About Tom
Tom is a mental skills and performance coach with experience across sport, business, education, and non-profits. A varied career has given him a wide range of experiences and cultures to learn from and incorporate within his coaching. Above all, it has forced him to develop versatile and flexible methods.
At youth level, Tom achieved success in rugby, earning representative honours before an injury ended his playing career. Navigating this sparked a passion for understanding the mental side of performance and continues to drive particular interest in working with injured players. While studying Classics at Oxford University, he began coaching. Upon graduation he moved into roles at Yale University and Hartpury College, where he gained his first exposure to a high-performance environment.
In 2015, Tom moved to South Africa, living in the township of Zwelihle. There, he launched a project at Atlantics RFC, using rugby to bridge divides between two contrasting communities. This commitment to Sport for Development led to his work with Dallaglio RugbyWorks, where he supported young people in Pupil Referral Units to develop life and employability skills through rugby.
In 2019, Tom co-founded Apex Mental Skills with friends Henry and Alex, experts in sport psychology and education. Together, they designed workshops and courses to help young people apply performance psychology concepts to challenges such as exams, job interviews, and public speaking.
Since 2020, Tom’s career has focused on rugby, working with teams in Division 1A of the All Ireland League and the Western Province Super League. Alongside this, he completed a First-Class MSc in Mental Skills and Mental Health in Sport from the University of Limerick, grounding his experience in research and developing his evidence-based approach to coaching.
Tom’s passion for Sport for Development continues through his role as a trustee of UmRio, a charity working in the favela of Morro do Castro. UmRio uses rugby to support young people’s health, education, and wellbeing. He also continues on-field coaching and is a Level 3 IRFU accredited coach, specialising in defense and skills.
1-1 Coaching
Tom’s coaching begins with a no-cost, no-commitment discovery phase designed to explore your unique needs and ensure a strong relationship and alignment of perspectives. Whether over the phone, at a training session, or over coffee, Tom takes the time to understand your goals and challenges without a set time limit. This process often includes interviews, in-situ observation and validated psychometric questionnaires to gain a deeper understanding of your mindset, strengths, and areas for growth. By combining these insights with open dialogue, Tom develops a clear and personalised approach that reflects who you are and what you want to achieve.
Whether you’re overcoming particular barriers or keen to broaden you performance horizon through psychology, Tom works with you to design a tailored plan. His coaching spans diverse contexts, such as:
Sports: Enhancing athletic performance and thriving under pressure.
Business: Mastering public speaking & communication, effective leadership, and decision-making.
Education: Managing exam pressure, building resilience and developing self-regulated learning.
Tom’s attention to each client’s learning style ensures that every session is effective and engaging. He adapts his methods to suit your preferred way of thinking and communicating, balancing the tools for success with a deeper understanding of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind their effectiveness. Sessions are entirely flexible and tailored to your schedule, offering:
Remote or in-person coaching.
Frequent or occasional sessions.
Light-touch check-ins or in-depth 1-2 hour sessions.
Team Coaching
Tom’s work with teams focuses on two key areas: the dynamics of people and the mechanics of how a team functions to achieve its goals. His approach blends building strong relationships, values, and ethos with designing effective structures and systems that sustain high performance. Tom works closely with leadership and players to align these elements, ensuring cohesive, sustainable change.
Workshops often serve as a jumping-off point, helping teams explore ‘What good looks like’ and providing practical tools for growth. However, Tom’s work goes far beyond single sessions. Through close collaboration, he supports teams in embedding sustainable behaviours and processes into their culture, ensuring meaningful and measurable change. For individuals within the team, tailored 1-1 programs are also available to enhance personal contribution to collective success.
Key Focus Areas Include:
Communication: Establishing clear, concise, and impactful messaging.
Ethos & Values: Embedding positive psychology and team-focussed behaviour, not empty slogans.
Wellbeing: Promoting resilience and sustainable performance.
Role Clarity: Defining responsibilities to maximise individual and group effectiveness.
Team Resilience: Processes and plans to overcome challenges and stick together under pressure.
Ways of Working:
Designing performance management systems tailored to team needs.
Leadership development to equip coaches and managers with the tools to guide effectively.
Embedding processes and structures that align team values with actionable outcomes.
Workshops
Apex Mental Skills began with the vision of making elite performance concepts accessible to everyone. Whether on the sports field, in the boardroom, or the classroom, Tom’s workshops equip participants with practical tools and insights to achieve their goals. Tailored to each audience, these engaging sessions help build confidence, develop skills, and inspire growth.
Every workshop starts with a no-commitment discovery call to understand your unique context, audience, and goals. Whether focusing on practical performance strategies or psychoeducational insights, workshops are always tailored to deliver actionable value and lasting impact. Key focus areas within Sport, Business and Education are:
Sport Performance
Mental Skills Training: Enhance focus, confidence, and resilience for high-stakes moments.
