We ask athletes to make good decisions under pressure before their brain is fully equipped to do so. Then we blame them when they go off track. That is not a character problem. The distance between an athlete’s potential and their actual path is almost never a talent problem. It is an environment and tools problem.

The long way around

I played and coached football across Argentina, Ireland, and Switzerland. In the 2025-2026 season I was part of the technical staff at Servette Chênois Féminin in Geneva, working as interpreter and assistant to the head coach. We won both the Swiss Cup and the League. I saw at close range what it costs when the person behind the performance is not taken care of, and what it looks like when they are.

Before that, I spent a season at Scoil Éanna in Cork, a primary school for children with mild mixed disabilities. I designed and ran a basketball programme for children with ASD, Down syndrome, and learning disabilities. By the end, two teams competed in an inter-school tournament. The competitive team won all three matches. A nine-year-old girl named Kate, who had never touched a basketball before January, told me afterward she had joined a training club.

That is when I understood what this kind of work can do.

I am at an early stage of that career, and I am deliberate about saying so. I combine ongoing self-directed research — in positive psychology, neuroscience, habit formation, and human performance — with hands-on work in sport and education. My goal is to work with coaches, athletes, and young sportspeople who are genuinely interested in progressing in their sport and in their lives. Not waiting until I have more credentials. Building through the doing.