Mark Russell
Head Performance Coach

As an athlete, there are certain aspects of sport that you cannot control, and some that you can only influence—the weather, the pitch, your opponents, and the referee's decisions, to name but a few.

You can only focus on yourself and your performance given the cards you're dealt.

From professional athletes competing for medals on the world stage to high-performing amateurs and pub league players, we strive to perform at our best.

Elite athletes know that there is as little as 1% difference between being the best and being a contender.

Top athletes know that your emotional and mental state determines a winning performance.

Mentally resilient athletes can deliver consistently high-performance levels, even under intense pressure.

They also seem to be able to stay calm, make the right decisions at the right time, and deliver peak performance when it really counts.

As an athlete takes on a leadership role, emotional and mental skills become even more important. These skills are often a clear differentiator between winners and contenders.

These skills necessary for successful leaders and personal peak performance are known as "emotional intelligence".

As a player (or a coach), you should know that your mental and emotional development should be an important and integral part of your training programme.

As a certified Mental Game Coaching Professional (MGCP) with Peak Performance Sports, I help you uncover the beliefs and attitudes that keep you from performing to your potential. You'll learn a proven mental skills system that builds your confidence and improves your performance in competition to get you into the winner’s circle more often.

Over the past five years, I have helped hundreds of athletes overcome mental barriers and instill confidence, focus, and teamwork to become better all-around athletes.

The programme is sustainable, and the impact is measurable and extensive both ON and OFF the sports field.

Working with me enables you to access a new and unique coaching opportunity that has been proven to accelerate athlete and coach learning of mental strategies for practice and competition.

A 'blended approach' of assessments and workbooks enables you to learn quickly and get the most out of face-to-face coaching conversations. The workbooks help you grasp the "basics" of mental skills and to continue learning between meetings. Coaching sessions are about 'fine tuning' and discussing the strategies you've learned between sessions.

As a result, you can accomplish a much higher level of coaching impact and get help focusing your energies on applying mental strategies to real situations.

The top 15 mental skills areas that I work with athletes on include:

Along with one-to-one coaching sessions, the mental skills areas make for great team seminars, training sessions, and pre-season education programmes.

The results are phenomenal. I work with all athletes, not just footballers, rugby players, or golfers. As a result, athletes come to coaching sessions more prepared, organised, and ready to explore mental game strategies for success.

As an athlete, you improve your commitment to mental training and accelerate your learning curve with the mental game. At any level, mindset can be crucial differentiator between champion and contender.

You can now measure how athletes use emotional intelligence when practising or competing. Yes, you heard me right - you can measure and develop an athlete's sporting emotional intelligence!

I'm one of a handful of certified mental skills coaches accredited to use the Emotional Intelligence Sports Inventory (ESi) - the world's first assessment tool to measure key performance competencies.

The assessment compares your performance against the world's top athletes. It provides practical strategies to help you maximise your potential and become a consistent, sustainable high performer.

The ESi Sports Report measures your key performance competencies and obtains a snapshot of your global emotional intelligence score and score on each competency.

It builds mental toughness so you remain self-motivated and sustain competitive energy.

When the athlete completes the assessment, scores are calculated, and a fully customised 18-page coaching report is produced, highlighting strengths and development areas across 10 performance competencies.

In addition to the results, the report provides suggestions and exercises for strengthening a given competency.

A personal Action Plan is also provided to help build the skills and resources necessary for responding to the challenges of sports competition.

Discover how Performance Coaching can make a HUGE difference to your life…

Copyright © Mark Russell Inspired Performance Coaching. 2025. All Rights Reserved.

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