Welcome to Athlete Assessments

Sport is played by people, coached by people and managed by people, so it is imperative to get the people side right.

Important Announcement

This page and section of the website is currently being renovated. Please excuse the current state but we have left the information for reference. Contact us if you have any inquiries.

Welcome to Athlete Assessments! We have dedicated this page to give you an efficient introduction and to focus on what’s most interesting to you.

In elite sport, equipment is equal among competitors, physical conditioning programs are indistinguishable and game or race strategies are often duplicated. The only true competitive advantages are gained by investing in the mental, emotional and relationship skills of your people.

At Athlete Assessments, we’re experts in the people side of sport. We know sport and live high performance every day. While we are best known for our athlete profiling and team dynamics consulting, we do more than just assessments. We are proud of our contribution to sport and are constantly inspired by what our clients achieve.Recently we started counting how many sports we have been involved in and were surprised to get to 41. In sport everyone keeps score, so here’s our Scoreboard so far.

You may enjoy our People+Sport Magazines with insights from clients sharing their experiences. Actually, in the last magazine, the two client programs that won the National Championships for the first time in 2014, have both just won their National Championships again this year. You can view all our Magazines here.

About Athlete Assessments

Athlete Assessments started with Bo Hanson, an Australian rower who competed in four Olympic Games, and won three bronze medals. As an athlete, Bo constantly strove for the minute adjustments which could create a big changes in his performance.

Whether you coach a squad of individual athletes or lead a team, bringing together a group of people to achieve their best is no simple exercise. Investment in new, state of the art, multi-million dollar facilities or the latest technology in equipment rarely delivers a significant improvement. What is a game changer is mastering the people side of your program. Developing the people side of your sporting program is like any other aspect you want to improve. It requires deliberate focus, regular practice and persistence. In helping our clients master consistent high-performance we utilize simple yet powerful models that capture the elements you must get right. You may find it valuable to read our What Winning Teams Get Right Playbook. It’s the game plan for winning with people.

From here there are two options for exploring more of our website. If you’re looking for something specific you may be interested in our DISC Profiles, Performance Reviews, Student Athlete Leadership, Free Videos, Resources and Articles, Magazines or more about us. If you’re not sure where to start, lets focus on who you are and what you’re involved in.

 
 

Introduction to DISC Profiling in Sport

The DISC Model is at the heart of how we work with a team. It is the most effective and efficient tool to use to master the people side of sport. DISC is a model used to develop self-awareness, provide a framework to understand others, improve communication skills and build strong, effective relationships.

Why is this important?

Because in sport, what differentiates the best is never just physical or technical ability. Instead, it is who has the best mental, emotional and relationship skills. The 2008 Olympic Study showed the top factors contributing to medal and PB performances, were a strong coach-athlete relationship, and a high level of athlete self-awareness.

As Joe Gibbs said: “You don’t win with X’s and O’s. What you win with is people.” DISC Profiling is the fastest and most effective way to develop the ‘people side’ of sport.

DISCsimplewhiteDISC focuses on behavior, how someone prefers to act and what they do. Importantly, we can change how we behave but we can’t easily change our personality. It is more productive to coach based on behavior as behavior is flexible and objective (personality is not). We never ask an athlete to change their personality, but coaches constantly ask athletes to adjust what they do. DISC measures the degree of Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientious behavior as represented in a four quadrant model. Everyone has their unique level of each style and it’s the combination of each level of D, I, S and C that describes someone’s individual behavioral profile. Athlete Assessments’ DISC Behavioral Profiles are specifically tailored to sport, with customized Profiles for coaches, athletes and sports managers.

At Athlete Assessments, we’re here to provide you with excellence in service and to help you be your best. If there is anything we can assist you with, please Contact Us.

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Bo Hanson

Senior Consultant & Director

Bo Hanson’s career within the sport and the business sector spans over 25 years, delivering leadership, management, and coach development. In addition to his own athletic career comprising of four Olympic appearances and including three Olympic medals, Bo has worked for many years with coaches and athletes from over 40 different sports across the globe. Bo was also the winner of the Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD) 2023 Award for L&D Professional of the Year, for his dedication to L&D and transformational work across various industries.

After a successful career in sport including four Olympics and three Olympic Medals, Bo co-founded and developed Athlete Assessments in 2007. Bo now focuses on working with clients to achieve their own success on and off ‘the field’, and has attained an unmatched track-record in doing exactly this.

Headshot Bo
BoRowing-Atlanta Olympics

Now, watch us interrupt him for a round of quick fire questions.