About Me
I was born and raised in Manchester, England. Like most young boys in my city, I grew up with a ball glued to my feet and had the dream of becoming a professional footballer. My team was Manchester United, and I was extremely fortunate to have a dad who introduced me to them at an early age. I was also one of the very lucky few to have a season ticket, which enabled me to watch the games live and in person every week. For the next 25 years, I followed United all over the world and learned a lot along the way.
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I played for various clubs in the local area, and my position was central midfield. I was taught to always give 100% effort on the pitch and to set high standards for myself and my teammates. This advice would come from older players, coaches, and my dad, who taught me lots of other things to help improve my game. Throughout my time playing, I was fortunate enough to develop good communication skills, which now represent a big part of my work with athletes.
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Aside from football, I enjoyed practicing martial arts, and I walked into my first karate studio at 10 years old. Shortly after, I made the switch over to kung fu. Eventually, I started training in mixed martial arts, which became my main focus until an injury forced me to take an extended break. I now practice traditional Chinese martial arts.
After graduating college, I started working at a local online marketing company. During this time, I learned a lot about the world of business, finance, accounting, search engines, programming, and design. Within two years, I found myself in a management position that came with additional responsibilities, including staff recruitment. This provided me with good insights into HR, administration, and, specifically, the different ways of communicating with people. After a while, I became motivated to start my own business, which was created to increase website visibility on Google (cheers, Scholesy).
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Thankfully, the company started with a good first client, which enabled us to grow and develop at a nice pace. During this period, I learned a lot and was able to eventually branch out and offer services for corporate training. This was also very interesting. For 7 years, I split my time between Manchester (England) and Warsaw (Poland), where I worked with an online ad agency that operated throughout Europe. This gave me the unique opportunity to learn about a new culture and taught me how to adapt, work, and communicate with different kinds of people (cheers, Voych).
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Overall, the experience of having the business was a good one, and it often pushed me way out of my comfort zone, so there was lots of experience gained. However, after a period of time, I knew it wasn't something I wanted to continue doing. The internet was evolving, and social media was becoming popular, which started to change the dynamics of the industry.
Eventually, I decided to stop working, take some time off, and go traveling. I visited different cities across mainland Europe as well as various countries in the East. I also spent a few weeks in the US, and I knew immediately that it was where I wanted to be. The sport of soccer was growing rapidly, so I got my coaching license and made my way over.
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Within a few months of arriving in the US, I became a joint partner in a private coaching company (cheers, Spacey), and shortly after, I became the co-founder of a youth soccer club. It was formed at the request of parents in the local community who valued the technical coaching work we had done with their children. It's been refreshing to see the positive impact that the club has had on the lives of those we've worked with. Many play at high levels of club soccer, and others who graduated high school are now playing at college.
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Throughout the formation of the club, however, I started to develop pain around the left side of my neck and shoulder. There was no apparent physical reason why this materialized. What started as a small inconvenience quickly manifested into severe pain, and I had no idea what was causing it. So, like most people, I sought the opinion of those in the medical profession. I tried many different modalities, such as massage, physical therapy, chiropractic, Chinese and Japanese acupuncture, cryotherapy, rolfing, and gyrotonic, and even spoke with a neurosurgeon in the search for an explanation. However, a solution could not be found.
Then one day, a therapist that I had been working with said she knew someone who might be able to help. She told me he was a little different in his approach; she had no idea what he actually did, but he was apparently really good at healing.
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Just before I arrived at the appointment, I remember thinking to myself "This is probably just another waste of an afternoon". Shortly after, the therapist appeared and introduced himself. I began to tell him about my issue and how it had been a major problem for the past 2.5 years. He was listening politely and acknowledging what I was saying, but I got the impression he had heard this kind of chatter many times.
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Despite clearly explaining that the pain was located on the left side of my neck and shoulder, he started the session by touching my feet. I had no idea what was going on. This area was the main focus for approximately 40 minutes. There was no force, just a very light touch with very minimal movement. Moments later, the session was over, and I was invited to slowly stand up. It was at that point that I witnessed what can only be described as a miracle. All the pain, all 2.5 years' worth of it, had completely disappeared.
A million and one questions started to pop-up: "How, what, when, why?" I was so overjoyed with relief that I literally just stood there in complete shock.
I asked him to teach me the technique, method, or whatever it was that he had just done to me. Ironically and fortunately, a workshop was being hosted a few days later. I registered immediately and couldn't wait to begin. Little did I know at the time, but this would be the start of something totally new for me, which changed the trajectory of my views, thoughts, and interests in ways I never would have imagined.
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Since then, this therapist has become a good friend, and he's been an inspirational influence on my life. Not only did he "heal" my long-term pain, but he also nudged me onto a path where I started to have an entirely new outlook on life. This introduction to the world of energy, frequency, and vibration gradually influenced how I went about my day-to-day activities, and looking back, it was a very important stepping stone that had to be taken.
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Ultimately, I have nothing but the utmost gratitude for what he did for me back then and for what he continues to do. His act of service planted a seed, which fueled the desire in me to want to help others. This then led to the creation of Performance Awareness, which will hopefully inspire others to fulfill their potential (cheers, Jess).
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Another huge influence during this period was my aunt K, who dedicated much of her time to helping me better understand the art of healing. She taught me all kinds of things, and was also the person who first introduced me to the energy modality known as Reiki (cheers, Kath).
After becoming pain-free, I started to study as much as I possibly could about energy, frequency, and vibration. It sent me down the rabbit hole, and after a short period of time researching, it became clear that it was going to be much more than just learning about the various healing modalities. In actuality, there was a whole world of concepts that were completely new to me, and so it took a long time to understand the information on a fundamental level.
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Over time, I was able to grasp some of the core principles, which enabled me to go deeper into the teachings and see them from a different point of view. This eventually led to a desire to put things into practice, so I started to attend workshops for the different styles of healing. These included: Rice Release Technique, Usui Reiki, Star Magic, and Sekhem. I also experimented with a selection of plant medicines such as Ayahuasca, Kambo, and Bufo, which were all very unique experiences.
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Along the way, I've had the pleasure of learning from some amazing teachers. Each of them assisted me in understanding various pieces of the healing puzzle, which has now resulted in the offering of my own service to others. Fortunately, I have a much clearer understanding of certain things relating to life, and so I use this in my work with athletes. Helping others, whether it be through hands-on energy healing or simply having an open conversation, gives me a real, authentic buzz. One of the most important things I learned during this period was how even the most subtle of actions can have a positive impact on myself and other people.
I currently work with athletes and share my experiences to help inspire them. Whether this takes the form of a club soccer practice session, coaching a game, or sitting down one-on-one in a private space, the objective is always the same: to promote self-empowerment. Between being an athlete, spending time in the corporate world, and my healing work, I'm fortunate to be in a position where I can share the things I've learned with others. In doing so, I hope to have a positive impact and influence on those I coach and work with.
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My goal for Performance Awareness is to work with young athletes. I feel the youth of today have a multitude of challenges to navigate in what's become a fast-paced, technological environment. Understanding this and recognizing the difficulties that inevitably arrive inspires me to work with them and offer some advice that they can use for their own development. Sometimes, all it takes is for a person to hear something worded in a slightly different way for them to recognize what they previously didn't understand.
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Moving forward, I look forward to speaking with parents and athletes to discuss how we can work together. Every individual is unique and therefore has a totally personal set of circumstances that they carry around with them. My role is to try and understand this and, at the same time, highlight areas that I feel will help elevate their happiness. Ideally, this will then lead to a sense of increased confidence and enhanced well-being.
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