Red2Blue Blog

How to prepare your kids for exam pressure

With exam season upon us, Bede Brosnahan offers some useful tips for parents to help their kids prepare for the big days. We all want the best for our kids and, with exams on our doorstep, it’s natural for parents to want to take control and help children through what can be a stressful time. A few simple tips can help you to break some of the pressure traps.

Louis swims across the infamous Hellespont following in Lord Byron’s wake

Red2Blue ambassador Louis Alexander has successfully completed his latest extreme challenge! The multi-discipline adventurer swam from Europe to Asia, crossing the Hellespont and Dardanelles strait in Turkey – one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

Coach’s Corner: Gerry Fitzpatrick

This month, we find out how Gerry Fitzpatrick uses Red2Blue in his coaching. Gerry co-founded Impact The Game, along with Jenny Coady, to help people to unlock their potential and take their performance to a new level through mental skills. Their clients include Kilkenny Senior hurling team and West Ham United.

Erica Parkinson on performing under pressure

This month, we catch up with Red2Blue ambassador, footballer Erica Parkinson, who currently plays for the Portuguese team Leixões, and has also played matches for Benfica, another Portuguese team. Erica was recently invited to attend the trial for the England Under 16 Girls team. Here, she talks with Martin about how Red2Blue has helped her development and enabled her to deal with problems both on and off the pitch.

Back to School with Red2Blue

Coach Andy Maciel talks about why Red2Blue is needed in schools and how it gave one of his players the resilience to become a Premier League footballer.

Coach’s Corner: Andy Key

This month we talk to performance mindset coach, Andy Key. As the founder of Fit4Performance, Andy delivers a performance framework, underpinned by Red2Blue, to parents, youngsters, athletes, coaches, schools and colleges. Andy is passionate about teaching mindset skills as an integral part of the overall sports performance equation.

Using Red2Blue at the wheel

Alice Powell and Abbi Pulling are amongst the world’s top women’s racing drivers. Alice, a coach mentor, is currently managing 19-year-old Abbi, an Alpine F1 Academy affiliate. Here, they talk to us about how they use Red2Blue mindset training to get back on track when a race takes an unexpected turn.

Cohesive coaching requires a mental component

When it comes to developing sustained success in sports, being physically fit is only half the story. It’s commonly assumed that any level of success in sport is simply ‘practice makes perfect’; that repetition is all that’s needed. Footballers spend hours playing keepy-uppy, golfers are always on the practice green, and so on. What’s become popular recently, however, is the ‘cohesive coaching’ approach, providing a broader, more encompassing style.

Immy leverages Red2Blue on the green

16-year-old golfer Immy Williamson is a rising star on the international golf scene. She became the Cheshire U18 County Champion at just 12 years old and, since then, her success has continued to soar. Immy has been part of the England Golf Development pathway as a member of the England U18 NW Regional Squad. She has been selected to play for the England U16 Girls on four occasions and the U18’s for the Home Internationals in 2022. Here, Immy talks to us about how she’s using Red2Blue to help her perform under pressure, both on and off the course.

Embrace the discomfort with Red2Blue

For top performers, pressure can be a stimulant rather than an enemy to performance. Unless we’re exposed to increasing levels of pressure, it’s unlikely we’ll raise our game. This is the difference between the mediocre and the elite. Whether it’s in sport or in sales, in the classroom or learning to ride a bike, we will only improve if we’re prepared to raise the stakes.

A day in the life of Vicki Anstey

Each month, we catch up with one of our Red2Blue Ambassadors to find out how they’re applying their Red2Blue training in the daily lives. This month we speak to world record holder, Vicki Anstey, about how Red2Blue helped her and her two teammates to row 4000km across the Pacific Ocean.

Podcast: Performing under pressure for athletes and coaches

Martin talks Red2Blue on the Beet it with Jo podcast

Coach’s Corner: David Warner

This month we talk to David Warner, a Red2Blue coach who was part of the Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby team’s success in the 2020 Paralympics. David used Red2Blue as a key part of his psychological skills strategy for the GBWR team, as they elevated themselves from their fifth place ranking in Rio in 2016 to take home the Gold in Tokyo.

The next generation of footballers on the benefits of Red2Blue

It’s been an exciting season for our young Red2Blue footballer Erica Parkinson who, at just 15 years old, has been playing both club and international level football. Currently playing for the Portuguese team Leixoes, Erica’s had a brilliant year. It was topped off by being selected to play with The Young Lionesses for the UEFA Women’s U17 EURO Finals in Estonia earlier this month.

