In the later years of my Olympic career, in the constant pursuit to improve my performance ahead of the next cycle, I was searching for strategies and theory to understand my behavior and how it related to my training, racing, and performance results.
My work in leadership development and corporate training at the time, provided me with access to industries and experiences outside of sport which taught me lessons that I sought to translate into my sporting life. It was through the study of DISC Behavioral Profiling, that I was able to identify my strengths, learn how to use them, and improve upon my limitations. DISC Theory also allowed me to understand my fellow crew members and build more productive and fulfilling relationships, which ultimately led to the latter stages of my rowing career to be the most successful and enjoyable.
After completing my last Olympic cycle, I had been working in the corporate world but often found myself thinking about everything that competing at four Olympics involved. I realized I missed the constant pursuit of excellence you have as an elite athlete; it just isn’t replicated in the same way in the corporate world. As much as companies aspire to high-performance, few ever achieve it to the same level as Olympic competition, and fewer can maintain it.
Liz Masen and I were on an extended boat trip at the time, and it was on this trip that we deliberately decided to only pursue careers that inspired us and aligned with our values. From these discussions, the idea to take the professional and leadership development learnings I delivered to corporate organizations back to sport was hatched. We believed team and personal performance in sport could be further improved with lessons from the business world. Over time, through discussions with other athletes, I had also come to realize the fortunate experience I had with my coach from my three medal-winning Olympic campaigns, through his level of care and focus on the person behind the athlete.
It became clear to me that the needs of many athletes were not being met beyond viewing and addressing their technical ability, which ultimately was impacting their sustained performance. Both Liz and I were using DISC Behavioral Profiling in many of the programs we delivered for companies on communication, leadership, conflict management, and teamwork, and yet had never seen it being used in sport. This was where the idea for Athlete Assessments emerged.
Working with a team of passionate experts including sports coaches, IT developers, and other DISC accredited professionals, I developed the AthleteDISC Profile and founded Athlete Assessments in 2007. In doing this, Athlete Assessments gave athletes around the world the first sports-specific version of DISC Behavioral Profiling.
Following this, we recognized the difference in needs between coaches and athletes, so we developed a similar tool specifically for sports coaches, the CoachDISC Profile, which was released in early 2009. Then, after requests from many clients, in early 2011 the Sports ManagerDISC Profile was launched as the latest professional development tool specifically for sporting professionals and administrators.
In late 2012, we launched our performance review services for coaches, athlete leaders, and sports administrators. This included the development of the Athlete Assessments Coach 360, Sports Manager 360, and Athlete Leader 360. Over the last decade, our team has continued to innovate and extend on our portfolio of services and products available, including making our DISC Profiles available in other languages such as Japanese and Hungarian.
Athlete Assessments was created to provide a suite of behavioral profiling tools for athletes, coaches, and sports administrators to improve performance and reach their true potential, and our vision and mission rings true to this day.
Our goal is to help athletes, coaches, and other professionals enjoy their sport while achieving the best results possible. We know from personal experience that so much enjoyment in sport comes from making small improvements to performance. More often than not, this means winning more too.
For coaches, we recognize the incredible contribution every coach can make to the lives of the athletes they train. Not only are coaches the mentors and role models who shape athletes’ commitment and enthusiasm for a sport, they also impact athletes lives outside of sport as well.
We also recognize and value the people behind the scenes in sport. We provide the same dedication and services to sport management and administrators as we provide to those competing in the sporting arena.
Our client list proudly reflects the quality work we do and the results we achieve with them. Athlete Assessments now works with some of the top sport psychologists and performance consultants around the world; professional, Olympic, national, and state teams in Australia and internationally; collegiate athletic departments and their teams in the United States; most of the top sport management, sport coaching, and sport science academic programs in the United States, Australia, and United Kingdom; many National Sporting Associations around the world; and numerous individuals who take their sport and their role within sport seriously.
Few things are more inspiring than to see others improving themselves. This year, Athlete Assessments celebrated 15 years in business, and every day we are excited to continue in our contribution to the people in sport. Because equipment doesn’t win championships, people do.
Where to from here?
Whether you are a Sport Psychologist, Performance Consultant, Athlete Director, University Academic, Coach, Athlete, or a Sports Professional, your people rely on you to bring them valuable and reliable tools to enhance performance. If you would like to discuss how Athlete Assessments can contribute to your team, organization, program, or even your individual performance through the use of our DISC Profiles and tailored programs, we encourage you to reach out and contact us.
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