RESOURCES
WATCH
INTERVIEW
Prefer to watch on YouTube?
A conversation about what really happens under pressure
In this interview, I talk about mental resilience in elite sport — and about the relationship athletes have with their sport.
We discuss why that relationship can feel so pure and safe, how pressure and the people around an athlete can add noise to it, and what happens when performance under pressure no longer reflects what is possible in practice.
Not from the idea that an athlete needs to be “fixed”, but from curiosity about what is actually getting in the way. Because the better you understand yourself, the more freely you can perform — and the more room there is for your ability to show.
TRY
SUMMER CHALLENGE
A tool to learn your pressure signals better.
This challenge helps you:
understand your pressure signals;
notice what happens
in your thoughts,
body and emotions;
recover faster when something goes wrong;
and carry less mental noise into training and competition.
Mental confidence built on understanding.
Very practical. Very focused.
Slightly more reliable
than hoping confidence will magically appear one day.
TRY
Breath as an Anchor
A practical breathing toolkit for focus,
regulation and recovery.
This guide helps you:
- use your breath to redirect your focus;
- regulate tension before and during performance;
- reset after a mistake or frustrating moment;
- experiment with different breathing techniques;
- and practise them before you actually need them under pressure.
Your breath is always available.
The skill is knowing how to use it.
Very practical. Very trainable.
Because competition is not the best place to practise calming your nervous system for the first time.
TRY
The Game Belongs to the Child
A practical guide for supporting your athlete without adding pressure.
This guide helps you:
understand what your athlete may actually need from you;
know what helps before, during and after competition;
avoid adding pressure without meaning to;
respond when things go wrong;
and stay the safe person they can look for from the sideline.
Because no two athletes need the same parent after a game.
Practical. Clear. Easy to use.
And probably more useful than shouting “just relax” from the sideline.
TRY
When an Athlete Gets Stuck
A practical guide for coaches: reset in the moment, understand what is happening underneath.
This guide helps you:
- recognise when an athlete is mentally stuck;
- know what to do in the moment;
- bring attention back to the present;
- make instructions smaller and more task-focused;
- talk about doubt, frustration and pressure without making it bigger;
- and support the athlete without feeling responsible for fixing everything.
Short when it needs to be.
Human when there is room.
Because not everything you see under pressure can be solved with one more technical instruction. ALMOST HERE!!
READ
AD newspaper, 28 May '26
Why mental support in elite sport should become as normal as physical support.
In this interview with Dutch newspaper AD, I talk about how my own experiences in elite sport eventually became the foundation for Full Focus Athlete.
About basketball as a safe place. About performance pressure, doubt and a sporting culture in which vulnerability was not always easy to show. And about what young elite athletes need today: space to understand what is happening in their mind, so they do not have to carry everything alone.
Because everything goes through the mind. So the mind deserves to be at the centre.
