Our Story
Our story begins in 1993, in a village called Mezzana, high in the Italian Alps.
Mezzana was the venue for the 1993 Canoe Slalom World Championships. Our MD, Jonathan, had landed the job of GB Coach the previous year. As a young coach faced with the daunting prospect of adding value to an already successful squad, he focused on building an environment of excellence and collaboration to enable the paddlers to perform at their best.
The result?
An almost clean sweep across team and individual events, a significant improvement on the Barcelona Olympics the year before.
Delivering Impact
Each of us blends a deep psychological knowledge of performance and behaviour change with many years of experience – combining depth and pragmatism. We support our clients in a spirit of partnership with a strong desire to have lasting impact – we won’t simply run a training course and disappear. It’s important to us that you see and feel lasting impact from our work together.
Our expertise now contributes to the success of world leading teams and leaders in Olympic and Paralympic sport and major businesses in the UK, the US and Australia.
We work with organisations from sectors as diverse as finance, technology, hospitality, professional services, mining and automotives. They’re all bound by a desire to succeed, and a recognition that this relies on creating a healthy high performance environment for people to do their best work. We’re passionate about our work, and you’ll experience that passion and commitment when you work with any of us.
Our Partners
Jonathan Males
Jonathan grew up in Tasmania and spent his youth exploring its wilderness, rivers and mountains. Through the 1980’s he pursued his sporting aspirations, representing Australia at four World Canoeing Championships and experiencing at first-hand the challenges of international competition.
Katherine Bond
Katherine grew up in Dublin, and spent her early years trying her hand with various sports, trying to excel in one of them, but never quite managing it. This sparked an interest in the psychology of performance, and led her to the UK to study and work.
William Winstone
William’s early passions were golf and tennis, sports that still actively engage him today. After a business degree and early retail career with John Lewis, he developed a successful psychotherapy and sports psychology practice, whilst being head coach of a north London tennis club.
Our Team
Hetty Einzig
Hetty’s career is diverse. She co-established a successful London contemporary art gallery, worked as a journalist, and co-developed and presented A Problem Aired, the first live television counselling programme.
John Anderson
John was at the World Champs in Mezzana in 1993 too, coaching Britain’s team in the downriver race. He previously represented GB in this event and held the Cross-Channel canoeing record for 15 years from 1980.
Gary Buxton
Gary has set up an organisation from scratch and grown it to employ over 1,500 people giving him first hand insight into the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur.
Jim Constable
Jim completed a sports science/maths degree at Loughborough University (the maths still gives him nightmares). He got his first job working for the British Universities Sports Federation before a career in financial services.
Emma Wiggs
Emma is a double gold medal winning Paracanoeist and 9 time World Champion. She has represented Great Britain at three Paralympics in two different sports.
"We've worked with Mezzana over multiple Games cycles. Their experience and insights, from both sport and business, have been invaluable in helping us prepare for the high pressure Games environment."
Penny Briscoe, OBE, Director of Sport and ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission (Paris, 2024)
