It was back in January 2013, when I left my post as National Coach for Scotland Netball, that my life really transformed!  As long as I can remember, I set incredibly high expectations for myself in terms of being the best I can be! My personal mantra consisted of; ought to and should be able to, of being dedicated to the cause, leave no stone unturned, explore the cutting edge difference, apply sheer grit determination. Life for me was about relentless perseverance, and I definitely had it all wrong!

In 1985, I played netball for Kent County and by 1990 I lived in Hong Kong and captained the national squad at the 9^th Asian Netball Championship in India.  The 1991 World Championship in Sydney followed and I pushed myself to the limits for physical prowess as a circle defender on that squad.

After each competition, the feeling of satisfaction was short-lived; the hunger for the next challenge never far away! When it came to competing in the 1995 World Championships in Birmingham, I had switched playing positions striving now to be a world-class shooter.

During these preparation 4 years, I spent thousands of hours practicing and perfecting my shooting technique and by the time I was due to compete my shot was superb, it still is? But despite all this sacrifice and commitment, I didn’t pull it off; 72% shooting accuracy for the championship v a 90% world-class standard, I had failed to conquer the mind!

Back in the UK, and for the period 2000-2008, I was selected into the England Netball High Performance Coaching Group. This led to the Head Coach role of the Brunel Hurricanes, one of the first EN Super league Franchises, where for 7 years we made the play-offs but never held that winners trophy?  This mystery around consistent elite performance started to dominate my life.

In 2008, I secured the role of Scotland National Coach and Glasgow Wildcats Coach in the England Super league; it was a 6-year campaign and the target was top 8 at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

During the 4.5 years in the role, the Scottish Thistles, competed in 46 Internationals, and improved their world ranking from 17^th to 12^th. We qualified for the CWG’s in our own right rather than eligibility as the host nation, yet in terms of human performance there was still something I was missing – athletes continued to have a lot on their mind and no amount of managing, controlling, or manipulating their thinking seemed to turn down the head noise!

It was in December 2012, where life got really interesting – I found myself not going to the CWG’s after all!

With no opportunity to finish the job I’d started and live for, my mental and physical health started to deteriorate – disillusionment, frustration and disbelief seized every waking minute, life couldn’t get any worse.

Then, as if by divine design, I came across an understanding of how the mind creates our human experience called, the Three Principles of MIND, CONSCIOUSNESS and THOUGHT.

In a moment of deep realization, I saw through my painful experience, as a made up story inside my head that would over time eventually dissipate – we all get over stuff right!

Well, if my perspective is self-created and not coming from out there, I’m not up for being this low for the next 18 months. I woke up to how life really works, inside out, that we live in the feeling of our thinking in the moment, not in the feeling of the world! Oh my word, the relief that this horrible feeling was not inevitable given the circumstances, was revelatory to me and changed everything.

I went to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 as a spectator.  It was a phenomenal experience supporting the Scottish Thistles with an open heart and mind. I had the utmost respect and compassion for new regime and everything they went onto achieve.  This would not have been available to me without a complete transformation in mindset that came out of an insight about how the mind creates our separate realities.

Since that day, I have travelled around the world learning and sharing this spiritual and psychological understanding – how it sustainably changes lives and enhances performance and results.

I’ve now come to realize that, there is no-where to get to, and nothing to prove, I am already enough, perfect and whole as a human being.  I have innate mental health, resilience and confidence and no amount of outside achievement is going to give me what I already have inside.

Now I work as a high performance coach in service to the field of sport, education and business to guide people to lead healthy, happy, high performance and fulfilling lives, irrespective of the circumstances and environment. For years I strived to be the best I can be, and it proved costly in terms of living minutes caught up in an illusory world of needing to be better than who and what I already am?

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t become a passive observer of life, in fact quite the opposite, I am incredibly inspired to perform, achieve and succeed but now it is from a foundation of security and well being, rather than invisible fearful wants, needs and desires!

To be able to thrive in life, experience freedom of mind, and create extraordinary work with an effortless ease is an unbelievable gift, which I am truly grateful.  Finally, I get to understand the missing performance ingredient, which is the key differentiator between athletes and coaches producing outstanding consistent high performance and barely making their presence known.

If you want to find out more about Denise you can so here: www.class-performance.com OR email: