotion, mental noise, or internal judgment interferes, the experiences of training and competition are processed with total clarity and fluidity. The athlete’s perceptual system is designed precisely for this: to read what is happening on the field, experience it fully, and then let it go so you can be completely present for the next action. When this system works well, you are well. Everything flows: one action after another, one reading after another. Every play, every decision, every stimulus in the match is a gift that trains you and makes you better. Just like a well-constructed play, experiences move through you, awakening your focus, your intuition, and your ability to react. In reality, every experience on the pitch —a mistake, a success, a comment from the coach, a duel won, a controlled error— leaves a mark on you. It shapes you. It makes you grow. Your athletic mind and heart expand, and you become stronger, more stable, and more aware. If experience is the best coach, nothing compares to the power of living your matches with full attention. The purpose of being an athlete is not to control every play, but to fully experience each moment that is happening to you, let it go, and prepare for the next one. In a match or training session, hundreds of micro-experiences appear: stimuli, sensations, decisions, emotions. They arrive, pass through you, and move on. That is the ideal system. If you could be this present —the way truly conscious footballers play— every experience would touch you deeply. Every action would feel meaningful because you would be completely open to the information of the game, and your sporting life would flow through you without blockages. But this is not what happens to most athletes. Most carry unprocessed emotions: frustration, fear of failing, external pressure, self-criticism, expectations. These emotions interrupt the natural flow of performance. The challenge is to return to the state where you allow each experience to train you, move through you, and free you —so you can perform with presence, lightness, and fullness.

The winter off-season is your most crucial development block. Step away from the pressure of every indoor result, as these indoor matches are just to keep you on the ball throughout the winter, and focus on becoming a future collegiate athlete. Your pillars are Strength, Mobility, and Recovery. Aggressively attack the 'massive needle movers' you neglect during the competitive season: • Strength Training - don't just lift, build explosive power and durability. • Prioritize Mobility work to unlock your hips, ankles, and T-spine, creating more efficient movement and preventing non-contact injuries. • Crucially, use this time for Active Recovery, addressing any nagging injuries or imbalances with a specialist. When you return to the pitch, you won't just be fitter, you'll be a fundamentally more robust, powerful, and injury-resistant player, ready for the next level.

I once worked with an athlete who had every physical gift you could dream of.Strong. Fast. Skilled. Coaches said he could be one of the best on the team. But when you watched him play, something didn’t add up. He hesitated. He held back. It was as if he was waiting for permission to be great. And that hesitation was costing him everything. The Quiet Struggle You Might Not See As parents, we love seeing our kids train hard, stay disciplined, and follow instructions. It feels like a sign of character, and it is, to a point. But there’s a hidden danger when your child becomes too focused on doing things “the right way.” They stop playing free. They stop trusting themselves. They start performing for approval instead of performing from confidence. They become what I call “Limiters.” What Is a Limiter? A Limiter is an athlete who wants to succeed but doesn’t fully believe they can.They have all the tools, skill, strength, talent, but deep down, they question whether they’re good enough to deliver when it matters. So instead of taking risks and trusting their instincts, they play safe.They look to the coach for cues.They analyze every mistake.They worry about what others think. And while this looks like discipline from the outside, its actually The Cost of Hesitation Every time your athlete second-guesses themselves, they’re wiring hesitation into their brain. Over time, that hesitation becomes habit. I’ve seen athletes train like monsters in the gym, then freeze when the game is on the line.It’s not because they don’t care or aren’t tough, it’s because they’ve been conditioned to play for approval instead of confidence. They’ve built their self-belief on fragile ground: what others think of them. And when a mistake happens, or a coach gets upset, that foundation crumbles. Why This Often Starts at Home Here’s the hard truth: most of the time, parents don’t even realize it’s happening. They cheer. They encourage. They invest in trainers and programs.But if all that support is focused only on the physical side of development, something critical is being missed, the mental wiring that determines how an athlete performs under pressure.

Every leader faces a moment when the noise gets louder than their purpose. For Hannah Hampton, that moment came when she was left out of the England squad, a public setback that could’ve shattered her confidence. Instead, she turned it into a lesson in resilience, reflection, and the power of a mental reset. 1. A year ago, Hannah Hampton was on the verge of walking away from football. Dropped from the England squad. Criticised by the press. Questioned by coaches. For a goalkeeper once tipped as the Lionesses’ future number one, it felt like the dream had ended. But instead of quitting, she paused. Reflected. Rebuilt. And this summer, she returned, stronger, calmer, and ready to lift the European Championship as England’s first-choice keeper. It wasn’t just a comeback. It was a masterclass in mindset. 2. Reset Before You Restart Most people try to bounce back too quickly. They chase the next opportunity, the next win, the next validation. Hampton did the opposite. She stepped back. Rebuilt her routines. Reconnected with her purpose. By the time she returned, she wasn’t just fit, she was focused. In business, leaders often forget this: resetting isn’t retreating, it’s recovery. You can’t perform at your best if you never pause to recharge. 3. Belief Is a Team Sport When Hampton rejoined the squad, she credited her teammates and coaches for helping her rediscover belief. Because confidence doesn’t live in isolation, it grows in connection. The best leaders, like the best teams, create environments where belief is shared, not assumed. When your people feel supported, they don’t just come back, they come back stronger. What I’ll Be Tracking After the Euros: → How Hampton sustains her new mindset Will she continue to lead through composure and connection, even when pressure rises again? → What this says about performance culture The highest performers aren’t defined by their setbacks, but by their capacity to recover from them. → What business leaders can learn The power to reset, mentally, emotionally, and strategically, is what separates burnout from breakthrough.