Coach’s Corner: Abbie Sadler

This month we chat to Abbie Sadler, the Coach Development Lead for the FA’s Women’s Pathway. Abbie works with a team of 10 coach developers who provide support to coaches working in the female game across the FA’s Talent and Senior Pathway.

Red2Blue serves Tommy well on the court

Tommy Herbert has been playing tennis since he was six years old. Now at just 14, Tommy is playing tournaments all over the country. Here, we talk to him and his mum Nicola about the challenges of balancing tennis and schoolwork, and the Red2Blue techniques he uses to keep him calm on the court.

Louis completes the fifth marathon in his Seven Continents challenge

Last time we spoke to professional explorer, adventurer and Red2Blue ambassador Louis Alexander, he had just completed a swim from Europe to Asia, crossing the Hellespont and Dardanelles strait in Turkey – one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Now, he’s taking on his most gruelling challenge yet – running a marathon in each of the seven Continents, all to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK, a cause close to Louis’s heart.

Red2Blue in action at The Meadows Primary School

The Meadows Primary School has embedded Red2Blue throughout school. It has appointed two pupils as the school's wellbeing champions. These young students have taken ownership of the Red2Blue framework, understanding not just the strategies themselves, but their role in supporting their peers.

Coach’s Corner: Emma Smillie

In this month’s Coach’s Corner, we chat to Emma Smillie, Global Marketing and Communications Manager for Oil Spill Response. As the name suggests, the company responds to spills, and also provides training, consultancy, equipment hire and crisis management services.

Phil Davies: Red2Blue is the most practical framework

We caught up with rugby legend Phil Davies, the former Wales international. Phil has more than 25 years’ experience coaching elite teams including the Cardiff Blues, Scarlets and Worcester Warriors and Leeds Tykes. Phil steered Namibia to consecutive men’s Rugby World Cups in 2015 and 2019. Last year he joined World Rugby as Director of Rugby. He talks to us about his new role and how Red2Blue has helped him throughout his career.

Emily Scarratt: How Red2Blue helps through tough times

Emily Scarratt is perhaps best known as the player who secured England’s 2014 Women’s World Cup triumph with six minutes left in the game. Emily joined Loughborough Lightning in 2019 and was awarded a full-time England contract. She was named World Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year in November 2019 and became the highest ever Red Roses points scorer in the 2020 Six Nations. Here, Emily talks to us about how Red2Blue has helped her through some challenging moments, including the major injury that kept her off the pitch for months.

Coach’s Corner: Gustavo Granitto

This month we talk to Gustavo Granitto, a tennis and sports coach with over four decades’ experience in developing players from beginners to ATP & WTA level. Gus’s work also involves educating and coaching coaches, parents and administrators. He is also Red2Blue Certified Advanced Coach. Here, he talks to us about how he integrates Red2Blue into his programmes.

Leatherhead Youth FC on Becoming a Red2Blue Club

We talk to Leatherhead Youth FC General Manager, Paul Jones, about what it means to become a Red2Blue Club. Paul oversees all aspects running Leatherhead FC. The club is structured as a charity, and is very involved in the local community, ensuring there are no barriers to participation. Here, Paul talks to us about how important Red2Blue has been in helping young players to deal with stress and building the right culture within the club.

Coach’s Corner: Jo Mountford

This month, we chat with Red2Blue coach Jo Mountford, the founder and director of ‘Beet it with Jo’. In addition to being a coach, Jo is a qualified therapist and yoga teacher. She provides tools to help her clients achieve optimal performance in whatever they do. Here, she tells us why Red2Blue plays an important part in that toolkit.

Red2Blue keeps Adriana focused in the death zone

Adriana Brownlee is a 22-year-old British mountaineer currently on track to become the youngest female in the world to climb all fourteen 8000m peaks. Adriana relies on Red2Blue techniques to keep her calm during the extreme pressures of being at 8000m in the death zone. Here, she talks about how Red2Blue has helped her through some of the most difficult moments of her career and how she’s passing on the knowledge to help a generation of girls in Nepal.

Coach’s Corner: Dr Rona Mackenzie

This month we speak to Dr Rona Mackenzie, Director of Youth Leadership at The Inspirational Development Group. Rona spent 20 years working in schools, starting as a PE teacher and ultimately becoming the Founding Principal of a 14-19 college. She also worked in luxury jewellery and cyber security before joining IDG in November 2021. Rona is passionate about working with people who are interested in developing their wider leadership style and approach, starting with leading themselves. She uses Red2Blue to help her clients get to know themselves, and how they perform under pressure, before considering how they lead others.

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Gazing Limited. Regal House, 70 London Road, Twickenham, Middlesex TW1 3QS
red2blue@gazing.com
+44 (0)20 8568 0298

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