Coach. Mentor. Teacher.

My story

From the classroom to the coaching room

I studied sport science at university, and it was the sport psychology that hooked me: why some people and teams perform under pressure and others don’t. I added a Diploma of Education, started out as a teacher, and was lucky enough to be named Teacher of the Year. What I loved most wasn’t the curriculum. It was the moment a student realised they were capable of far more than they’d believed.

That moment led me into coaching. In 1996 I was head coach of the Victorian Women’s Cricket team when we won the Australian Championships. That team, which I’d worked with through 1995, was the beginning of my work developing high-performing teams. Across 1996–97 I was also skills coach for the Australian Women’s Cricket team. In 1999 I went to the UK for postgraduate study in sport psychology, then came home and spent years as a performance coach to athletes and teams: football clubs like Frankston and the Oakleigh Krushers, Parkdale Cricket Club and school sport programs. I helped them build cultures where people hold each other to a higher standard and actually enjoy it.

Along the way my work shifted from sport psychology to coaching and positive psychology: less about fixing what’s wrong, more about helping people and teams find their own answers and build on what they do best. That’s the foundation of everything I do now.

In 2011 I founded The Life Coaching College to train the next generation of coaches face to face, with real conversation, presence and courage. More than 5,000 certified coaches later, I still teach our Creating High Performing Teams training myself, and I still work with teams, because being in the room when a team decides who it’s going to be never gets old.

After nearly 50 years of cricket at my beloved Parkdale Cricket Club, I’m now officially “retired”. Outside of work, you’ll find me running, lifting weights or out on the golf course. My favourite trips are overseas, hunting down hidden-gem golf courses around the world. But the best seat in the house is on the sideline watching my kids play sport, and my favourite time of all is just hanging out with Beth.