Preparation & Strategy: Build effective training routines and pre-competition plans.
Team Culture & Values: Develop an environment that combines the group’s beliefs and generates actionable behaviors to foster those values, avoiding empty slogans that fail to create change.
Business
Public Speaking & Communication: Manage anxiety and deliver with clarity and confidence.
Leadership Development: Focus on effective communication, emotional intelligence, and strengths-based analysis of personnel to inspire teams and drive results.
Team Culture & Values: Develop an environment that reflects shared beliefs and translates them into meaningful actions, avoiding superficial platitudes that don’t deliver results.
Education
Exam Stress Management: Equip students with techniques to stay calm and focused.
Self-Regulated Learning: Teach strategies to boost focus and improve academic performance.
Teacher Wellbeing: Support educators in balancing workload and promoting resilience.
Flexible Workshop Formats
Workshops can be tailored to:
Deliver practical strategies participants can immediately apply.
Provide deep insights into performance psychology to educate and inspire.
Suit any schedule, from short ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions to full-day workshops.
For schools and non-profits, all costs are negotiable. Tom is passionate about providing pro bono sessions wherever possible, ensuring these tools are accessible to those who need them most.
Areas of Work
Sport
With over a decade of success in high-performance and sport-for-development environments, Tom has worked with athletes and teams at every level, from grassroots to High-Performance. He works with top-level players and coaches who credit his tailored approach with unlocking their potential and achieving success under pressure. As a coach and successful youth sportsman, Tom brings a deep understanding of the mental and physical challenges of sport. Tailored programs include:
Mental Skills for Performance: Build attentional control, self-regulation, and confidence to avoid distraction and perform optimally under pressure.
Skill Acquisition and Strategic Preparation: Leverage principles of motor learning and deliberate practice to enhance skill development and maximise competitive readiness.
Injury Rehabilitation Support: Stay mentally strong during recovery, reduce fears of re-injury, and adjust to long-term challenges.
Resilience and Mindset: Employ mindfulness, reframe your thinking and develop emotional regulation to cultivate a growth-oriented and performance-focused mindset.
Wellbeing and Mental Health: Promote psychological wellbeing through stress management, work-life balance, and proactive mental health strategies to prevent burnout.
Tom’s approach aims to ensure that athletes and teams alike are equipped to meet their goals with clarity and purpose.
Business
Tom’s success in the Business space lies in his ability to translate elite performance principles into actionable strategies for professionals and teams. From CEOs to emerging leaders, his clients consistently praise his ability to foster confidence, develop leadership, and enhance team performance. Partnerships with businesses often cover:
Well-Being: Address burnout prevention, mental health awareness, and work-life balance while incorporating mindfulness and stress management strategies to enhance resilience and employee well-being.
Positive Culture: Foster an inclusive, respectful environment by emphasizing emotional intelligence, shared purpose, and values-driven behaviors to promote a psychologically safe workplace.
Communication Skills: Develop effective leadership language, empathy, assertiveness, and conflict resolution techniques to enhance collaboration, understanding, and workplace relationships.
Decision-Making and Problem-Solving: Equip teams with critical thinking, creativity, and structured approaches to make informed decisions and solve challenges effectively under pressure.
Leadership: Promote value-based leadership that inspires trust, balances performance with well-being, and drives sustainable success through supportive and purposeful practices.
Tom’s adaptable, results-driven coaching empowers businesses to perform under pressure, thrive in competitive environments, and achieve sustainable growth.
Education
Tom’s experience in the education sector shapes his ability to connect with both students and educators, creating meaningful connections and impactful programs. He has worked with schools, universities, and non-profits, equipping individuals with the tools to overcome the particular challenges of the education space. Clients often highlight his approachable style and proven methods as transformative. His expertise includes:
Exam Success: Supporting students to manage stress, improve focus, and perform their best under pressure.
Effective Learning: Teaching strategies for self-regulated learning that lead to lasting academic achievement.
Educator Wellbeing: Promoting mental health, balance, and resilience in high-pressure teaching roles.
Motivation and Engagement: Helping students and educators foster intrinsic motivation to sustain long-term effort and commitment.
Classroom Dynamics: Equipping teachers with tools to build positive, inclusive learning environments that support collaboration and growth.
Stress and Time Management: Guiding students and educators in managing workloads effectively while maintaining mental clarity and productivity.
Growth Mindset Development: Encouraging a focus on effort, persistence, and adaptability to promote resilience and academic success.
Performance Feedback: Training educators to deliver constructive feedback that inspires improvement and builds confidence.
Whether addressing exam pressure or enhancing teaching practices, Tom’s coaching ensures that students and educators can thrive in today’s demanding academic environments.