OUR SPEAKERS
Dan Sarginson
Former Rugby League International
ON WELLBEING, SELF-UNDERSTANDING, AND CONNECTION AS THE BEDROCK OF SUCCESS
Dan is a former professional rugby league player who spent over a decade at the top of the sport, playing for arguably the biggest
side in the English game, Wigan Warriors, for over 150 games
in two separate spells. His first stint with the Cherry and
Whites caught the eye of the Gold Coast Titans in the
Australian NRL, the premier competition in world rugby.
Returning to Wigan a season later having suffered a serious
shoulder injury in Queensland, Dan won the Super League
Grand Final in 2018.
His on field highlights are only part of a life punctuated by
challenges and tragedy. Behind his achievements were
personal battles that he fervently believes limited his
performance, inhibited his personal growth and prevented
him from fully enjoying his many successes. It's the
underlying causes of these difficulties that form the
framework of this powerful talk that strikes at the heart of
questions around athlete responsibility and the extent of the
sports industry's duty of care,
Dan is a charismatic, insightful speaker, in part shaped by the professional mental health support he has engaged in over
the years - it makes him an ideal contributor to our day in York.
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Dr Sofie Kent
Sport Psychologist, Leeds Beckett University
ON THE VOICE OF THE ROMANTIC PARTNER WITHIN PROFESSIONAL SPORT
Dr Sofie Kent is a Sport Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council and a Senior Lecturer in Sport Psychology at Leeds Beckett University. Since 2019, she has worked within high-performance sport, gaining applied experience across a range of international sporting environments. Her specialist area focuses on stress, coping, and career transitions in elite performers.
Dr Kent is the primary author of Two on a Tightrope, one of the first qualitative studies to centre the voice of the romantic partner within professional sport.
This talk will provide insight into the stressors experienced by male and female partners of high-profile elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes, the coping strategies they employ, and the implications these experiences have for relationship functioning, well-being, and performance. Drawing on both practitioner experience and qualitative findings, the session will outline practical, ethical, and cost-effective strategies that organisations and key stakeholders can implement to better support partners.
Dr Derek McKenzie
Psychotherapist & Writer
ON BLACK AND BROWN ATHLETES: RETHINKING CARE ACROSS PATHWAYS, TRANSITIONS, AND OUTCOMES
Dr Derek McKenzie is a psychotherapist, writer, and critical
thinker whose work challenges how race, knowledge, and
being are understood within psychotherapy and
professional training. Drawing on Africana intellectual
traditions, he developed the Africana Critical Race
Framework (ACRF™) to expose the limits of reformist
approaches to race and mental health.
Derek has worked as an associate counsellor/
psychotherapist with Sporting Chance since its inception,
and his clinical practice reflects a sustained interest in
athlete wellbeing, identity, and performance under
racialised pressure. He also established and ran an
award-winning Centre for Social Justice (CSJ)
Award–recognised residential and community-based
therapeutic recovery house in Stoke Newington in 2017,
Derek writes and speaks across academic, professional,
and public spaces, with a particular focus on mental health
across sporting pathways, bridging theory, practice, and
lived reality. He is currently engaged in practice-informed
exploratory research aimed at developing resources,
knowledge, and training to better support the mental health
needs of Black and Brown athletes, staff, coaches, and
families across the wider sporting ecosystem.
Tony Adams MBE
Founder, Sporting Chance
ON 25 YEARS OF SPORTING CHANCE
Tony made his debut for Arsenal in November 1983 and played his last match in May 2002. He became universally recognised as the most successful captain in the history of the club as well as captaining his country on 15 occasions. In the year 2000 he had the honour of leading out England against Germany in the final match ever played at Wembley Stadium.
That very same year, Tony created Sporting Chance Clinic, initially as a day facility in London before moving to its current site at Liphook in Hampshire (back then the charity was focused specifically on supporting athletes with addictive disorders).
To say that the creation of Sporting Chance was a very personal project for Tony is something of an understatement. In 1996, Tony had sought professional help for his increasingly problematic relationship with alcohol, much of it detailed in his 1998 autobiography 'Addicted'. The proceeds from this book and his unwavering commitment to helping others were instrumental in Sporting Chance coming into existence over 25 years ago.
Fran Kitching
Former Professional Footballer
ATHLETE PERSPECTIVE
Fran is a former professional footballer and current Player
Services Executive at the Professional Footballers’ Association.
After retiring from professional football ahead of the 2024/25
season, she transitioned into a dual role supporting both the
women’s football and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI)
divisions at the PFA.
Over a playing career spanning more than a decade, Fran
established herself as one of the leading goalkeepers in the
women’s game, representing Sheffield United, Liverpool,
Chelsea, Watford and Crystal Palace across the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship. During her debut season
at Crystal Palace, she was named the club’s 2022/23 Women’s
Player of the Year and earned Player of the Month honours on
four occasions.
She has been open about the lows as well as the highs during
her time in the game, including her recovery from a serious
head injury sustained in a training ground accident while at
Liverpool in 2020. Since then, she has become a respected
advocate for mental health in football, speaking candidly about
her own experiences and helping to break down stigma within
the game.
Drawing on her experiences as both a player and a PFA
representative, Fran is passionate about supporting current
and future generations of footballers, championing player
welfare, inclusion and wellbeing across the sport.
