More than ever before, the professional sportsperson faces enormous pressures. The Pay, The Press and “The Perks” along with “The Gold, The Girls and the Glory” ensure that the lifestyle coach will become as essential to the modern player as the football coach.  Whilst the coach enhances the individual’s footballing competence the Lifestyle Coach exists to promote the player’s emotional competence.  

Sustained performance can only be achieved from the “Inside Out.” Nevertheless, a disturbingly significant percentage of players are pursuing their careers crippled by the burden of a distorted self-image, lacking self-esteem and without any true understanding of their identity.

Most players are equipped to cope on the pitch but not necessarily with how to adequately respond to the outcome. Win, lose or draw, the professional footballer’s every breath is measured and every word a potential story. Football is an institution and Unique Sports Counselling seeks to ensure that the modern day player doesn’t become institutionalised.

 External success may only mask the internal conflicts that recent high profile cases have brought to light.  Tony Adam’s extraordinary initiative “Sporting Chance” has proved to be an oasis for sportspeople. Unique Sports Counselling is convinced that, like Tony, their clients with the proper support mechanisms, can turn their lives around.

What We Offer

Sports people are subject to emotional difficulties such as anxiety, lack of self-confidence, and unreasonable expectations from coaches, managers, and fans. Whilst the field of sports psychology focuses on performance with motivation, sports counselling’s focus is on the athlete's development as an individual. This includes personal and clinical issues associated with sports performance. For example, sports counselling assists players/ sports people with reducing stress and anxiety, overcoming fear of failure, success, and burnout. It also addresses interpersonal issues such as family and marital difficulty. In addition, counselling can assist with ineffective attempts to deal with stress, which can result in the abuse of alcohol and other drugs.

First meeting …

An initial consultation normally lasting 50 minutes is recommended to enable both the client and counsellor alike to assess whether Unique Sports Counselling offers the most appropriate life coaching for their particular circumstances.  Attending this meeting is not in itself a commitment to commence counselling, in footballing terms it is a “trial” to see whether we feel able to work with each other.  Prospective clients are provided with an opportunity to explore the counselling process and to decide whether to start attending regular sessions would be beneficial. During the consultation the coach will assess the nature of difficulties, discuss with you any concerns you might have and decide the best way in which we might help.