Adam Gemili
Chelsea FC Sprint Coach & Former Team GB Sprinter
ATHLETE PERSPECTIVE
Adam is one of Britain’s most accomplished sprinters, a medallist at Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth level who has represented Great Britain with distinction for more than a decade across the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
Born and raised in South East London, Adam initially pursued a career in football, spending time in the Chelsea FC academy before making the decision to focus exclusively on athletics. The move quickly paid off, culminating in gold at the 2012 World Junior Championships and a place on Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games while still a teenager.
Throughout his career, Adam has consistently competed at the highest level, helping Great Britain achieve relay success on the world stage and becoming one of the country’s most recognisable athletics figures. His achievements include making history as the first British male sprinter to officially run under 10 seconds for the 100m and under 20 seconds for the 200m.
He has now come full circle and is one again back at Chelsea as a sprint coach.
Alongside his sporting success, Adam has demonstrated remarkable perseverance in overcoming injury setbacks and the pressures of elite competition. Passionate about athlete welfare and personal development, he has used his platform to advocate for athletes and share insights into the realities of high-performance sport.
Drawing on his experiences at the pinnacle of international athletics, Adam brings a unique perspective on performance, resilience, mental wellbeing and life beyond sport, making him a valuable voice on the Sporting Chance Summit Athlete Panel.
Dr Dan Ogden
Post-Doctoral Researcher, Loughborough University
ON SUPPORTING AND OPTIMISING MEMTAL HEALTH IN ELITE SPORT: AN ORGANISATIONAL, MULTI-LEVEL APPROACH
Dan is a post-doctoral researcher specialising in mental health
within high-performance environments. He recently completed
his PhD at Loughborough University, where he also holds two MSc degrees in Sport and Exercise Psychology and Social Science Research. For the past two years, he has also worked as an
Education Facilitator for Sporting Chance.
His research centres on mental health and wellbeing in elite
sport, with particular expertise in the development, co-creation,
and evaluation of mental health interventions using participatory
and collaborative methodologies. He has published several peer-reviewed articles and presented his work at conferences across
the UK and internationally. His contributions span a range of
topics including mental health in elite men's and women's sport, gambling behaviours, concussion, and the professionalisation of women's sport.
This talk will draw on Dan's PhD research, in which he embedded himself within an elite sporting organisation for two years to co-develop, implement, and evaluate a multi-level mental health intervention. He will share key findings from the evaluation
alongside evidence-based suggestions covering targeted areas, approach, format, delivery methods, and practical
considerations all aimed at helping organisations deliver
programmes that can stabilise mental health outcomes over the course of a season, drive positive cultural change, and
strengthen day-to-day mental health management across a
sporting organisation.
Michael Caulfield
Welfare Psychologist, Brentford FC
ON WORKING WITH ATHLETES: 'THEY JUST WANT SOMEONE TO TALK TO'
Michael is the Welfare Psychologist at Brentford FC, and joined them in 2016, where he has seen the club evolve and grow. More through good fortune than design, across all sports, his style is based around conversation, time, trust, listening and through the evolution of the digital era, human connection is more important than ever, digital free if possible.
He is now simply known as “the man with a dog and a bench”, as he has purchased more park benches than anyone in the country, and is often accompanied by his dog, Paisley, who is the best listener of all.
Billie Andrews
Integrative Psychotherapist
ON THE MISSING LINK: HOW THERAPEUTIC SUPPORT CAN HELP A PLAYERS RETURN POST-INJURY
Billie is a BACP accredited integrative psychotherapist and
clinical supervisor specialising in trauma-informed, practice
with elite athletes. Her work centres on the psychological
impact of serious injury on elite athletes — particularly
professional footballers — helping them navigate the
emotional rupture that injury can bring to identity, performance,
and sense of self. She has worked closely with Sporting Chance
for the past 8 years.
Kasim Munir
Trainee Sport & Exercise Psychologist, Liverpool John Moores University
ON SUPPORTING AND COLLABORATING WITH PARENTS IN ELITE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT SETTINGS
Kasim is a trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologist nearing completion of his professional doctorate with Liverpool John Moores University, with applied experience across elite football and rugby academies. He has worked within high‑performance youth environments including Fleetwood Town FC, Sale Sharks RFC, and Nottingham Forest FC, where he supports players, coaches, and parents.
His research focuses on youth development, parental influence, talent development systems, and practitioner roles within high‑performance environments. He is particularly interested in how developmental systems shape athlete experiences and how practitioners can work more effectively with influential stakeholders to create environments that promote holistic growth. Kasim has published peer‑reviewed work on parent psychoeducation in academy football and continues to bridge applied practice with rigorous research.
Kasim's talk will draw on his applied and research experience within academy football to explore one of the most influential stakeholders in a young player’s development: their parents. He will examine the unique experiences and challenges parents face throughout the academy journey, including the mental health demands that arise for both parents and players. The talk will also will unpack the complexities practitioners must navigate when supporting families, alongside the practical considerations involved in building meaningful, collaborative relationships with parents in elite youth development settings.
Dr Phil Clarke
Sport & Exercise Psychologist, University of Derby
ON EMOTIONAL LITERACY IN IRISH RUGBY UNION
Prof Andy Hill
Professor of Sport & Exercise Psychology, York St John University
ON THE MENTAL HEALTH COSTS OF PURSUING PERFECTION IN SPORT
Dr Andy Hill is a Professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology at York St John University. He is a leading expert on the effects of perfectionism and has authored over a 100 research articles on the topic. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (FCASES) and a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), and is associate editor of the APA journal Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology. He was recently listed in the top 150 sport psychology researchers in the world based on the citation of his work.
